That's very strange! I have heard of fake K's appearing from time to time. There are other guys here who could advise you on this. I'm no expert on old K's, but I've never seen one in this semi lathed? style. I would think if somebody was going to forge them they would have done their homework and made sure the stamp was facing the right way. The upside-down facing stamp would make me believe it to be genuine more than it would make me think it was fake. A forger wouldn't be dumb enough to make such a mistake, but at the factory these things can happen. It still looks like a beautiful cymbal. Did you get a chance to try it? I agree, it does look very modern, especially the lathed bell, seems like my Bosphorus New Orleans.

It looks like a paiste. Signature

When you say upside down are you referring to the whole stamp or just the star? The stamp is the older New Stamp, from 1967-1972. The star is oriented properly for that stamp, with it pointing into the crescent. In fact to my eyes the stamp looks pretty good except that the Istanbul and Zildjian text usually line up under the Z in K. Zildjian on a New Stamp. The lathing also looks good to my eyes. Some of the hammering on the top looked a bit odd, but that could be a result of the way the image was captured. All in all I'm tending towards it being legitimate, but I do have concerns with the hammering and part of the stamp. If the position of the star on the stamp was your main concern, its correct as shown.

What about it makes you think its semi-lathed. It's completely lathed on both sides and the lathing is unlike any of the 10 Bosphorus rides I own. It is, however, similar to my two old K New Stamps (one an older New Stamp, the other a newer New Stamp)

The whole stamp is upside down, and the lathed and hammered is not like the old k's...maybe in the pictures not appreciate so good , but is completely different to all my K's and all the K's I've seen before. I'm totally sure is not a real K, I just wanna know If some of you know more cases like that. Thank to all for the answers!

Can you post pics of yours Mark? The lathing is unlike any I've ever seen on a New Stamp. So I'd be interested in seeing yours for comparison.

Steve, I do have concerns about this cymbal as well, but i think part of my reluctance to declare it an outright fake was the quality of the photographs and what looks like a lot of dirt on the top side of the cymbal. The hammering and the stamp, as I mentioned earlier, didn't seem right even before I realized the entire stamp was upside down. I got the impression that the OP was just referring to the star when he said it was upside down, not the whole stamp. Finally higher resolution views would have been nice. With regard to the lathing, it doesn't look just like my two new stamps, but there are aspects to it that look more K like to my eyes then to my Bosphorus and other cymbals.

Yes, it is a fake. There are several things wrong with the font, not to mention it is upside-down. The hammering, lathing, and bell all look wrong. We've seen this stamp before, possibly even these same pics.

If you search this section of the forum you'll find 2 or 3 threads about these fakes.

I very little about old K's,but I had a 21 " Bos ride cymbal from the antique series called a Queen that had normal lathing on the bottom with the top having a combination of normal and what I would call "semi Lathing " ,and the lathing on the one in the pic looks a lot like the semi lathing on my cymbal.,esp in the close up.