I'm going with "wrong signature".

I think its the hammering. But, in any case it just doesn't look like a K to me.

Because there's a red flag in the hole......

Yes that's right. The hammering isn't correct, nor is the bell shape.

But the other thing is that signature. Unfortunately my photo hosting site just shot craps, so I can't show you what I mean right now. It's that damned corona thing you understand.

And strangely somebody here just messaged me and said the picture hosting here on this site just went bad too. It's always those Chinese mucking things up again. Notice I used the word "mucking" instead of its "F" word variant. This is a family site.

Yeah family site. Ha. My gut tells me that cymbal is machine hammered. What do you think? Do you know if this seller is usually legitimate?

It could be by machine. But then so could quite a few that I used to think were hand hammered but probably are not. But that's a thread for future discussion. But stay tuned because that one is in the hopper.

But yes, this seller is legit as far as I know, and he is selling other genuine K's as well. But as a rule all Keropes will have the "K" in the trademark, with the only exception being the Constantinople type I which does not. That's why they emphasized in all their advertisement, "Beware of imiatations! Always look for the "K". They new they were being countefeited even back then.

I don't think this seller was trying to deceive anybody, its just an easily made and fairly common mistake to make.

Looks like an Ajaha.

Yes, you nailed it. You deserve a genuine cuban cigar for your astute observation, even if you don't smoke. And I see that the picture site finally came back online so just a little later I can show it to you.

First we have ideal trademark verson for example:

[img]https://photos.imageevent.com/drumaholic/zildjianarticle/Ajaha-Logo-600.gif[/img]

Then there's these examples taken from the early types. These are all hand written with bronze compatable ink like the old K's were:

[img]https://photos.imageevent.com/drumaholic/zildjianarticle/websize/Ajaha%20sig2.jpg[/img]

[img]https://photos.imageevent.com/drumaholic/zildjianarticle/Ajahaper20Const.jpg[/img]

[img]https://photos.imageevent.com/drumaholic/zildjianarticle/websize/Ajaha%20Const.jpg[/img]

Some versions like the last 2 can be quite ornate, including the word "Constantinople" as well as some undecipherable other stuff.

But if you compare these to the cymbal in question you can still make out the X.E. Ajaha, despite some wear on the ink that has faded over the years, but yet still show enough of what was common to all these examples to identify it uniquely. And that's what led me to the actual manufactured name for this example. Just as an aside, it's intersting to note that some of theses old types also had the "G" stamps on the reverse side of the outer edge indicating that they were sold by Gretsch, same as the old K's of that era. And that era would coincide with the time frame from the late Constantinople K.'s up until the type IIa O.S. That indicates that those with the ink versions should span the same time frame which would be the later 1930's until 1945.