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Total Oddball Stamp

Posts: 224 Threads: 7

I have some cymbals that are unlike any others I've seen. They came with a 40's Radio King set which also included every bit of hardware and some 40's A Zildjians. The A's are very thin, but these two are the opposite - very heavy. I've read that A's were all thin back then - so I wonder if the drummer who bought this set used A's for thin cymbals, and these (whatever they are) for heavy ones since heavy A's weren't available?

One of these oddballs is 13", and the other is 15". They have the same unrecognizable (to me) stamp. They are lathed and hand-hammered - even more roughly hand-hammered than any K's I've seen. They are clearly early and I suspect original 40's since everything else with the set is. 15 has writing in the bell.

Can anyone identify these?

First the 13 inch cymbal

Posted on 14 years ago
#1
Posts: 224 Threads: 7

Here's the 15:

Posted on 14 years ago
#2
Posts: 2374 Threads: 168

Those are Italian made. Some versions have a trademark with more to it, but others like yours only have this jibberish, which by the way says nothing in Arabic or any other language for that matter. The lineage of these can be traced back to UFIP. This is a stencil brand made by them. Later versions of the trademark bear the name of Zveltiam.

Posted on 14 years ago
#3
Posts: 224 Threads: 7

Thanks, great info. Do you know when they were made - could they be from the 40's? Were they imported by any of the US drum companies or how did they end up here?

Posted on 14 years ago
#4
Posts: 2374 Threads: 168

I know they were making these in the 50's, but it could also be that they made them earlier and later than that too. I don't know for sure if anyone in the U.S. ever distributed them. These are most commonly found in Europe.

Some examples show that these were hand signed and with a name that closely resembles Zildjian and also had Constantinople signed there as well. It seems to me that they intended these to be mistaken for K's, especially the oldest ones which it seems have intentionally made to appear to resemble the Constantinople K's. Many people have sent me photos of cymbals like this for me to identify, and they also seemed to believe them to be K. Zildjian made. I've seen some eBay ads claiming them to be K's.

Posted on 14 years ago
#5
Posts: 224 Threads: 7

Excellent. I thought K's when I first saw them too, but I couldn't make the scribbles match up with those on a K no matter how hard I tried. I'll try to dig up some more oddballs. Thanks again!

Posted on 14 years ago
#6
Posts: 2374 Threads: 168

From 4MoreYearsOhNo

Excellent. I thought K's when I first saw them too, but I couldn't make the scribbles match up with those on a K no matter how hard I tried. I'll try to dig up some more oddballs. Thanks again!

Here's aside by side comparison:

[img]http://photos.imageevent.com/drumaholic/kerope/websize/Comparison_2.jpg[/img]

Ersatz K on the left......................Constantinople K on the right.

[img]http://photos.imageevent.com/drumaholic/kerope/websize/comparison%202_2.jpg[/img]

Ersatz K on the left......................Constantinople K on the right.

Posted on 14 years ago
#7
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