So would I.

Wow!

Normally I prefer my cymbals to have that "worn" look to them. Sort of like this example.

But there's something about those completely pristine old trans stamp cymbals that just hypnotize me. Not to mention they have to be a perfect example of what that sound was like way back when. No one's hands have touched those. Beautiful.

As for the idea of them being in a vault, etc. I'm sure they were in a climate controlled area and in a protective covering. That's not really such a stretch of the imagination. I think one of the primary suspects for cymbals showing their age is the oils from our fingers and hands when we handle them. I've got some crash cymbals that I got from the factory a year ago. They are still fairly shiny, but the color change is most apparent where hands have handled them.

Again, not that I mind. I'm not one of those players who wipes off their cymbals after every use. That's a level of OCD that I haven't yet reached with cymbals, just with drums.

Just for informational purposes, those old A's I showed are 2 trademark eras earlier than the trans stamps are.

Not to be the nay sayer all the time, although I usually fill that role, but wouldn't the oil from fingertips actually help to preserve the cymbal by not allowing oxygen to fuel the reaction that causes the tarnish/patina. Of course the salt on a humans fingerprint may serve to enhance the tarnishing process, I will have to look this tid bit up. When we say cleaning cymbals are we talking wiping off with a rag or using chemical agents designed to remove tarnish? I do not think that someone wiping down a cymbal with a dry micro fiber would really be considered "cleaning" the cymbal, especially in this thread's intent of the word cleaning. I go a step further, cleaning a seventy year old cymbal even with soap and water is really not "cleaning" it to my mind. I am using the word cleaning, in this thread, as a term meaning to clean a cymbal using a chemical agent designed to remove tarnish/patina.

Also, can anyone throw out some ideas of WHY someone would buy new cymbals seventy years ago then store them in a state of the art (at that time) air tight container, THEN get them out and start showing them at this point in time. These cymbals are almost like some rare wine that is reaching it's peak vintage! LOL

I enjoy the thought provoking conversation and look forward to anyones rebuttals/insights.Cool1

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The pH of an individual's oil can make a difference. But, it's the oil itself that is the culprit. It is a naturally sticky substance that will attract all manner of dirt to itself. For a real world test...

place a small puddle (size of a dime) of olive oil on your counter. Clean and work as you would normally in your kitchen, but refrain from wiping that one spot. Within a week you will have the data you need.

So, it's not so much the reaction as it is the attraction.

I cede the point and totally agree that oily fingerprints will attract dirt more readily than virgin cymbal material. When he said "show their age", I did not think he was talking of dirt but more towards some light tarnishing.

You got any thoughts as to why someone would store these cymbals in probably as good of storage as our nation's precious documents were stored in the 30's? I do not believe that airtight, structurally sound storage containers were all the rage back then. Heck, today all a guy would have to do is buy those clothing bags you hook a vacuum up to and shrink wrap the cymbal!!

I cannot get over the point that someone would go to all that trouble for drum cymbals. Why? Hmmmm

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LOVE.......Yes Sir

Actually, fingerprint oils also contain acids that cause damage to metals. That is why when building a car engine you DO NOT touch the bearings and other parts with bare fingers.

Now as to finding perfect specimans of anything. We can only guess but there are many scenarios. Again, if you compare to cars (I've been in the auto resto business so its an easy anology for me) There are times when we have found cars in near perfect showroom condition. Now they may not have been from the 30's but carsy are also harder to store in a perfect environment, yet cars have been uncovered that look like they rolled out of the showroom. And I'm not talking about restored cars. I am talking about a car that the owner bought, drove very little, then died for example. The owners wife still alive leaves the car in the garage, maybe not wanting to sell it or drive it, maybe not really even liking the old car but just lets it sit for many years for many possible reasons. Sentimentality. The crazy disorder that makes you want to not throw anything out. Lots of reasons. Then she dies. The kids go through everything and then decide to sell the junk in the garage. Maybe they do the same thing the wife does! Well whenever it gets discovered.....under a mile of dust is a near perfect 40/50/60 year old car. Its not often this happens and sometimes animals eat at the interior, things fall on it etc, but every once in a while they get lucky and no bad things happen to it. Miraculously it avoids the pitfalls of long storage. Lots of factors have to be in place such as a dry climate, relatively sealed environment, motor not seizing, gas not turning to varnish or not having much gas to begin with, luck. Change the fluids, basic small replacement of certain things and car is as good as new. I've seen things like this happen on more than one occasion. Of course most of the time there is usually a large issue but even still those finds are few and far between.

Cymbals are even more likely to see this happen to as they are small. Maybe somebody got some cymbals as a gift and didn't want to play drums. Stuck them in a bag and put them in the attic. Its unlikely they were saved like that on purpose but I can see it happening by mistake.

Who knows. But this stuff happens. Those are spectacular.

My father in-law has the 39 Buick business coupe that he had as a sixteen year old. Same story. All original, kept in one of his garages, mint condition. BUT, the paint has age cracks and the rubber is age cracked to a small degree. There are some things that cannot escape time passing by. Oxidation and tarnishing are one of them.

Also, the acids and such and not touching metal parts could and should be seperated into two seperate categories. Ferrous an non-ferrous containing materials. Cymbals are non-ferrous and will not rust. Fe2O3 (rust, ferrous oxide) would be a problem for the carbon based engine parts but not a problem for cymbals. I don't touch my guns with my hands after I clean them either for same reasoning.

I am not sure, but I dont think they had Hefty cinch sacks back then. Newspaper and linen were common materials for wrapping items, not plastic.

Cosmolene coated/impregnated paper was common though. The military has used that to preserve equipment for years, why not cymbals?