There was one Zildjian company, started in 1623, and then it split into two separate Zildjian companies:

the Avedis Zildjian Company in the USA that started an offshoot in Canada that's now Sabian.

And the K. Zildjian Company in Turkey that was the factory the Avedis Company left when they moved to the USA.

Two separate companies that were like Pepsi and Coke - competitors.

Gretsch drums in the 50's came with K. Zildjians. Gretsch was in New York and sponsored many 50's drummers, thus lots of classic jazz recordings were made with K. Zildjians. The sound matched the music.

Typically K's are thought of as dark and trashy and A's as bright and clean sounding.

In 1968 the Avedis Company in the USA bought out K. Zildjian and drummers (me included) noticed that the new K's they made were not "really" K's but "A" versions...

Not to say they weren't good, they just weren't the same as the K's made before in Turkey.

So you have two types of K's - the old ones made in Turkey before 1968, and the new ones made by the Avedis Zildjian - very different from each other.

I'm a K fanatic, I'd say it's my religion. The old K's from the 50's are like a powerful drug and are very, very spiritual. I have A's (Avedis Zildjians) that I love but they do affect me in the same way.

So fanatics like me will tell you (and it's not technically true) that the K's made in Turkey, known as the Isty K's (Istanbul K's) are the real ones and the others ones (the ones with the big black K) are really Avedis Zildjians.

It's not technically true but it's because we are so passionate about them, and I've seen some of the old K's for up to 10K on eBay, whether they sell for that price is another matter, but to me the old ones are the Stradivarius of cymbals.

So the expensive ones are the Istanbul K's, and the not expensive ones (I've already p*ssed off enough people to say cheap!) are the ones made in the USA.

Don't get me wrong, any of them can be good or bad, and some of it is simply because they don't make the Istanbul K's any more.

To add to what was already said, prices of Old K's are set by a number of variables including market conditions. the size and condition of the cymbal, the period it was manufactured, represented by the embedded stamp, and the sound of the cymbal if a sound file is included.

While older rarer K's might often cost more, that's not always the case. I recently purchased a new stamp old K, probably maudactured in the 1970's, for $1500. At the time I saw auctions for older cymbals that ended up costing less. I bought it at the "Buy it now" price rather than risk losing it. If it had gone to auction it could have sold for anywhere between $1200 and $2000.

It was literally brand new, having been stored somewhere since it was made around 35 years ago, retaining its original shine and a super crisp signature under the bell. This relatively new Old K is my holy grail cymbal and was worth every penny.