That particular stamp gets mixed up with the hollow block stamp often. The Zildjian portion looks like its hollow but is different from the hollow block stamps. Being 1.5" and having the three dots, that would be a 60's stamp. The actual hollow block stamps are taller at around 1 7/8".

Forum member Zenstat has some good info here as well...

http://black.net.nz/avedis.html

Mike

Thanks for the plug, Mike. And of course, thanks to our own Drumaholic (Bill Hartrick) for putting together the original Avedis Timeline.

Yes I've got a collection of about 4 or 5 photos of the 60s stamps which can look deceptively like hollow block stamps. This photo fits right into that group. I'm sure there are some other little details which let you tell the true mid 50s hollow block and the 60s apart, but I haven't had a close look and written that up yet. Since I don't have trouble telling them apart, it hasn't been a priority. And I'm not sure if it is particularly the 1.5" (versus the 1 3/16" version) which tend to appear "hollow".

When I compare all the 60s stamp photos I've got I think that the "hollow" look to the letters represents an artifact of how the stamp was pneumatically rolled on to the cymbal. The ZIDJIAN is in bold lettering (relative to the rest of the English or Ottoman), but when it isn't pressed in quite firmly enough it can end up looking "hollowish" because the edges of the letters bite before the middle of the letters. It might also be that the die stamp was wearing out a bit by this time. I don't really know exactly how it happens, but I certainly know the look.

If you can see the whole cymbal there are also differences in the lathing and hammering style between mid 50s and mid 60s which can help assure you of decade, even if you don't have a height measurement.

I'm still putting together the web pages which will collect up the lathing and hammering style comparisons and also a place for talking about these "hollowish" looking 60s stamps.

Yours is a nice example of how easy it is to see hollow. May I please add it to my reference gallery of these, redneck? Thanks in advance.

Steve

YOU HAVE MY BLESSINGS STEVE! And thanks to everyone for the great imput. It was all the stipulation I needed so I can sell it. Again,THANKS