http://www.mikedolbear.com/forum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=101293&whichpage=1

Thanks JRichard. I read this article recently (very interesting, especially for a Premier buff) but i was looking more for a timeline on theses specific cymbals. Thanks though!

The Douli shaped Zyn's don't show up in any catalogues as a separate cymbal from the conventionally shaped Zyns. The very same cymbals also came out with the names Krut, Symara(Carlton) and Kamala(John Grey) on them. They all have a shrill ,thin sound.

Zyn's were sheet cut cymbals , from white brass( nickel silver) and the thickness of the metal changed over the years. Catalogued as T(thin) and M(medium) , the only ones I have seen with a T on them were the Douli shaped ones and the only ones with an M on them I have seen, were conventional shaped ones. The two shapes have remarkably different sounds , even when the weight is the same, with the Douli shaped ones sounding much thinner.

They were produced between 1955 and around 1973 with this stamp, so dating them is pretty difficult.

As calfskin said dating Zyns/Sup Zyns/Kruts is almost impossible. In fact trying to exact date anything made by Premier is a daunting task because of the many years of overlap in production, WW2, multiple owners and corporate restructuring. Add to the mix the brief period of time they used serial numbers then stopped during a production run.

There is a bit of folklore regarding the Zyn line of cymbals mentioning WW2 Italian POW's that were in England at the end of the war chose to stay in England went to work in the Premier factories using their metal working skills. Once Premier got back into production, since their factory was destroyed during the bombings, they started cymbal production on limited runs, since metals were still not fully available until well after the war, which was not until the mid 50's as calfskin states.

Thanks for the info! The folklore around these cymbals is much more interesting than the sound of the pair I acquired....except for use as effects cymbals, like a china-type but subtler. I find this curious as i have rarely run across a Premier kit I didn't like, no matter what the line is (well maybe not the newer Cabrias...). I guess post-war UK badly needed cymbals! For now i'll stick with my old 2002 Rock hats Party