Makes me want to hold onto my 22" A ride from the 60's. No way would I let that thing go for less than $100. Crazy thing is I just sold a 20" K ride from the modern times for $200. All my newer Zildjians seem to hold value very well.

I hate to admit my ignorance here, but to be honest, I can't tell the difference between any of these stamps you guys talk about, hell I just went downstairs to look at the stamps on the pies my dad passed down to me and it took me like 10 minutes holding it at different angles, under the light to even see a hint of a stamp, its soo faint, you cant barely tell what year it is. I don't know how you guys do it. My dad played in the 40's and 50's, these I would guess are at least that old maybe a tad later, but all of my vintage zildjians are like that. on top of that, even if it were clear, I'm not sure I'd know the difference. I did a google search and found a site that shows al these stamps, and it appears to me the stamp would have to be clear to tell, but if most of the older ones are like mine, not sure how you do that.

I had one ride that seemed to have a very faint stamp. I tried reading it under the light and could only see part of the stamp. I grabbed my camera to take a pic in hopes of blowing it up a bit larger, due to my far sightedness. I expected it to be difficult, even after taking a picture, but I opened the picture and was surprised at how completely clear it suddenly was. Bottom line is that I think I was holding the camera at an angle, whereas I was reading it off the cymbal straight on. Somehow at this flush angle, I was able to read the thing without a problem, and the whole stamp was clear. I guess I had trouble reading it because of where the stamp and the lathe grooves crossed.

Try photographing it, with and without flash. Might be surprised.

I was recently having this same discussion with a friend of mine who is also a drummer. I said that it seems that vintage drums seem to be climbing in price while vintage cymbals (not all of them obviously) don't seem to be holding their value.

I recently picked up a set of 15" Z hihats for $60 bux and they are the best hats I have ever had. Unreal.

I'm on the lookout for that sub $100 22" zildjian ride, which is pretty much the last cymbal I *need* hehe. My eyes are peeled. Good discussion.

-Doug

If you are talking A Zildjian, the 70s era is notorious for have very faint stamps, although from what you say many of yours should be much earlier. Different eras have different characteristics as far as how well the die was pressed in, how clear the resulting stamp is, and the like. If you post photos of the cymbals (whole cymbal from the top, whole cymbal from the bottom, profile view) we might be able to say what era they are based on other criteria.

If you are talking Istanbul made K Zildjian cymbals, then it's a different story...but also pictures would help.

I am with you on this one Gary! I can't tell the stamps apart, and honestly never really tried to learn those hieroglyphics anyways. Basically the seven or eight Zildjans I own all say Zildjan on them, and make a ton of racket when I crush them repeatedly. Mission accomplished!

Also, as far as stamps goes, Drumaholic (with all of his "charm") has posted a couple charts and what-not about all the different stamps. They may still be lurking somewhere on here................

Google "Zildjian Stamp History" and you will be enlightened.

I just checked. I can assure you that nothing which came up on the first page is reliable.

This is the original work done by Bill Hartrick:

http://www.spiekermann.onlinehome.de/ZDatingZildjianCymbals.pdf

which appeared in Not So Modern Drummer some years ago.

Unfortunately, Bill (known here as Drumalholic) has "unpublished" all his other stuff on A Zildjians leaving the field open for low quality imitators. So Bill has created a bit of a mess, but it's his call and we have to live with it for now.

As a result probably 40%* of the site traffic in the Vintage Cymbals part of VDF consists of the same old questions over and over: how old is it? what is it worth?

* I'm just guessing the 40% with a quick once over of the threads before me, but I don't think we need to get an accurate estimate. The time would be better spent elsewhere.

Read Bill in his own words here:

http://www.vintagedrumforum.com/showthread.php?t=42349

and ponder the wasted bandwidth. If only there were a decent web site.

You of course meant Drumaholic, not Cymbalholic :)

If you have '40s cymbals they may have more value than you might think.