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Franklin Nigel Stein
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I'm posting these as I get them to help along our collective understanding of early A. Zildjian cymbals and cymbal making. The previous two articles I put up were from 1949 and 1954.
This article is from an August 13, 1949 New Yorker Magazine. Its a good solid source for researching the topic as they have a long history of reporting excellence. Some things to look for as you're reading:
1. In 1949, Zildjian had "several thousand" cymbals that had been aging for 15 years. You can read about that in another article I posted here written in 1954. This 1949 article gives us the scope of that later article and puts a general number on their stash.
That puts a lock on the fact that a substantial number of Trans Stamp cymbals marked and sold after WWII were actually made in the 1930s. It also tells us that it had been going on for pretty much their whole existence (company founded in 1929). By that last statement I mean that for whatever reason, Zildjian kept some substantial portion of their cymbals around, selling them more than a decade after making them. It's a pretty safe bet that the Great Depression was the reason behind that, imho. I would further guess that they stopped keeping them around so long once they're sales picked up after WWII.
2. In January 1949 Zildjian made their first gong, purchased by West Point (Government purchase so it's possible someone could get a hold of that receipt!)
3. It seems that Sonny Greer liked to stomp on two cymbals at the same time. . . good times!
4. Avedis Zildjian claimed that during the time between 1939 and 1949, his company had made 90% of the world's cymbals. Interesting though that wouldn't be that tough given the war years and severe rationing of the copper (and tin) needed for their manufacturing.
Second post will be the article broken up into four easy to read columns.
This article is from an August 13, 1949 New Yorker Magazine. Its a good solid source for researching the topic as they have a long history of reporting excellence. Some things to look for as you're reading:
1. In 1949, Zildjian had "several thousand" cymbals that had been aging for 15 years. You can read about that in another article I posted here written in 1954. This 1949 article gives us the scope of that later article and puts a general number on their stash.
That puts a lock on the fact that a substantial number of Trans Stamp cymbals marked and sold after WWII were actually made in the 1930s. It also tells us that it had been going on for pretty much their whole existence (company founded in 1929). By that last statement I mean that for whatever reason, Zildjian kept some substantial portion of their cymbals around, selling them more than a decade after making them. It's a pretty safe bet that the Great Depression was the reason behind that, imho. I would further guess that they stopped keeping them around so long once they're sales picked up after WWII.
2. In January 1949 Zildjian made their first gong, purchased by West Point (Government purchase so it's possible someone could get a hold of that receipt!)
3. It seems that Sonny Greer liked to stomp on two cymbals at the same time. . . good times!
4. Avedis Zildjian claimed that during the time between 1939 and 1949, his company had made 90% of the world's cymbals. Interesting though that wouldn't be that tough given the war years and severe rationing of the copper (and tin) needed for their manufacturing.
Second post will be the article broken up into four easy to read columns.
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