Help with stamps - 15" Zildjian Hi-Hats

[MelvinJones]

Hi y'all,

Just picked up a nice set of Zildjian 15" hi-hats. The seller was estimating them as 70's era hats. I'm looking at the stamps and they look like they might be two different styles. I'm thinking they might be a pair that was "matched-up" by a drummer later on. Probably New Beats?

One looks like a 60's stamp? ( more clearly defined and with the two dots in the double swoop - upper left hand corner) and another a 70's era light stamp? (given how thin it is and missing the aforementioned "swoop dots" )

Not that these things really matter because the cymbals sound great! I'm just curious and figured the collective hive-mind has more stamp knowledge than myself.

Any and all help is greatly appreciated.

Thanks friends!

 

[afwdrums]

do you have higher resolution photos you could post? these are unfortunately too small for me to see what's what

 

[MelvinJones]

do you have higher resolution photos you could post? these are unfortunately too small for me to see what's what

yes, pardon those. I’ve edited the post and added a few new pics. hope these give a clearer picture.
thanks!

 

[MelvinJones]

 

[Cliff DeArment]

From what I can see, both 60s.

 

[Cliff DeArment]

Now that mlayton concurs, here is the key to 60s vs 70s. I wasn't 100% sure from the pictures so wanted someone to agree.

60s: H over E - turkisH madE
70s: H and E don't line up.

As you could see the first one was 60s, but the second was tricky. That stamp isn't as impressed on Made, so harder to tell from the pictures. If H over E can be seen, it's 60s. The other 60s clue is 3 dots within a letter. The 70s letter is empty (no 3dots). Usually one or the other tests well work. You also mentioned a light stamp. Most call it Thin Stamp.

Every Zildjian has "Swoop dots" (two dots) at the beginning of an Ottoman stamp. I just call them boob dots.

For more info see Zenstat's site below.

Avedis Zildjian Gallery

 

[jptrickster]

I'm not seeing the 3 dots on the Left picture. I would've said 70's. 60's on right

 

[Cliff DeArment]

I think I can see the first top dot (above the 2 that should be there). The lathing is quite deep in that around. I also seem to see the H/E. But of course, I might be wrong. Not the first time in my life.

 

[Ludwigboy]

I'm not seeing the 3 dots on the Left picture. I would've said 70's. 60's on right

Yes, I see no dots on left and 2 dots on right...generally I thought 60's were 3 dots and 70's were 2 dots....

 

[Cliff DeArment]

Yes, I see no dots on left and 2 dots on right...generally I thought 60's were 3 dots and 70's were 2 dots....

What 2 dots do you mean? It's 60's 3 dots, 70's none (empty Ottoman letter near the end). SSA/SSB also have no dots. (as well as Trans, etc)

 

[jptrickster]

Melvin, one more shot of the left cymbal stamp please?

 

[varatrodder]

It looks like they are both 60's stamp, but one isn't pressed in as much as the other.

But...I'm gonna throw a wrench into the stamp timelines with this set of 15's I just picked up. I didn't want to hijack, so I moved the thread here.

A wrench in the Avedis Zildjian stamp timeline?

I didn't want to possibly hijack the other thread, so I moved this to a new thread. I just picked up this set of 15" Avedis Zildjian hihats. Just curious if this throws a wrench into the stamp timelines. Here's the 60's stamp on top: And here's the 1978-1982 ink on the bottom of the same...

www.drumforum.org

Sorry for the edit.

 

[Tama CW]

One of the stamps is super weak but the "HE" (H over E) vertical alignment is clear enough to me. 1960's.
Some 60's stamps do come really weak, just like the so called "thin" 70's stamp that isn't quite 100% accurate. Maybe only 60-80% accurate.
And I've seen original pairs that had one strong stamp and one weaker one. Not too common but it happens.

Even some of the 30's, 40's, and 50's A's stamps come so weak you can have trouble making them out......including some large stamps.
If you see 1, 2, or 3 dots inside the "U" of the Ottoman script it's a 60's, 80's or later. It's just that 1, 2 or even all 3 of the dots may not be stamped hard enough to be visible.

 

[Ludwigboy]

What 2 dots do you mean? It's 60's 3 dots, 70's none (empty Ottoman letter near the end). SSA/SSB also have no dots. (as well as Trans, etc)

It must be as Tama CW says, perhaps the cymbal on the right on post #4 looks like 2 dots but is 3 dots...the top dot is faint...sorry, my mistake.
As for the cymbal on the left of post #4 , I still don't see any dots(where you would see 3 dots on a 60's cymbal) but it could be my eyes are not sharp enough with that photo.

 

[MelvinJones]

Thanks everyone for your replies! After consulting these resources and with zenstat I’m fairly certain they’re both 60s Tall Stamps. Likely factory matched.

 

[Cliff DeArment]

Ah Hah! Did Zenstat (Steve) spot it? The lower letter i of Avedis. Tall stamp AVEDiS vs. usual 60's AVEDIS.

 

[Ludwigboy]

Thanks everyone for your replies! After consulting these resources and with zenstat I’m fairly certain they’re both 60s Tall Stamps. Likely factory matched.

Zenstat (Steve) knows his stuff! He has helped me more that once!

 

[jptrickster]

Just dropping this off in here

 

[DBT]

One of the stamps is super weak but the "HE" (H over E) vertical alignment is clear enough to me. 1960's.
Some 60's stamps do come really weak, just like the so called "thin" 70's stamp that isn't quite 100% accurate. Maybe only 60-80% accurate.
And I've seen original pairs that had one strong stamp and one weaker one. Not too common but it happens.

Even some of the 30's, 40's, and 50's A's stamps come so weak you can have trouble making them out......including some large stamps.
If you see 1, 2, or 3 dots inside the "U" of the Ottoman script it's a 60's, 80's or later. It's just that 1, 2 or even all 3 of the dots may not be stamped hard enough to be visible.

You are spot on . I just went out and looked and mine are weak as well .