Intermediate Stamp (1959-1966)

The intermediate stamp replaces the former block of Arabic text with some sort of gibberish symbols. It is not Arabic, unless it is the Comic Sans font for Arabic(?) I seriously don’t know what the symbols mean. If anyone knows, please share.

The English component of this stamp always seems to have some stamping problem, so it is often illegible. The distinguishing feature is the combination of the small-sized star in the crescent with the non-standard symbols where one would expect the Arabic.

Another shot of the intermediate stamp.
Here’s another intermediate stamp that more clearly displays almost all of its elements.
Here’s an image of a beautiful 22″ ride from this era. This was an extremely thin cymbal, around 2250 grams. The 22″ rides from this era are wonderful.
This is an 18″ crash/ride from the same era. More of a medium weight cymbal at 1750 grams.

3 comments

  1. I have an old K with a totally screwed up stamp, but I think this is it. It’s almost impossible to read any of the words on it, but I guess that was pretty common?

    Fred, January 27, 2011
  2. is the shape of the K important? the right leg of the K in the 2nd picture extends below the left leg but in the first pic it doesn’t.

    I’ve got one like the 2nd picture so i’m wondering….i don’t see that type of K in any other stamps on your site at all

    I’d imagine that is diagnostic of a particular period
    tia for the help
    John

    John, February 1, 2011
  3. I see what you are referring to, where part of the letter K missing. It is common for the intermediate stamp to have letters that are missing parts, or letters that are completely absent.

    All cymbal stamps degrade over time, so the quality of stamp varies from cymbal to cymbal over the years. With the intermediate stamp, specific letters lost components that were never regained. Thus, you can look at a given word, such as the word “zildjian” and see how all the letters were complete in early examples (circa 1959, presumably), then later the were lost (during the 1960s). The more letters and components that are missing, the later it was made.

    That’s one theory by which missing and incomplete elements from the intermediate stamp could function as a diagnostic for dating specific cymbals.

    Rob, February 1, 2011

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