# How Much Silver Is There In One Of These 14” Vintage Zildjian Crash Cymbal's?



## scrapparts (Jun 11, 2022)

Hello members,

I saw on "How It's Made" some years ago on the History Channel and they were showing how cymbal's are made. They mentioned that silver was used in the making of them to help give them their "ding" sound.

I was wondering how much silver is probably in one of these.

Thanks
scrapparts


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## galenrog (Jun 11, 2022)

Most cymbals of this type are made of brass. Very few have any silver in the alloy. 

Without specific information from the maker, you would have to test each to determine if silver is present. Only an assay would determine if there is enough to warrant cost of recovery and refining. 

“How It’s Made” is wonderful to learn about general manufacturing processes. Frequently, however, they tend to focus on a single manufacturer, which may have a few unique steps to add value over other brands.

Time for more coffee.


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## scrapparts (Jun 12, 2022)

Thanks for the reply. I am curious because someone is selling one locally for only $25. I was thinking on buying it, then weighing it, and then cut about an ounce of it off and then put it in some nitric or maybe some hcl and see if any silver is present.

If I buy it, I'll post the results of the experiment.

scrapparts


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## Martijn (Jun 14, 2022)

With 'nickel silver' alloys, there is no actual silver in it. Like with alpaca or german silver also is just nickel, copper and zinc. 
Here's a wikipedia page on cymbal alloys. 





Cymbal alloys - Wikipedia







en.wikipedia.org





Bell bronze has 'quote: small but significant' amounts of silver in it, but bronze means tin, and using nitric to get the silver out may be hard to filter. 
I doubt that at 25 dollar a piece you will have much profit. There should be 35 grams of silver at least to cover the buying price. 
At bronze scrapprices it may be interesting.
Anyway let us know if you got anything worthwhile from this. 

Martijn.


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## Martijn (Jun 14, 2022)

Try reselling it?
14" Zildjian & CIE Vintage Crash, 593 grams for 145 euro's


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## Dr. A (Jun 16, 2022)

Martijn said:


> Try reselling it?
> 14" Zildjian & CIE Vintage Crash, 593 grams for 145 euro's


Dang! That Zildjian is exactly the one my drum teacher let me borrow and it has an awesome sound! I want to acquire one of these for my kit. They can definitely be worth more than scrap, unless it’s some generic poor quality cymbal.


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## Dr. A (Jun 16, 2022)

scrapparts said:


> Hello members,
> 
> I saw on "How It's Made" some years ago on the History Channel and they were showing how cymbal's are made. They mentioned that silver was used in the making of them to help give them their "ding" sound.
> 
> ...


If it wasn’t chipped on the edge or if it had known brand markings, and if it had the sound I’m looking for, I’d buy it for my drum set.


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## justinhcase (Jun 16, 2022)

You should be able to file a little bit of alloy off without affecting the sound too much. dissolve in a little nitric. Then see if you came make AgCl. at least you will know if there is any content before going to the trouble of a full assay.


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