“He was trying to make gold, she said, but he ended up concocting a combination of copper and tin.”
An Ottoman sultan let Avedis Zildjian found his business in 1623. Thirteen generations later the factory in Norwell turns out at least a million cymbals a year, and the alloy is still a secret behind a locked foundry door. The company outlived the empire that chartered it. A failed alchemist built the most durable brand in music.