ID that antique whistle

March 22, 2015 by

Yeah it may be that identifying a whistle is more guessing than detective work. Maybe BOTH. Like a friend once said ' many times my hunches turned out correct' ( or somethining like that anyway )

The point being —  it is chipping away at these problem whistles with cluuuuuuuues. ( clues ) that unlocks the secrets.

Let's consider some clues together and see what we can pile up into your arsenal of tools.

In other words make a tool box !!!

So, first thing you need is a tool box itself — what might that be ??

Well gotta kick around this idea around for a day or so… hmmmm….

Filed Under: Collecting

Whistle clues

March 21, 2015 by

The tricky thing about distributer stamps is that they look so official and all. You know, like they were MADE by them.

Say for example you have a beaufort – Kelley and Sons stamped clearly on the front and then above that Liverpool Police

Clearly a whistle made by Kelley and Sons !! NOT !!! As one gains experience and sees a lot of whistles, one personally catches the name as a distributor, or Googles it or…..

Looks in the back of CPWs at the fantastic list that was compiled by Martin Gilchrist and Simon Topman. Then you spot it was supplied by Hudson Company.

Can’t be tooooo quick though….

Filed Under: Collecting

identifying who made an old whistle

March 20, 2015 by

Of course we are limiting our scope to old metal whistles when we ID old whistles
silver whistles are not under discussion either ( especially if they have hallmarks anyway )
Tin whistles we eschew.
What’s left for our discussion ?? Mostly old metal whistles.

Back to the hunt….here are some clues….

1) stamps ( yup we are looking at the stamps again, who may be just a distributor but now it works to our advantage )

The question is who manufactured that particular stamp ??? How would we know ??
records have to be kept. Lists compiled. Pictures help even more…

What kind of project are we talking about ?? Takes work initially but SOMEONE…..

So in detective work it isn’t a slam dunk like in basketball is it. At least not for us short guys !!!

Filed Under: Uncategorized

identifying an antique whistle

March 20, 2015 by

So we have talked about false ID for a whistle because of a makers stamp that is a true maker, but not the most recent maker of that particular whistle. Confused ?? Of course, that’s why it is addicting.
Then you now add in ALL the ‘distributers’ who put their own name on the whistles they sell and that can be a LOT of names stamped on them whistles who NEVER made a whistle !!!
Ultimately you will get to figuring out simply — who made it — cause…. there isn’t ANY name on it !!!
Now what ?? — gotta find one that DOES have a name on it….

Filed Under: Uncategorized

who made my whistle ?

March 18, 2015 by

So the next thing to think about to get to the bottom of ‘who made my whistle’ is a major red herring..

Distributor stamps !!!

Say for example Winchester. Big name in the collecting world. No name in the whistle world !! WHY is that ?? — didn’t actually make whistles !!!!!

Then there is Spaulding, Horstmann, Aird, Dardevle, Wright and Ditson, and oh how the list progresses !! Maybe in the hundreds !!!

The point being ?? All distributors, not whistle makers.

So when you come across one with a stamp on it, doesn’t mean that they made it huh ??

Whistles many times are like T-shirts with advertising on them. Made somewhere sure, but doubtful at the brewery named on them or sports team 🙂

Easy way to start ?? Just google the name.

Filed Under: Uncategorized

how to identify an old whistle

March 17, 2015 by

Of course identifying whistles is relative isn’t it ?? After all a bone or ivory whistle might be harder, or plastic or porcelain. We collect metal whistles and have enough pain just trying to ID them !!!

Another example of False ID ??

Dowler stamps. It appears that when Dowler sold out turn of last century they sub contracted to Hudson and DeCourcy to make whistles for them. Makes you wonder if they had someone else in too ??

Anyway, having a whistle with Dowler on it is not conclusive is it ??

Could be a Hudson, Dowler
Could be a DeCourcy, Dowler
Could be a Dowler, Dowler

Just sayin….

Filed Under: Uncategorized

How to identify an antique whistle

March 15, 2015 by

Identifying antique whistles is much like being a detective.

Not very hard when you see the hand is still in the cookie jar. In other words sometimes it is obvious of course. Yet even then it may not be as obvious as you would think !!!!

For example, you could find a whistle from the UK that says Walton on it. So the conclusion is that it was made by Walton right ??

Now here is where being a detective comes in.

Background: Walton worked for Hudson as a foreman and left to start his own business. He used his trade skills learned there to compete with his former boss ( usually not looked upon with favor ) He even wrote in his catalog that he had been a foreman for Hudson ( Boy that is ‘gutsy’ don’t ya think ?? )

Hudson then struck back by making similar stamped whistles. They competed fiercely as Gilchrist states in CPWs,until finally Hudson bought out Walton after only 6 years.

Most importantly they bought and apparently used Walton’s very own tools and stamps to fill orders already made. Perhaps using up Walton’s parts.

Do you see what could happen if a Walton whistle is found and assumed it is actually Walton’s ??

It isn’t so much caveat emptor, but the classifier has to beware…

Filed Under: Collecting, Research

antique website SPAMALOT

March 14, 2015 by

WOW, INTERESTING EXPERIMENT ADDING COMMENTS BACK IN TO THE WEBSITE, SIMPLY CAPITAL.
Bad news….inundated with spam. The reality is that there is so much spam ( internet vomit ) coming in that no comments can be worth wading through all the garbage ( and lies )

What kind of lies ?? All the fabricated rhetoric about the website blogs that are made up just to talk about themselves and nothing about whistles.

Isn’t that interesting ??? Yup, it turns out that these are drowning out everyone else. Inundated, drowning…..

As Spock would say ‘fascinating’. Why do we say that ?? Because one wonders if there has ever been even one person who wrote back or placed an order with any spam solicitation?? More likely it only has to do with creating more hits for Google to track for their own website.

Sort of like standing on top of a person to get your head above water and drowning that person in the process.

Filed Under: Website

antique whistle research

March 13, 2015 by

wow, what a week of recovery from the whistle booth at the antique show. Lots of talk about rare, old, antique whistles.
Then back to work 🙁 — you know, the 9-5 type …
But it is just a hobby right ?? Back to the real world.
In the mean time there is always whistle research. It is now the 13th and polishing a special SPOTLIGHT for posting on the 20th in just one week. Been working on this one for 5-10 years.
How does an article come together for a SPOTLIGHT you may ask ?? Good question !!
First one has to get the whistles, that usually takes many yeeeeeears.
Then, like the average collector, we can’t afford to travel that much, so we depend on the internet for clippings, articles, postings and other collectors research, not to say CATALOGs. This may take yeeeeears to collect too.
Then further, there are comparison whistles to find, catalog and take pictures of them all. Cut crop and clean lint off of….Oh, and all the files to organize.
Lastly the article outline, developing articles and more picture taking, picking and placements.
LAST, lastly proof read.
Wow, what’s more several articles have to be going at the same time as information rolls in, is unearthed or other details are revealed and updated.
All in all, takes two to four years or MORE to put together…

And you thought that they were just thrown on the web 🙂

So when you send money and whistles to us it makes it all worth it ??? — In all of our dreams !!!!! Ha !!!!

On the other hand reading the articles and then pushing that ‘like’ button on Facebook IS kinda rewarding….One can hope….

Filed Under: Research

rare whistles ??

March 8, 2015 by

What makes a whistle cost so much — or like we were asked yesterday at the antique show where we were selling off as many whistles as we can  —

What makes these so special ?? ( referring to the 100 dollar to 200 dollars section )

1) Postage — ( cost us over 1400 dollars in postage last year !!!! )

2) Rarity — they cost us more to buy them when very few were made and the seller knows it. 
                   could be the maker did very few whistles, made very few of that particular whistle, could be a variation,
                   could be we just don't want to let it go ( dumb one huh ? )

3) Overhead — almost 500 dollars for the weekend to sell there and 10 dollar whistles can't make the entry fees !!!

All in all we seem to barely average out each show, so I guess we will keep going     🙂

Filed Under: Questions and Answers, Website
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