As you may well remember from my whining, I am no great fan of teethers and rattles and of course with whistles incorporated into them. However there have been some great designs in their history and they are quite international. And they date quite a ways back in time tooooo.

But just so you know I keep an open mind…… check out these listings on eBay !!!

290840019650
290840011670
290840026156
290840036110

Now granted were looking at over 12,000 dollars, but hey, it's just money right ?? Of course thats merely asking prices and probably u could get 'em for half 🙂

Now on the other hand those escargot whistles aren't looking too bad after all now are they ???????

Ever wonder why whistles sell better when bid on than when a set price is put out there for anyone to take ??

Think it isn't so ?? Well try it this way. Put a rare whistle up for sale on eBay at a set price plus make it 'OR BEST OFFER'. They never do as well…. not as well as straight up auctions.

Perhaps the gamble that it will go cheap ?  Ha, ha, ha, ha…. Not with all the snipers just hanging back and waiting. It's always funny to hear a seller say that they have several watchers and hope their whistle will do well then. I would be wiulling to bet that a watcher never wins the auctions 🙂

Oh I know, sometimes a couple newbies bid the tar out of it early and everyone pulls off.

However regularly the chickens do come home to roost.

Word has it that you can put some food in front of a chicken and they will eat a certain amount. But hey, put another chicken there and they will eat 30% more !!! So other chickens can drive up the 'desireability' of a whistle and therfore the auction has an air about it.

However the real story is if 'experts' are interested and bid ( even if you are merely anticipating them bidding ) thats where things really change. You see, a whistles stamp of approval may in your mind only come from those guys. Same with all collecting. Pedigree can come from another's opinion !!!!!

Watch out for that spoiling your fun. If YOU like it then it is great fun. If another likes it and you buy it for THAT reason, then you are compensating for some other need.

Hope you are having fun….

Nice to see we're heading for 10,000 hits in just a couple months !! Traffic is good, but communication is better !! Write in !!!! Argh !!! Either there are a lot of hackers out there or there are at least a few OTHER collectors hovering about 🙂

We are down to pricing  just escargots and rare makers in GSWs now !! Yep, pricing them out right now ( well after the bloggggg that is…. and then we upload the FOR SALE section, just in case you have been frustrated…. I know I have been….

Saw an interesting plexiglass case that is used to house matchbox cars recently, while I was out on a job. I took some rough pix from my phone to upload for you under collections. Yeah, I know you aren't into matchboxes, but the cases look promising. Unfortunately the fellow couldn't remember the retailer !!

For a llittle eBay news….Saw a McDonald 6 piece escargot whistle ( 1890 ) sell today for almost 500 dollars !!! A fellow collector from the states took it over another collector from Israel. I was in the mix, but faaaaaar below that price !!!! In fact less than half in case you think I have a lot to spend 🙁
Know much about McDonald ( Peter ) ?? Apparently from Martyn Gilchrist's research, he joined with Ward in 1890 to design and make a heavy 6 piece escargot – pictured in More Whistles — in the escargot section ( der ).

What a bit of work that was !!! HEAVY to say the least. I will say, that whistle is LOUD !! I know everyone and their brother writes that on eBay when they sell a whistle.>>>> Quote  " I don't know anything about whistles, but it is LOUD"  Like that is the reason we are looking at a 75-100 year old whistle ?? Yeah, I do that sure, I think to myself well, although it is antique and all, the finish is finally eroded off and the metal beneath has turned into a very nice patina, BUT, I wonder if it is LOUD ?? Cause THAT'S what I'm looking for !!! Sort of like looking at an old Model T Ford to buy and wondering if the radio works ???

However I digress, the point is that the first 6 piece whistle design WAS well designed. It seems that  AULD came out with almost the exact same 6 piece whistle.—– IN THE SAME YEAR ??  After and during a time that escargots were VERY light weights ?? One could compare it to economy cars being produced for yeeeeears and then several muscle cars came out at the same time !!!

Makes one wonder doesn't it ?? How did that occur ?? Hmmmm,,,,,,,,1890 was a real turning point though… Think about what happened…. Ready to think ??….. 

Auld ( from Glasgow ) registers a 6 piece escargot design in January
Ward ( from Glasgow ) with McDonald ( Birmingham ?? ) registers a 6 piece escargot design in February
McDonald makes his own 6 piece escargot !!!
All three have well attached knops that look alike. McDonald whistles are a little skinnier body and the mouth more rounded. Peters' window is slightly larger. All three have rings cut into the knops. Even the cork balls are the same size !!!

I tell ya, Glasgow was a hotbed of whistle making that year. OTHER 6 piece whistles showed up too !! Who made those ?? I dunno…
Who knows how long they were made for, however in just one year they were all obsolete !!!

in 1891 Hudson designed and patented their own FOUR piece escargot and it is substantially the same design used today …. 120 years later….

As to the world of whistles, I have always hated being a stamp collector. Something about having fifty whistles or even a hundred,  that all look alike ( clones ), but with different stamps on them….just seems repetitive. Of course some LIVE for that. Gotta have every constabulary, every date, every distributor( well maybe that's pretty cool and all )

However, I gladly admit, there is a flip side to stamps that is a door of opportunity —- Makers names    🙂

Recently a Linegar ROUND whistle went for BIG dollars on eBay ( over 200gbp ) Even though damaged at the mouthpiece, it was pretty much intact. The real treat was in the stamped name on the side. Why you ask ?? Because Linegar didn't identify his whistles often enough to know which ones were his many times. So NOW more information is known. A dozen different types of whistles of his would be terrific to know about for obvious reasons !!!

Even so, more are emerging and the variety of a great whistle maker is better known now than years previous…..

Stamp collectors, you win this ROUND.

bidding on auction sites like eBay is not all that it is cracked up to be is it ?? I mean up front it seems that one bids and then waits….well yes, that can be true, but likely you will be waiting when it comes to rare whistles for a looooooooong time AND with no whistle coming !!! Why so ?? –

Let's say that one wants to misdirect an auction. just for an example and of course this would NEVER happen… but let's just that say bids were placed by someone —-that never intended to be backed up honestly. Let's say that someone else threw in some bids competively that were then added to the mix. NOW what has happened ?? The price has been fabricated to look as if it is much higher than it would be and drives everyone off early. Now all one needs to do is RETRACT ones bids saying —  that the bids were made acccccccccidentally  !!

Now the price plummets as BOTH bidders retract ( this goes unpunished by eBay now ) !!! The seller is crushed and frustrated and any other HONEST bidders are put off. A seller MIGHT cancel their auction altogether and because of an offer made  from one of those bidders he then sells  the whistle OFF EBAY thereby getting the whistle, bypassing the whole auction and in the process circumventing eBay fees — using them for making the whole thing possible !!!

What helps is that eBay winks at all bid retractors. Oh, they SAY they take it seriously, but all one has to do is wait one year and to once again have a 100%  rating from them, despite a long history of either multiple retractions or better yet, getting the seller to cancel the transactions so nothing shows on ones history. How to build a terrific collection and cheat your way to the top. No doubt it will be proudly displayed and loaded up to some website as 'discovered by" …..

Quite the scene huh ??