restoration ruins a whistle ….true or false ??

BOTH !!!

Depends on the whistle doesn't it ??

If the whistle is no good unless restored ( i.e. banged up, stained, just plain ugly ) then restoration is a no brainer huh ??

On the other hand patina is hard to come by 🙂 And if that is all your talking about then perhaps put it off.

Personally I love nickle silver polished up and all, whereas brass and copper I prefer aged. Steel I really love when it has that darkened appearance.

Keep in mind that taking a whistle apart is risky business what with heat tolerances of the entire whistle. Unless you have a jeweler do it ?? That solder can be hard to work with.

AND heat travels into the whistle body and then all of a sudden the whole thing melts…well the solder anyway !!!

Then there is that buffing thing….buff, buff, buff…..oops no more metal !!!!

lastly , one should consider ( in our running discussions of whistle pictures )

Backgrounds…

We like to use and hope we have created a signature of blue background on all of our pictures.

However there is a drawback and that is that whistles that are shiny reflect that color !!! Something we choose to live with, to set our pix apart.

The best seems to be an off-white for generic pictures.

However you can get innovative !!

Try this >>>>> elevate your whistle onto a sheet of glass and support it so that you can't see the supports by spreading them out. Now you can take close ups which affects the depth of field and makes your whistle seem to float !!!

Two or more sources of light really help knock out those pesky shadows, so you will really want to work with this from whatever location you have…

we hateses shaaaaadows…..

there are two sides to buying a rare whistle that is damaged….

( perhaps more sides yet 🙂

((Of course most sellers try to be accurate as possible —– and you read that on their descritption page of the auction.))

First we buyers have to see and note the damage, cause more than likely the seller has a back door.—-  What is that you ask ??

"I'm no expert on whistles so ask ahead" …. Yeah been there, bought that T-Shirt !!! Let's think about that for a second………….ready ???

Oh, REALLY ??????? Could one sell an antique table with a gouge down the middle and not point it out ?? Or a rare coin and not show the defects ?? How about a great Corvette car from the 60s,  but don't mention a headlight is missing !!!!

Oh I know, we posted pictures and said ask for any questions before you buy !!! ( a form of insurance I suppose )

My favorite is — "great condition for its age" ————–What ever happened to MINT condition  ???

Whatever….

The whole reason for this tirade is that I saw a rare 'castle' top beaufort go on eBay today for big bucks. I have only seen two others in my few days. However the top knop is missing and it is damaged. Do you think that the seller noted that ?? Even after I wrote and told them so ????

Hmmmmm……..

yeah, well of course things are never as easy as they seem !!!

Got this widget problem or maybe an email problem or maybe….well you get the picture.

Can't get the shopping cart to connect !! So if ya want to know more about a whistle that's for sale, you will have to email direct with the numbers !!!

Soooorrrrreeeee !!!!!!!!!

Back to the boards…..

whew !!!

Wow , did that take a LOT of time !!! Aaaaaanyway, the for sale pages are up and running now. Probably have a ton of errors, but will deal with those this weekend 🙂

Well, my errors not my incredibly innovative web master !!!!!!

Write if you like–in fact write if you don't like !!!

C YA ….

today one can see a great example of a rare whistle that is getting fairly common !!! The TANK whistle on eBay — up to 200gbp so far.

More Whistles states that it is much sought after and that is very true !!! It is presumed rare by that wouldn't you think ?? BUT, we have seen a dozen go for sale in the last five years.

Of course that doesn't mean it is cheap, just getting cheaper is all 🙂 — Relatively speaking anyway. Originally selling for over 1000 dollars it is dropping soon below 500 dollars. Can't wait …. well yes I can !!!!

As for looks, you will have to judge for yourself !!!! An interesting whistle for sure, but aesthetically pleasing ??? Hmmmmm…..

That's right! — The Whistle Gallery has been featured in The Oregonian newspaper !! Read below !!

( And as an added treat! The featured whistle in this article, The Coney Round, has just been highlighted in our new series of SPECIAL EDITION spotlights!  Click Here, to read about the Coney Round!)

Antique and collectible show is more than a whistle stop — but it's that, too.

This year's version of Christine Palmer & Associates America's Largest Antique & Collectible Show sprawls through two halls at the Portland Expo Center. The show, which continues Sunday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., with adult admission at $7, gathers more turquoise, brass, Bakelite, velour, tin, cardboard, felt and neon under two roofs than you can shake a flapper's beaded glove at.

If you can't find what you're looking for — and stumble across plenty that you weren't — your eyes must be closed. Obsessives, bargain hunters and the curious strolled, scooted and dragged chihuahuas through the expo center, where all manner of antiques and collectibles are assembled. It's a Smithsonian-yard sale mashup beached for the weekend in north Portland.

Something demands that you stop at the little booth in the D Hall, where a hand-lettered card says "Forget coins, marbles, stamps, comics. Whistles. The emerging collectable." It is mounted on an easel with customized display of more whistles than you imagined there could be. They are neatly hung from hooks next to tiny signs that say "Siren," "Scouts," "Hudson," "Bosun," "Beaufort," "Dog," and other things.

The booth belongs to Leonard and Debbie McDowell of Salem. They are proprietors of a website called TheWhistleGallery.com. The site — and a conversation with the McDowells — makes it clear that whistles are a subject of serious academic interest, as well as items to buy and sell.

Consider the website's Feb. 26 blog entry, which is headed "Whistle chains." "An area quite neglected in the whistle world is whistle chains," it begins. "Our absolute favorites are Dowler chains from the 1880s with heavy links made of pure nickle silver."

The McDowells are wearing matching t-shirts that say The Whistle Gallery on the front and are decorated with pictures of vintage whistles. Len McDowell, 57, doesn't need much encouragement to explain the purpose and provenance of his stock.

"This is a featured whistle," he explains. What's it called? A round whistle. How old is it? About 1880. What's it made of? Silver-plated brass. How much are you selling it for? It's not for sale.

The whistle is one of a bagful that are available to be shown, but not sold. If you want a whistle, you'll have to find one in your price range. The McDowells have one rack marked $20 and under. But you could be like the man who bought two whistles for $500 earlier in the day. He told the McDowells he wasn't a collector. He just wanted to display them on his dresser.

Len McDowell borrows his wife's iPad and scrolls through pictures of their collection. A skeleton whistle. A Polish police whistle. A whistle with an embedded compass from Occupied Japan. A whistle with a cigar cutter. An Argentine police whistle that he describes as hideous, but its leering face makes it a popular item.

Len McDowell is an electrician with Bergelectric Corp. He used to collect rare plants, but eventually gave them up in favor of whistles. Whistles don't die.

It was kind of an accidental passion for the McDowells. When their kids were young and being dragged to collectibles and antique shows, Debbie McDowell spotted a Cracker Jack whistle like the ones she remembered from her own childhood. They bought it.

Now the kids are grown and gone, but the whistle collection has grown. It was tough, in the years when they hunted for them in cluttered expositions like this one. But the internet has changed the game. Their collection exploded from about 25 to 1,000 over the last few years.

"A lot of people walk up and say 'Who'd a thunk it,'" Len McDowell said. But whistle collecting "is taking off worldwide," he said.

And if whistles don't suit you, then walk on.

— By Mike Francis, The OregonianThe Oregonian
on March 02, 2013 at 3:45 PM, updated March 02, 2013 at 4:28 PM

Click the link below to view the article on the Oregonian website:
http://www.oregonlive.com/portland/index.ssf/2013/03/antique_and_collectible_show_i.html

harrrrr there she be, another whistle picture to steal !! Shiver me timbers — is it legal though ???

Well, using pix for ones personal use and review is one thing. But posting someone elses pictures without permission is a violation of copyright laws. In other words stealing what isn't yours to take or use. No different than what someone else has written. BUT you may say it is in the public domain !!! Not a correct application of that term unfortunately.

Harsh ?? Not really. Just fair play to the one who took the original picture(s). —– One can cruise the internet though and see pictures that have been pirated all the time.

Is it important ?? What are the draw backs ??

Some important information is hard to share if you can't copy and go over it together. But then again why should we be able to capitalize off somebody elses work ??

So some loss and some gain. In the end isn't it just plain a matter of honesty ?? —- One can always ask for permission right ?? OR even pay for it !!! Whoah !!!!

The important thing is to be careful not to take what isn't yours and use it for selfish profit now isn't it ??

It certainly makes it harder for us here at the Whistle Gallery when doing articles, but creating links is the answer for us. We can cross examine pictures and writing and just link over to another site–gives credit where it is deserved and accomplishes research too !!!

Notice the word patent stamped on your whistle ?? What does that mean and how does it work ??

Firstly, patents are applied for and granted. They also have a duration. Early on they lasted longer. Why is that helpful ??

Well, if a whistle has that stamp, then you know what years it falls into right ?? But not always is it that easy . For example you often see on scout whistles by Hudson the stamp patent and also the number Rd. No.540164 and that pertains to the registered design of the pillar top that they used almost exclusively on their scout whisltes. However the patent would be for whatever was patented, the two piece top dated 1908 or the diaphragm dated 1898, or whatever it was for. That is important for your starting point.

This dates the whistle to either 1898 to 1912 or 1908 to 1922. You remember that the patent at that time was good for 14 years– this was set because of the length of two apprenticeships and continued to be so till 1919. Then it was lengthened to 16 years and later even further to 20 years.

The point being that if you found any circa 1900 whistle with a stamp of patent on it you could safely assume that it was dated from that patent date to 14 years later. However, don't confuse it with registered design dates.

So the next thing to do is look closer at the construction to date its start.

looking back in time about patents one wonder where they got their start. Perhaps unavailable to really know, it does seem that the UK has the earliest history dating back to circa 1500 !!! The earliest times were somewhat corrupted in who was granted what.

Not only that but there were monopoly/patent problems involved. However, that was finally dealt with and patents became set at 14 years. — the length of double apprenticeships as mentioned already.

However everyone wanted to get their fingers in the pie and again things got bogged down.

Thought you might like to read a brief piece by Charles Dickens ( well brief for him anyway )

A Poor Man's Tale of a Patent

  It addresses in a humorous way the uphill battle it was then….

http://www.readbookonline.net/readOnLine/2530/

Later, improvemts helped spur on the indistrial revolution. Who knew whistles would be in there, but they are !!!!