probably will step on some toes, but just gotta laugh when we get enquiries about "how much is my whistle worth ? "

Really ??

THAT'S what we have worked yeeeeeears for !!! So we can help sell your whistle !!!! Well, not yours, but SOMEONE'S anyway 🙂

Yah, happens alot !!!!

But you know what is nice ?? When we get cut in on the profits for helping out. Just the other day we helped someone sell their collection for 1500 dollars and then they sent us 500 dollars for helping them price them and describing what each whistle was and recomending how to advertise them.

Believe that ?? Yeah, we also have some swamp land to sell you 🙂

NOT….

On the other hand we can and do offer the best price that we can if we are interested. Just can't afford them all. What do you do after all ??

I guess we will continue to research and publish all the free information we can so you CAN sell your whistles. Can't beat that price……

The problem with King whistles is that you hardly ever see them for sale. Kinda makes you wonder what production levels were back then ? Well even the fact that they were made for decades, now that we are thinking of it.

Since Joe  started making them right out of the gate in 1882-3 and they were made at least till the 1930s, well where did they all go ??

Perhaps they are sooooo coooool that nobody lets go of them 🙂

Sometimes they do….I know it took a lot of hunting to find enough to present in an article. 6 or 7 years to be sort of exact….

and still looking….especially for that 84 bucks one !!!!

Amd they are bulky. Can't imagine carrying one around in the pocket. Maybe only on a chain like a watch ???

It was a fun SPOTLIGHT  though eh ?? Hope you enjoyed it 🙂

Are we a team player or competitive about rare old vintage whistles ?? What does it matter ??

Let's see now….Let's say a whistle comes up for sale. Are we affected by what others do or say about that whistle ?? Have we done our research and even if we have do we know what WE want in our collection ?? Take for example the TANK whistle — ugly !! But sought after and expensive, but why ?? Hmmmm,,,,,

Or the Winchester 1806 — plain. In fact other stamps on the same whistle worth but a fraction. Why ?? OTHERS want the name only.

It goes on and on.

Another example is a whistle comes up for sale and because others say it is special do we buy it to have a significant collection ?? Based on what we want or what our competitors say we should want ??

Buying this way can lead to buyers remorse too !!!

Team players talk and help each other to collect what each likes for there own unique ( hopefully ) collection. True everyone can't have them all. However there are a lot of whistles to talk about, trade, sell, take pictures of…..

conclusions ?? tomorrow….

still on thius subject of crossing the line from dabbling in a 'hobby' to a different level altogether ….what is a serious collector of antique, rare old whistles ??

Wouldn't it be the same no matter what was collected ??

Let's think about this….

1) expands what is known ( finds new varieties of subject matter )
2) doesn't favor the best artifacts ( less sought after also are important contributions )
3) breaks new ground ( finds new catagories )
4) fills in the blanks and makes connections with what is known
5) researches and goes deeper into alreeady known data

— in other words contributes to the fund of knowledge. Perhaps all this goes no further than the individual.Then it would not be a fund would it ?? Just hoarding ?? Maybe. On the other hand it could be just private and we all have to respect that too….. Unfortunate though to let all that knowledge die with a collection.

what conclusions can we draw from all this ??? Hmmm…

hmmm… still thinking about the passionate side of collecting ( whistles of course). Or what collectors disdain to call obsessing.

No matter how you look at it, unless someone unearths those whistles, then they will never be known. On the other hand if a person obsesses, they lose their identity and become absorbed into the hobby.

Where is the balance to collecting rare old whistles ?? Well now, that is the question isn't it ?? Depends whether you are a serious collector — oops, did I say that out loud ?? What is a serious collector ??

Now we are getting somewhere…. gotta give this even more thought….

well, did the math….almost three more months till we break 300,000 page loads !!!  That means that in just a few more yeeeeears we will break 1 million !!! Or Armaggeddon may come first…

Just sayin….

wow, prices are really down on whistles on eBay !!!

Why ?? Money going elsewhere ?? Maybe…

Then again saw a Barraall go for quadruple what it could have !!!

So we decided to throw some whistles on and see what happens. The fees for listing aren't too bad–well compared to if you actually sell something…

What game are we talking about ?? It's the hunt. BUT not just hunting for a whistle. Noooooo, it's waaaay more fun even than that !!!

It comes after you find a whistle that you just can't identify and it just bugs you to death who made it.

It could take yeeeeeers, but along comes another and another with similar design characteristics and then all of a sudden ( like the contrast ?? ) you find a KEY whistle that has a manufacturer name stamped on it or you recognize it out of a catalog or is pictured and identified by someone else ( reliably )

Wow, now that's closure !!!! Pieces start falling together…but then there is that fringe whistle somewhat like the key, but just a little further away….

Hmmmm…..

gotta admit, having a necklace with a genuine vintage dated whistle, outfitted with a genuine vintage whistle chain and then having built into it  an original vintage whistle button hook for a clasp and ending with a vintage whistle ring….( a terribly  run on sentence ) is outrageously cool.

I mean you see this stuff on Etsy that might be found at Goodwill in pieces and thrown together. NOT handpicked, NOT perfectly matched for matching of metals, NOT dated for authenticity in every way.

And one pauses to think, why am I buying this cheapy wannabe jewelry and paying for it and getting only a fraction of what I REALLY want !!! The REAL DEAL !!!

Take for example a STEEL/BRASS combined Police and Fire whistle from the UK made by Alfred DeCourcy circa 1915. Perfectly exposed with no oxidized paint remaining,  to see the beautiful contrast between the steel and brass parts. Then combine this with steel A.V. chain from the United States off of a 1910 escargot made for the military/police. Also the split ring is a vintage steel matching ring from another escargot from the states accompanied by a steel button hook. It took two whistles to get the two lengths of chain. So all in all it took FOUR whistles to piece together a totally unique whistle chain combination !!!

Each complimentary piece was cleaned and prepped to wear. — Outstanding jewelry that NOBODY else in the world but TWG can put together and date it all. !!!!!!!

Because these take so many vintage parts and matching them takes even longer, they will always be limited. You should see the Bent and Parker !!! Whoah !!!