I don’t know about you, but whistles without rings are a plague to me. I understand that those split rings break eventually ( high tensile strength ), but where to get a replacement ??  Perhaps it is just rusted TOO much and cries out for replacement ?? The newer ones just don’t look right on an old whistle. First of all they are bulky, then shiny.

Plus, those old steel split rings are terrifically slim and the part that touches at the end of each side is really tapered. You just don’t see that work anymore do you ???!!! Not to mention ( well I never understood this phrase because I do mention ) the DARK gray patina is a beautiful charcoal color look to it on the old ones prior to say 1920.

Then there are those nickel silver rings with no splits at all that sometimes are damaged or missing and now what to do ?? Especially difficult to replace if the ends were soldered together and then ground down smooth, so you can’t see the seam where they connect…you know, one solid looking ring. Even if they had a split and met for a single ring, they are hard to impossible to find. In fact try making one of nickel silver stock !!

Oh, of course brass ‘jump’ rings also present a problem. AND they had at one time terrific patina equally difficult to replace. Can’t replace a brass ring with a new very shiny, electroplated or even solid brass ring.

There is the constant problem of what SIZE ring to boot. The type of ring to match to the whistle?? >>>> was it steel or brass or nickel silver ??

Who knew there would be sooooo many decisions about whistle rings ???

—– what to do ?? just what to do ??????

good question….

are there other whistles out there besides metropolitan police whistles ?? It might be asked if there are other whistles besides metropolitans even …

Metropolitan:

1) FIRE BRIGADE
2) MENTAL HOSPITAL
3) ASYLUM
4) HOSPITAL
5) GSW (general service whistles )
6) GPO ( general post office )
7) PRISON
8) AD INFINITUM !!!!

So what’s left ??? Well, about 99 and 44/100 percent of the whistle world !!!!

Branch out, don’t get in a rut, there are ‘other’ whistles      🙂

you know this blogging is harder than it looks. Is it because there is a dearth of things to talk about when it comes to whistles….well antique ones anyway ??

Noooo, that’s not the problem at all !! It’s staying with it daily. Just got back from an antique fair and talked a LOT about whistles. However didn’t get to write much and now here we are re organizing the leftovers 🙁

Unfortunately that IS work !!!

As things go back and forth ERRORS are spotted. Imagine that ??

What is amazing is that the more one learns  the more errors one finds in the collection. Weird huh ?? Yah, it  all starts with those tags we talked earlier about. Gotta keep them well recorded so that when you learn more you can make corrections — SO believe it or not, write in pencil !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

ACH, ACH as the Martians say….

restoration of whistles ?? Oh really ??? Who bothers ?? EXACTLY !!! The field is wide open 🙂

So here is a great tip. Vinegar ( white of course )

You are no doubt addicted to steel chains, and whistle combinations now after all the latest SPOTLIGHT stuff —– really drove it into the ground right ??

It appears that white vinegar removes rust !! Who knew that it worked so well ??????? Not me anyway, perhaps everyone else did already and I just caught up.

Anyway…

Been trying it on various chains and getting better at it. SUPER !!!

AND the patina comes back right away ( well fairly soon ), all one needs is a little oil — but what kind of oil…. hmmmm…

The thing about whistles is that the more you think about it the more impossible it is to separate them from their chains, lanyards, button straps, strings or whatever !!!

Sure there are a certain few that had not hole in the knop to put a string, but then these elaborate knots were used to tir around the top ‘holeless’ knop.

In fact, of all the whistles we have ever had here, there is only ONE that you could not put a string around the top.

Unless you count all those extractor whistles

and those multipies with no rings

and those tin sirens

and those roundlets, compass combinations, escargots without knops, slide whistles

Now wait a minute, what were we talking about ?? Oh yeah, how one carried their whistle around….

Took a whistle with me to work today. I’ve been wondering, perhaps you too… How in the world did anyone carry around and use those giant KING whistles made by Hudson ?? This one was circa 1885 plus.

At FOUR inches long they are definitely not lightweights !!! So I skipped the chain and button hook. Then I put it in my pocket where it quickly sank to the bottom and leveled out sideways. I had a couple of ear plugs for the jobsite in there too and use them when those terrifically loud pile drivers are going on. So they of course interfered with beach other.

Uncomfortable with that I separated them. Then the challenge of what to do with my keys. Habits must have been different 125-130 years ago !!!

So far this experiment wasn’t revealing much at all. Then it dawned on me !! I need a chain and button hook, Not just any button hook, but one of those special whistle button hooks like no other.

Now which button do I choose ….

How does a whistle get it’s name ?? You know, like ROUND whistle….

Somebody earlier on had to make it up is all. Then it sticks if it fits. Probably how it happened with the round whistle huh ?? Sure, cause it is round. Der !!!

Cool whistle too, as many times it has a stop hole in the front, so that when it ‘faces’ you it looks like a face with an upside down smile and a Cyclops eye peering at you.

Shoulda called it a face whistle….nah, not catchy enough. Perhaps a — I dunno, nothing else fits it.

Round whistle…OK cool. I can live with that. They are my favorites anyway. All is good and well with whistle names and along comes some strange French or English or …. some unobvious, inpronounceable, dishomophonic….ech…

So what is up with BEAUFORTs…..doesn’t even SOUND like a whistle……

How many different whistles ARE THERE ?????????????

Hard to say, but probably just short of endless.

Here is the catch….different countries have many varieties and they don’t coincide with the other countries models, material, sizes. uses. So the catch is how to see what each country had/has without going there.

That’s where the best garage sale in the world comes into play. — The internet !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

So contact us and use us as a CPU or central processing unit 🙂 Well, it certainly would be fun.

Let’s think about just one country for example-CHINA. Think of how old the history is there — hundreds of yeeeeeears and seeing just a few whistles from China tells us that there is an incredible variety just waiting to be seen and studied !!!

Now compare that to the countries that have been involved with the internet for old metal whistles —

Here is what we have seen so far:

USA ( lots)
UK ( the most )
FRANCE ( lots )
GERMANY ( many )
ARGENTINA ( many )

URUGUAY ( a few )
Eastern Europe ( some )
INDIA ( many )
here and there a whistle or two from other countries…

Can you imagine if all the countries were able to show antique and vintage whistle characteristics from their own sources ???

WOW…makes me shudder….

Why are whistle so much more collectible than coins ?? Can’t spend them like coins. Can’t put them in those neat and tidy little coin books. Can’t date them as accurately. Can’t find as many avid other collectors for sure….

However they are gaining ground AND perhaps increasing in value quicker ??

there are similarities though in grading and condition. They can be stored and studied as well. Then there is the history, the connections to makers, the uses.

They do have one great advantage that trumps all coins….you can blow on them and they make sound

🙂

Some are sirens, some are sliders, some are tweeters, some are much louder, some sound like trains, some trill, some…

Need I go on ??? Sooooo much more interesting…..

Who buys books anymore ?? When it comes to whistles, why by books. After all one can just Google whistles and find out everything one needs to know right ??

Depends…

What are you trying to learn ??
Wanna sell ??
Wanna keep ??

Big difference huh ?? Yah, that’s for sure !!! If you wanna sell, then just look at our website and probably find all you need. In fact that’s what we have tried to do is help you out. Now if you go deeper cause you wanna keep whistles to collect them then you gotta learn more don’t ya ??

The only way to really learn is to study those books by Gilchrist till your eyes bleed !!! Sorry, but true. You have to rewire your brain to get the sense of a new arena. — the whistle !!!! Cmon, there are only three books, what’s the problem ??

Oh, I get it !! They cost so much money ( really ? ) — After all you say,  I could buy several whistles for that !!! – Really ?? Is that what you are thinking ??? Then  consider this. Study the books and avoid buying several really bad whistles and voila, you just broke even !!! Now find several really good whistles and voila you are now ahead !!!!

THEN communicate with other collectors ( like us maybe ? ) and now you can compare, contrast, get advice…. even get help understanding those books !!!!