handmade whistles – rare ?

when it comes to collecting old whistles it comes up that there are handmade whistles galore.

BUT what does that meeeeeean ??

Trench whistle ?? Hobbyist, ??

OR….

As the story goes there was a lone whistle maker in the USA that operated out of his garage. He made a few hundred every year. Escargots. Very distinctive. Hand made ?? Well he used a machine. BUT worked with his hands too.

The further you go back in time the more 'handmade' the whistles were. Maybe more accurately —-  hand crafted ??

pieces were cast ( by hand ) and solid stock was drilled out and lathed.

Look at all the wonderful early rounds…………… Man and machines….

It woud seem that the more the hands on the whistles were made the fewer were made and the more scarce. Many had their own particular character even when they were made in some amount of numbers….

The opposite extreme was the totally machined and produced whistle  – much more common and cloned types were these.

Now if the whistle is toooo rustic it fails to meet the test of a true whistle — or does it ??

We have a terrific whistle that was made of iron pipe !!!

Where does one draw the line ???