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The Antiques Trade Gazette is a monthly magazine with articles and magazines available online. The magazine is advertised as, “the newspaper read by all serious buyers and sellers of art and antiques.” An article was posted regarding the Doubleday Bosun Collection, as featured in TWG’s Spotlight 070, “Garth Doubleday Boatswain Whistles”. The Whistle Gallery’s Len McDowell is featured in the article providing photos from The Whistle Gallery reference collection. Read more below.
Antiques Trade Gazette, Bibliography
Antiques Trade Gazette – The Art Market Weekly
Edition: ATG 2282, page 5
Article: Alert sounds over ‘duty dodger’ silver whistles
Author: Roland Arkell
Date: 11 Mar 2017
Online Article: https://www.antiquestradegazette.com/print-edition/2017/march/2282/news/alert-sounds-over-duty-dodger-silver-whistles/
Alert sounds over ‘duty dodger’ silver whistles
SILVER boatswain whistles from a collection pulled from sale by the Antique Plate Committee nine years ago have resurfaced on the market.
One of the ex-Doubleday collection whistles bought by Len McDowell of The Whistle Gallery in Oregon from a European eBay Seller.
The overstruck marks to one of the whistles together with a new set of marks added by the London Assay Office in 2009.
The whistles, with new hallmarks, are being sold as Georgian and Victorian ‘duty dodgers’.
The Garth and Alison Doubleday collection of more than 130 British and Continental boatswain whistles, or bosun’s calls, was assembled between 1965-72. It appeared for sale at London coin auctioneers Baldwin’s in May 2008 but a rare intervention by the London Assay Office resulted in the wholesale withdrawal of all 124 lots.
At the time, members of the committee that advises the Assay Office on the question of silver fakes and forgeries notified the auction house that they had suspicions about 51 items, namely that “some had fake English marks, some had keels that appeared to be made from hallmarked dessert knives, and others appeared to have other types of illegal adaptations”.
The committee later ordered the original hallmarks on the pieces to be overstruck and a new set of hallmarks added (including the date letter ‘k’ for 2009) before they were returned to the consignor.
Although their whereabouts across the intervening years is unknown, a dozen ‘Doubleday’ whistles have reappeared for sale online in recent months.
Len McDowell of The Whistle Gallery in Oregon bought four examples for reference – two on eBay and two via a retail website – from a seller who continues to offer others for sale from outlets in France and the UK. McDowell’s full research will be published on his website thewhistlegallery.com in the near future.
A member of the Plate Committe told ATG these whistles appear to be 20th century creations made using fragments of older hallmarked silver.
Although now with overstruck marks, they are catalogued with much the same descriptions they received in the Baldwin’s sale, including names of well-known 18th and 19th century English and Scottish silversmiths. The later marks are explained by the addition “believed to be a piece of duty dodging silver”.
Georgian and Victorian bosun’s calls are rare collectors’ items with prices upwards of £300 each.
Antiques Trade Gazette – The Art Market Weekly
Article: Make sure buys are sound
Letter to the Editor
Date: 18 Mar 2017
Online Article: https://www.antiquestradegazette.com/print-edition/2017/march/2283/letters-to-the-editor/make-sure-buys-are-sound/
Make sure buys are sound
MADAM – I write to give some background in relation to your piece on the re-marked bosun’s whistles (ATG No 2282).
As a member of the Antique Plate Committee I was asked by the Goldsmiths’ Company to look at the original sale at Baldwin’s, as two dealers had made comments that a large proportion of them had been altered or had transposed marks, thereby contravening the 1973 Hallmarking Act.
All the suspect whistles were withdrawn and subsequently sent to the Antique Plate Committee at the Goldsmiths’ Hall. The committee condemned a substantial number and under the present law, those pieces were re-hallmarked, making them perfectly legal.
A number of them came up for auction, quite legally, at Dreweatts on June 8, 2016. These were correctly catalogued and not ascribed as Victorian or Georgian as seems to be the case in your report.
Also very misleading are the attempts to describe them as duty dodgers, as your report outlines.
Duty dodgers are only found between 1720 and 1756 when the punitive levy of 6d per ounce was in force and, as bosun’s calls are light objects, the duty would have been negligible anyway.
Such are the dangers of buying from unknown sources.
Baldwin’s and Dreweatts did the right thing as they are responsible auctioneers. I would like to think reputable dealers would also act responsibly too, since reputations, as they say, are earned over a long period of time but quickly lost.
Alastair Dickenson
Godalming, Surrey