whistle articles

September 24, 2014 by

well, it is only a week or so before posting a new article. Wouldn’t it be nice to get a couple related articles ?? Hmmm…

Perhaps one on the 5th and then a follow up on the 20th. —- Yeah, that’s the ticket 🙂

Done….It’s a deal…

Something really surprising too. A whistle never seen before. — Ground breaking.

Something to even surprise the long time collectors and even those students of whistles that think they have seen them all !!!! Something that says to all of us that whistles will continue to be discovered and discovered and ….

What could it be ???

and where did you hear it first ?? — The BLOG….OMG, 11 days to go….

Any clues ??  ….  no 🙂

Filed Under: Website

damaged whistles – hidden

September 24, 2014 by

It’s a love/hate relationship with the internet and whistles now isn’t it ?? Why say that ?? Well, one can’t get around the earth like ya can on the world wide web. So many more whistles can be found by knowing where to look.

Yet, there is definitely a CAVEAT EMPTOR  isn’t there ?? Yes, hidden defects. All the seller has to do is turn a whistle just right and voila !! The defect is hidden. Then write something small about it or nothing at all  and wow, watch out you don’t get stung.

Here’s the rub. If you get it cheap enough, it isn’t worth trying to  get your money back !! After all the postage is lost no matter what. Gotta really examine those pix or even ask for more…

Bought a dog whistle the other day and got stung. Actually bought the whistle just to get the case it came in and was going to sell off the sterling silver whistle, but WAIT !! The end of the case had been ‘cut out’ for the whistle to protrude. Chopped out really.

Now looking at the pictures again one could see from an angle a little bit of the defect. OUCH !! Just a smidge lacking in honesty there and  NOTHING describing it in writing —

Beware, it happens to us all…

Pictures —
ALL angles
Lots of them
Clear too
carefully read descriptions — ask questions….

Filed Under: Buying & Selling

whistle website

September 23, 2014 by

What does it take to create a whistle website?? Work. Whistles. World Wide Web. That’s a lot of Double-Us isn’t it. More  than alliteration is literature. In this case articles about whistles. So in our efforts to constantly expand our understanding about whistles we will be introducing a couple more catagories of SPOTLIGHTS  !!!! That makes FOUR !!!

Yup,
SPOTLIGHT – A … full blown article about a subject
SPOTLIGHT – B … special edition about an only known example
SPOTLIGHT – C … RESTORATION
SPOTLIGHT – D … The ‘A’ List

One new one will be called RESTORATIONS and one can only guess what that will be about 🙂 ….DER !!!

Another one is going to be called SPOTLIGHT  The ‘A’  List …. hmmmmm….. what can that one be ?? well it wouldn’t be much of a surprise now would it ??

Gotta keep ya from getting bored right ???

MORE IMPORTANLY GOTTA KEEP ME FROM GETTING BORED !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

Right now got almost 20 articles ready and in the chutes, ready to post….

Another 50 ( believe it or not ) in the works —- and at least 50 more on the books simmering

And what exclamation do I hear all the time at the antique shows we do ??            “WHO KNEW”  ???

Filed Under: Website

whistle insight — use pictures

September 20, 2014 by

Why take pictures of your whistles ??

Always good to have records and we’ve talked about this before ( I use the word we loosely )

But, isn’t it ironic that by taking pictures of your whistles that you see things that you missed or never noticed about your whistle before you clicked that button ??

Why is that we wonder??? ( well me anyway ) Would a magnifying glass work just as well ?? Probably not. It’s not the ‘largerness’ that helps. It’s the comparison….

Yah, when you take pictures to study a whistle sometimes it isn’t till you compare it with others that the significance of the design characteristics surface.

Or is may be a contrast that wasn’t readily discernible the first time around. Perhaps even parallels can be found.

here is a nice time to make more notes too. That is the nice thing about tags, you can write on them if they aren’t too small.

Granted it is hard to get into the whistle windows for closeups, but it’s fun trying. Perhaps even upgrading the ole camera ??

Then there is loading them into the computer right ?? … Another day we should ‘talk’

Filed Under: Collecting

on line auctions

September 20, 2014 by

on line auctions are great aren’t they ?? I mean who can travel enough to find unearthed treasures ??

BUT if one gets enough on line auctions watched and followed, then there is always something going each week !! LOT’s of whistles !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Think of the different venues around the world !!! AND in different languages ( google translate )

Then there are all those antique dealers around the world to talk to that come across whistles.

Yah, it is a world market now, why shy away ?? Cause it seems like too much trouble ?? Really ?? Isn’t searching through old shops tiring and most times fruitless ??

Just sit back, listen to music, sip a cool drink or even have a snack and hunt for a new whistle connection and who knows what further  whistles will come of it !!!!

Gotta work smart not hard….

Filed Under: Buying & Selling

whistle BOOKS

September 19, 2014 by

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 !!!!

Filed Under: Uncategorized

wiki research

September 17, 2014 by

 

wiki has become the fast food of research. Anyone can contribute and even though original info is taboo, it happens. Here are a few notes under whistle on Wikipedia :

‘Joseph Hudson set up his business in Birmingham in 1870, with his younger brother James. Around 1875, he designed the ‘Acme City’ brass whistle. This became the first referee whistle to be used at football matches during the 1878-78 Football Association Cup match between Nottingham Forest and Sheffield.’

Hmmmm…. since nothing is known about Hudson’s whistles prior to his breakout whistle contract of 1883, this would be a BIT inaccurate !!! In fact it isn’t even literate. Besides that ACME CITY was registered in 1907 – what would that be about THIRTY years later ??? THREE DECADES !!!!!!!! ——Just poke a sharp stick in my eye !!!!!

Worse yet it goes on …

‘In 1883 he began experimenting with pea-whistle designs that could produce an ear-splitting noise that could grab attention from over a mile away. His invention was discovered by accident, when he accidentally dropped his violin and it shattered on the floor. Observing how the discordant sound of the breaking strings travelled (trill effect), Hudson had the idea to put a pea in the whistle.’

OMG !!!! Really ?? A pea in a tube shaped police whistle ??? ARGH !!!!!! Help !!!!!  Have you ever seen a pea in a tube shaped whistle ?? EVER ???? …………..It only gets worse. Sorry I can’t read on anymore…

What’s the point ?? Research takes time and we can’t take wiki short cuts. Sometimes we just have to put things on hold.

So spread out and get several projects going at once. Have as many whistles to study as you can. Keep extensive notes and don’t rely on your memory !!!

 

 

 

Filed Under: Spotlight Research

whistory – the study of whistle history

September 17, 2014 by

—getting back into writing again. What about you ask ?? Anything coming down the pipeline ?? YUP.

Found a very interesting and never seen before Bell whistle !!!! WOW is all I can say for now. Well, and that a SPOTLIGHT  special will be coming out on it. Guess that is saying more after all…sorry.

AND an unbelievable tube shaped whistle. Not just a general service whistle, nah, too rare to be just sold in ‘production’ to the public. This one is fantastic and it too will be a SPOTLIGHT special 🙂

 

See, advance whistles news to look for huh ??

Then there is that antique show coming up in a month or so at the Portland Expo. The only drag is that we sell almost exclusively whistles for personal use there !!! Yah, rarely do we sell ‘collectible’ whistles there ?? Where’s the money in that ?? None !! But it’s a start huh ?? Perhaps ones will move on to actually collecting them like us 🙂

And it’s all about visibility too.

In the mean time back to writing….

Filed Under: Spotlight Research

whistle website

September 16, 2014 by

This website thing is really taking off !! Making lots of money ?? NAH. None at all. But that isn’t and hasn’t been the motivation. Just sharing info on whistles.

So let’s try something new for us….here is an example sent in … any ideas ??

WW1 or WW11 ?? what do you say

Click to View Click to View

Click to View Click to View

Isn’t this great ?? Now I can kick it out to the world to help out !! Yeah a composite mind focusing all its tremendous experience on our favorite subject – whistles

Horn ?? German ?? Military ??

I am on the edge of my seat….

Filed Under: Website

free whistle stuff

September 15, 2014 by

why give it away free ?? Why don’t we write books and sell them ??

Simply ??

It’s only fair !!!

Yup, it is yin yang kinda

or what goes around comes around…sorta

well, really it’s payback.

The more we find in this new and exciting hobby ( new to the world anyway ) the more we share and hopefully the more will be brought out of those places where all whistles reside when not wanted — now they are wanted !!!

So everything we learn we share by posting on the website. That’s half the story anyway. The other half is that we are constantly searching for whistles, doing research, writing articles, taking pictures, and submitting everything for your approval.

What is the best way to keep the whistle world growing?
Help us get our new avenue of information up and running.
We all know how fast social media is by now !!
Let’s use the tools we already have…. FACEBOOK — Like & Share what you can and let’s see what happens !
(Click the photo to view our Facebook page.)

Like us on facebook

Filed Under: Website
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