whistle research

March 9, 2013 by

SPOTLIGHT research really takes it outa one !! However makes it all come together really.  Another one posted — aaaaand stay tuned 🙂

…… another BONUS SPOTLIGHT  this month ??

Perhaps even another feature ????????????????????????????? If you stay posted for all three, then you may be tuned all month !!!! That'll leave a mark huh ?? BUT it will be worth it — Got some great ones lined up for MARCH !!!

Went to a class last night on just how to dig for more info. Free to you, but everything has it's cost right ?? Although haven't posted FOR SALE whistles as of yet, we have been selling them when you write in, so THANKS !! It helps defray the enormous costs involved with…

Computer
Programs
Lighting
Digital camera
Batteries
Racks
Tags
Tables
Posters
T-shirts
Taxes
Fuel
Booth costs
 

Oh my … Perhaps we should take a closer look at this — haven't even thrown in the cost of the  whistles !!!!!

 

Filed Under: Spotlight Research

Rare whistles

March 7, 2013 by

Heading for 30,000 page loads now and gotta think that whistles will all of a sudden just start skyrocketing !!!!

Makes sense, a LOT like coins and THEY are very expensive, rare and collectable 🙂 Whistles though have dodged that still.

Better than coins is….

….that feeeel of a heavy, smooth, well made whistle that beats coins to pieces you know.

And coins don't make any sound at all either.

Besides that you can't hang up coins like whistles…

No comparison really…well, I guess you can't spend a whistle—gotta give 'em that….

Filed Under: Website

more on whistle chains ???

March 5, 2013 by

sick of chain talk ?? Sorry….

When do you 'introduce' a chain to your whistle ?? See how they go together ?? Certainly don't want to offend your whistle by overshaowing it with a chain that is too forward. My, my, what to do ??

Matching metals is nice 🙂 Never have tried variety I admit… will have to give that some thought now though !!!!

And there is the matching of ages so that a new chain doesn't try to get together with an older more sophisticated whistle. That would be a faux pas…

Some whistles come with certain types of chains. Some don't ever come with chains at all . Then there are those terrific watch chains that you can even modify.

Perhaps you have gotten an older whistle and it came with a chain and you want to keep it 'as was found'. I guess bottom line is it is your whistle after all and nobody really has any say huh ??

Heavy links, lighter links, shapes of links, complicated links …and of course all those silver chains ( we rarely use them ) — the list is actually endless…..

 

 

Filed Under: Collecting

From Whistle Shows to the Local News!

March 3, 2013 by

That's right! — The Whistle Gallery has been featured in The Oregonian newspaper !! Read below !!

( And as an added treat! The featured whistle in this article, The Coney Round, has just been highlighted in our new series of SPECIAL EDITION spotlights!  Click Here, to read about the Coney Round!)

 

Antique and collectible show is more than a whistle stop — but it's that, too.

This year's version of Christine Palmer & Associates America's Largest Antique & Collectible Show sprawls through two halls at the Portland Expo Center. The show, which continues Sunday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., with adult admission at $7, gathers more turquoise, brass, Bakelite, velour, tin, cardboard, felt and neon under two roofs than you can shake a flapper's beaded glove at.

If you can't find what you're looking for — and stumble across plenty that you weren't — your eyes must be closed. Obsessives, bargain hunters and the curious strolled, scooted and dragged chihuahuas through the expo center, where all manner of antiques and collectibles are assembled. It's a Smithsonian-yard sale mashup beached for the weekend in north Portland.

 

Something demands that you stop at the little booth in the D Hall, where a hand-lettered card says "Forget coins, marbles, stamps, comics. Whistles. The emerging collectable." It is mounted on an easel with customized display of more whistles than you imagined there could be. They are neatly hung from hooks next to tiny signs that say "Siren," "Scouts," "Hudson," "Bosun," "Beaufort," "Dog," and other things.

The booth belongs to Leonard and Debbie McDowell of Salem. They are proprietors of a website called TheWhistleGallery.com. The site — and a conversation with the McDowells — makes it clear that whistles are a subject of serious academic interest, as well as items to buy and sell.

Consider the website's Feb. 26 blog entry, which is headed "Whistle chains." "An area quite neglected in the whistle world is whistle chains," it begins. "Our absolute favorites are Dowler chains from the 1880s with heavy links made of pure nickle silver."

The McDowells are wearing matching t-shirts that say The Whistle Gallery on the front and are decorated with pictures of vintage whistles. Len McDowell, 57, doesn't need much encouragement to explain the purpose and provenance of his stock.

"This is a featured whistle," he explains. What's it called? A round whistle. How old is it? About 1880. What's it made of? Silver-plated brass. How much are you selling it for? It's not for sale.

The whistle is one of a bagful that are available to be shown, but not sold. If you want a whistle, you'll have to find one in your price range. The McDowells have one rack marked $20 and under. But you could be like the man who bought two whistles for $500 earlier in the day. He told the McDowells he wasn't a collector. He just wanted to display them on his dresser.

Len McDowell borrows his wife's iPad and scrolls through pictures of their collection. A skeleton whistle. A Polish police whistle. A whistle with an embedded compass from Occupied Japan. A whistle with a cigar cutter. An Argentine police whistle that he describes as hideous, but its leering face makes it a popular item.

Len McDowell is an electrician with Bergelectric Corp. He used to collect rare plants, but eventually gave them up in favor of whistles. Whistles don't die.

It was kind of an accidental passion for the McDowells. When their kids were young and being dragged to collectibles and antique shows, Debbie McDowell spotted a Cracker Jack whistle like the ones she remembered from her own childhood. They bought it.

Now the kids are grown and gone, but the whistle collection has grown. It was tough, in the years when they hunted for them in cluttered expositions like this one. But the internet has changed the game. Their collection exploded from about 25 to 1,000 over the last few years.

"A lot of people walk up and say 'Who'd a thunk it,'" Len McDowell said. But whistle collecting "is taking off worldwide," he said.

And if whistles don't suit you, then walk on.

— By Mike Francis, The Oregonian
on March 02, 2013 at 3:45 PM, updated March 02, 2013 at 4:28 PM

Click the link below to view the article on the Oregonian website:
http://www.oregonlive.com/portland/index.ssf/2013/03/antique_and_collectible_show_i.html

Filed Under: Uncategorized

back to whistle chains

March 3, 2013 by

sorry, but another word ( or two ) on chains….

We received a DeCourcy Constabulary whistle today. Been waiting for what seems a month for it !!! Droooooling really. I know, whats another whistle ?? — nothing , you are right !!!

BUT what came with the whistle ?? —– YUP a chain !!!!

AND not just any chain, but an A.V. link NICKLE SILVER with a matching hook aaaaand matching ring —— TO DIE FOR !!!!

Envious ?? Should be  🙂  So, THEN it came off the police issue, which is nickel silver and great in its own right, and the decision …. hmmmmmm  — where does it goooooo ?????

AHA !!! The neglected KING whistle NEEDS a chain of this merit !!!!!

 

PERFECT…..

Filed Under: Collecting

whistles for sale

March 2, 2013 by

Getting ready today for our sell off of whistles in Portland. Really nervous this time. We have been reducing our own antiques there by selling them off too, so we don't have so complicated a life here at home.

THIS time we are going all out with whistles !!! Nothing but whistles !!! We have expanded to FOUR glass cases and some other things like T-Shirts and posters with our name on them 🙂 ( you can write for them direct too…. )

So, what if we bomb out ?? Dunno…. Time to make the jump though.

So one case will be for new arrivals for sale, one case for VERY rare whistles for sale,  the third for rare whistles — variety  AND the fourth is 'the collectors case' for rare makers ( police and GSWs ).

Then there are two double back boards like in our reference collection with inexpensive utility whistles up to and just short of rare ones. We also have sections for sports whistles, scout whistles, boatswain whistles, beaufort whistles, Porteous whistles

Well, you get the picture. Should we sell off our growing collection of Horn, Antler, Bakelite whistles ?? I am up to 9 now ?? I am soooo ashamed !! Yup I have sold out to the dark side, NON metal !!!!! But they are sooooo cool !!! And they can come a lot larger many times. Four or more inches !!! Next will be ivory and bone If not careful —- help !!!

We'll see how it goes …. Friday is early sales for the most eclectic…

Filed Under: Shows

whistle chains too

February 28, 2013 by

….can't let go just yet of this chain thing in regard to whistles.

You know you never see copper chains from out side the USA do you ?? And even then gotta be careful !! — Why you ask ??

Cause they plated them with an oxidation that looks terrfically like copper !!! Beautiful, but not 'puuuuuure'  So one has to get out their magnet that one keeps handy their at their research desk and checks them out right ??? From the ring to the hook everything has to checkout 🙂

We find that Horstnmann used copper a lot, but there is another smaller obscure maker that used it too. Otherwise be careful !!!

Like whistles,  chains are plated regularly too. Raw and pure is the best though — no games, just the original beauty..

And a person has to decide what lengths are appropriate, because they come in different lengths aaaaand accompaning ring sizes.
 

Beyond that, if you get 'hung up' on them as we do, you have to figure out how to store and display those 'outfitted' whistles !!!! I have seen terrific displays with rows of whistles and nooooooo chains !!! Where did they go ??? Send 'em here !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
 

 

 

Filed Under: Collecting

whistle chains

February 26, 2013 by

…an area quite neglected in the whistle world is whistle chains. Why do you think ?? Perhaps because they are so easily replaced or added, exchanged at the owners whim ?? Perhaps like many whistles, they are just plain obscure !!!

There is a fine line between what constitutes a whistle chain too. For example earliest chains may date back to Boatswain whistles and may have been quite customized. Other very old attachments were likely cloth or strings.

Watches have for centuries had fobs and Ts with ornamental chains and we also see crossovers there used on whistles. Buyers choice right ?? Certainly.

However, chains were eventually made specifically for whistles by actual whistle manufacturers — including button hooks — and we see them done so and classified in Hudson catalogs and made as well by  DeCourcy — who came from Hudsons.

Check out the eBay auction sale going on of whistle chains from the whistle king himself —  Leif Bailey on eBay — 271158445630

Our absolute favorites are Dowler chains from the 1880s with heavy links made of pure nickle silver. We have 'outfitted' our favorite whistles with them 🙂

For the really eclectic you can even tell the difference in the hooks, how large the openings, how large the hooks are and the materials used, whether it is plated or 'pure'.

Brass chains, steel chains, copper chains — it gets quite complicated !!!  —- Whoda thunk ???

Then there is the subjet of 'jump' rings…..

 

Filed Under: Collecting

police whistles

February 24, 2013 by

Still kinda trolling eBay these days, it's fun to watch what goes by. You know what doesn't come up much ?? Old metropolitan police whistles. Odd don't ya think ??

Really. After all,  the best book in the world written on police whistles by Martyn Gilchrist came out a few years ago now. And you would think that there would be more surfacing of the Metropolitans.

Oh, there are plenty more city, county,shires, and such Constabulary Police issues popping up with different names and ages, but not METROs. Admittedly we DO see a lot of later METROs, say from 1915 on, but what about the earlier ones ??

CPW ( Collecting Police Whistles ) laid all the groundwork too, actually classifying them from the earliest release by Joseph Hudson down to the latest MP ( metropolitan police ) as MP1 through MP25 – or wherever one wants to trail off.

Rarely do we see an MP5 or MP8 for instance. Of course there are only two known MP2s known so that is understandable, but the others ?? Well MP4 would be difficult as it was a Bent and Parker and they made a lot less that year.

Occasionally we see an MP3 for example, but usually not original. You know, the mouthpiece or top cap or both have been replaced at some point. So I suppoooooose that could be collected as a variation. Still where are the original issues ??

 

Keep your eyes peeled 🙂

 

Filed Under: eBay News & Updates

rare whistle for sale

February 24, 2013 by

Been watching eBay for a few days lately. Interesting perspectives looking at both sides. One side selling and one side buying.

Makes a person meditate on what a whistle is worth ?? A friend of mine growing up said in regard to selling that an item is worth whatever it will sell for. Guess when it boils down to it, that is correct.!!! HOWEVER ….

What if the seller won't budge on what seems like too high of a price ?? Perhaps timing is an element not always figured in by the buyer, but sure part of the equation for the seller !!! For example:

1) What if a seller refuses to sell at a lower price than he feels a whistle is worth ?? —- Then in a way he is buying the whistle for his own self.
2) What if a seller wants to wait for the market to pick up ?? Then, that is playing the market in a 'linear' fashion rather than a wider 'here and now' fashion.
3) What if a seller wants to just try on another day and see if it was merely an off week ?? Then re listing may very well work out.

On the other hand…

1) What if the buyer(s) refuse to bite ?? Then the whistle just won't sell and another look at the whistle asking price is forthcoming.
2) What if the price is truly a pipe dream ?? Then the whistle was never really even being auctioned off was it ??
3) What if The seller has a terrible rating ?? Then the whistle might be great, but nobody wants to take a chance losing their money !!

There are a lot of variables on eBay auctions. It takes years of buying and selling whistles to get a feel for them. However there are other points to consider…and buyers do think about….
Is it an obscure whistle ??
Is it damaged ??
Is it one of a kind ?? ( some like that, some don't )
Is it a great whistle, but common ??
Is it a rare whistle, but poorly made ???

Head starting to hurt yet ?? Good, mine has been hurting for years now….

 

Filed Under: eBay News & Updates
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