To really help in your research about whistles, here is a SPOTLIGHT devoted to where to go and what to do. There is a lot of digging involved, but the more diggers, the more will come out don’t you think?
To start with we are discussing metal only, but others come into the picture.
Gather Your Research Materials
We will cover:
- BOOKS
- CATALOGUES & ADVERTISEMENTS
- INTERNET
- PATENTS
- COLLECTORS
- AUCTION SITES
- PICTURES
- HOME FILES
The best place to start is to have BOOKS. There are three written by Martyn Gilchrist, mainly concentrating on UK whistles. All are out of print at this time. One by James Dundas – Collecting Whistles from the USA.
1) Collecting Police Whistles and Similar Types, by Martyn Gilchrist and Simon Topman. Hardbound.
This is a comprehensive reference work. Features include:
- Life size pictures and plenty of them
- Histories of manufacturers
- A standard of classifying is set with rankings of MP1 – 24 = Metropolitan Police (with allowance for variations)
- Comprehensive lists of stamps taken from Hudson records and individual collectors — of each manufacturer
- Lists of patents and registrations
- Drawings of components for identifying the makers
- Comments next to the pictures that doubles the information from the main text
Although this book concentrates on London Metropolitan Police Whistles, it accomplishes two things: it identifies accurately the timing of production which helps set a time line to compare with; it differentiates police whistles from General Service Whistles ( GSWs ) and other types of whistles. Accompanying this are many introductions to other manufacturers of the same time period from the UK.
2) More Whistles, by Martyn Gilchrist, steps away from concentrating on police and other tube shaped whistles and brings into focus several categories such as the following:
- escargot (snail shaped)
- beauforts (conical shaped)
- tubular (shaped) in general
- varietal
- sirens
- extractors
3) Whistles, by Martyn Gilchrist, is an introductory ‘booklet’ with some obscure pix not repeated — well worth getting and studying. This inexpensive one is still available online at Amazon and other book outlets.
There are other booklets to research, but the pages are few in each. Then there are reference police books, collectors’ books, fire brigade books, books with lists, railway and others like how many asylums there were in the UK etc. One needs to build a library.
Another tremendous help is to find old trade CATALOGUES by the original dealers. These would be printed for the original manufacturer OR the retailer that sold for them. They help in tracking down different models (and model numbers) helping with creating a history of the whistle maker, as well as location of business addresses and varieties, sizes, and materials. For example:
Walton catalog of c.1901 (only made whistles for 6 years). This catalogue is known to exist &
would have whistles that he was currently making, along with model numbers. When it surfaces it can be added to your fund of records along with all your other catalogs.
In addition to catalogues there are ADVERTISEMENTS. Single or multiple pages, especially dated ones are helpful. You want to get the source of the pages which helps in the hunt for documentation.
Third is the INTERNET.
- Websites devoted to vintage whistles.
- Facebook pages of collectors.
- Blogs also focusing on whistles.
- Websites devoted to histories of manufacturers, dates, logos.
- Search engines.
An outstanding source of real time information is to go to PATENT searches and look for whistle patents and registrations.
We have searched through many times, taking personal copies and studying for details. There is a wealth of information only keys away.
Unfortunately, European research and especially UK research by this method is still quite arduous. Perhaps in the future? There is much there to be shared about patents and registrations.
Other COLLECTORS are a fantastic source of information. Try to write when you can. Share information and exponential things will snowball for you both. Even the newest collector may have a whistle unknown before or very rare, that they came across.
AUCTION SITES like eBay, Etsy, etc. and others are also a source to see many more whistles than you would normally come across. Sometimes the information that the seller has found helps. However, a word of caution: some sellers will quote whatever sells the whistle. Always check for documentation before taking it as gospel. Even a reference to a website may be unsubstantiated.
Keep PICTURES in a file for reference. They are all copyrighted if taken from the net or if sent to you by others, so you can’t share without permission. However, for a personal data base they are indispensable. You will be surprised how often you will refer to them, cross-checking and building your own files.
HOME FILES As you find, record and file, you will find that your own library with become one of your research tools. Think ahead of what types of whistles there are and organize files to dump all your catalogs, advertisements, pictures (yes, you will need files for all the different types of whistles), research projects, notes.
Additionally, if you build files for your whistles, you can also create your own data base and years from now refer to your very own researched notes for reference.
Don’t forget a computer back-up system for what may turn out to be years of research.
TWG
Posted December 4, 2012
Revised May 23, 2018
Revised October 10, 2020
Revised February 13, 2021
Revised December 27, 2021
Revised December 29, 2021
Revised January 30, 2022
Revised April 28, 2026
© – All photos with blue background property of The Whistle Gallery reference collection. Please contact The Whistle Gallery for permission of use of any website content. Spotlight articles are copyrighted. Please contact The Whistle Gallery for permission of use of any website or Spotlight article material written or otherwise. Use of photos without authorization is prohibited.
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