Spotlight > Research Articles > 031 How Do I Price My Police Whistle?
Whistory
Two early questions to ask ….
1) Is it a Metropolitan? — Then it is by Hudson.
2) Is it made by someone else? — Then it needs to be identified.
What Type of Metropolitan Police Whistle You Have
Metropolitans are very ‘collectible’ these days. In part because Metropolitan stamps are associated with Fire Brigades, Hospitals, Asylums, truancy, and such. If not associated with anything, then it is rather generic and worth little. On the other hand, if it dates to circa 1885 then it will have some value, especially with a cast mouthpiece.
So, if it is a Metro, is it 84 bucks, 131 Barr, 13 Barr or 244 Barr. The older the address the better for pricing. Is it police issued with a force named on the whistle? The more obscure the constabulary the better the price you will get. And so on, with other stamped facilities.
Are you selling it on eBay ( most are these days ) Then start it low and hold on to the very end. The money will always come in at the last 10 seconds, with last second bidding. It can be nerve wracking, but it is just the way of bidding. Most know that if they bid up front it merely drives the price higher, so they lay low. Be careful not to place bids on your own whistle. That is very taboo by eBay, called shill bidding.
Now consider this…If it is a police force whistle it will sell high, if it is an asylum whistle it will bring in more. OR if it is a fire brigade whistle it will also bring in a lot. Is the whistle from the UK or outside of the UK? Most collecting is inside the UK collectors. However, there are some big-time collectors outside the country. It is simply just more popular in the UK.
Silver sells well. Can’t say much about silver whistles though…they are usually little things with high prices …. Teethers can be quite elaborate and sell well if unusual, but often the seller asks for far too much. Silver and gold whistles can fetch very high prices. It is almost a different field of collecting.
Unrealistic Pricing of a Police Whistle is a Trap
In fact, many specialty whistles sit on the market FAR too long. Why is that? Unrealistic desires of the sellers. Foolish too. Know why? Take a whistle ‘worth’ 2 to 3 hundred dollars US. Try for a year or two to sell it for 5 hundred dollars and turn everyone away from your items. You bought it for 150 dollars and feel you need to make 250 dollars because it is so rare.
On the other hand, drop the price in half and make 100 dollars. Then you turn that 100 dollars over 5 times in the next year making yourself 250 more dollars. Now you have made 350 dollars profit. OR you can sit on that whistle for a year or two – perhaps taking a lesser offer anyway. You decide.
Conclusions
Turn those whistles over and more will come out.
Perhaps it is a different shape than the tube-shaped police type whistle. Gotta identify it ( use the categories pages ). Pricing becomes harder if obscure – gotta have a collector that wants it right?
The field of whistles is so obscure that many very, very rare whistles just do not have a market…yet even though that is, it is growing. However even if the field is micro-measured, there are some maniacal collectors like us here at the whistle gallery out there.
If all else fails write us—however we might make you an offer and then, what to do, what to do….
TWG
Posted September 12, 2014
Revised September 15, 2020
Revised October 11, 2020
Revised February 16, 2021
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