question — When is a Dowler whistle NOT a Dowler whistle ??

Answer — when  it is a DeCcourcy ( or Hudson for that matter ).

HOW DOES THAT WORK ?? I don’t understand !!!

That’s why buying books is so important to the whistle collector/seller !!!! That’s right, you can’t get everything you need off ‘the net’. You have to sift through those pages of books and know the back ground on the writers and their history too. Good news my friends, there are only three books to get.

For example, Dowler abandoned manufacturing whistles after 1904 and SUBCONTRACTED  their whistles out to Hudson and DeCourcy —-  ( read about it and look at the pictures ) —-  see page 57 of Collecting Police Whistles (1998 ) by Martyn Gilchrist and Simon Topman

Here is a DeCourcy with its patented top ring and Dowler’s name on it !!!

So it turns out that Hudson did the same thing. However it is only in the book that you learn that Dowler lent out their tools and punches, so that everything looked the same. Ironically that makes any Dowler manufactured whistles from that era rare 🙂 Odd huh ??

What about whistles that do not have distinctive patented characteristics like this DeCourcy top ring, what else is there to look for ?? How do I tell if it is a genuine Dowler whistle then and not what would be sorta like a knock-off 🙂 ? — in reality how do I get what I paid for ?? OR how do I sell the genuine article — if I say it is a Dowler whistle ?? After all all three manufacturers put Dowler’s name on their whistles ??

This original information about who made what,  was put together from the records at Hudson’s that Simon Topman made available and helped Martyn Gilchrist collate when he was preparing the book. This book is jammed pack with original research information !!!!! AND it is OUT OF PRINT.

The more you know….well the more you know….