100 yr old(?) whistle on Ebay

Whistle
1

Is this item of any interest or just another bit of brass pipe looking for a sucker:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&rd=1&item=3750183450

I’m too new at this whistle thing to know if this is of genuine interest; the beak looks too well finished to be just junk, but maybe I’m just an easy mark.

Roger

2

It’s at least certainly a collectible, I’m thinking, if you’re into that sort of thing. I’ve not seen the like.

3

It looks a lot like the $3.00 brass whistle from India I threw away last week while cleaning out my whistle drawer.

4

We bought bootup disk for a Sony laptop the other day on Ebay and a set of copied CD’s shows up. Considering that, I wouldn’t be suprised if someone buried it in their backyard to help it age.

I looked at the sellers feedback record and it has no bad comments, althought all previous transactions appear to be purchases and not sales.

5

So are pet rocks!!! :laughing:

6

Anecdotal evidence of vintage is worth almost nothing, even if you believe it actually exists and was sincere. A signed valuation by a qualified dealer would be another matter or at least a hint of make and serial number.

7

True enough, about the value of anecdotal evidence. I had a hunch that the dating was bogus, because:

  1. The “D” stamped on the flute seemed incongruous for an early specimen
  2. the curve under the windway didn’t seem right - it would be a labor inensive process for a an instrument that was not valued enough at the time to be worth the effort. I would guess that whistles of ca 1900 would be knocked out as rapidly and cheaply as possible

However, I don’t have any well founded knowledge of the history of the whistle and whether higher quality specimens would have been made and what they would look like. I appreciate being able to draw upon the collective knowledge of the C&F Academy of Tootling and Related Arts to help me save my shekels for more than a good story posted on E-bay.

Roger

8

That instrument could easily be 100 years old. Take a look at an old whistle of mine:

http://chiffboard.mati.ca/viewtopic.php?t=7229

Jonathan