I need to reevaluate the replacement costs of my whistles for the sake of my insurance, and I don’t know how to find out what they’re worth now. I thought people here might be able to help me. I’ll list the instruments below, and if anyone can give me an idea of what they’re currently worth, I’d really appreciate it.
Copeland D, C, low A, low G, low D
Schulz Thin Weasel
I guess I’ll go to the flute forum to ask the same about my flutes.
Thanks so much!
Susan
There’s been a lot of discussion as to what whistles are “worth” of late. I’m not sure how your insurance co. handles things like this, but your best bet might be to look at recent completed auctions over on Ebay. That won’t give you the answer to “what’s my whistle worth”, but it will help answer “what might I be reasonably expected to pay for a similar one” which I think is more or less what you’re after.
You don’t say what key the Weasel is, so I’ll assume D. Those typically sell on Ebay for between $300 and $350 yet one was for sale here on C&F for $350 or even less and never got a nibble, so who’s to say how good an evaluation that is. One sold recently, a C, for just above $300 on Ebay. $275 to $325 might be a quite reasonable range for that whistle. A low G Weasel might sell for $500 or so.
Copelands sell pretty predictably in the $800+ range (keeping in mind that Mr Copeland himself puts the occasional whistle on Ebay as a “buy it now” at $800). A sterling silver C sold for $1100 recently and two brass low Ds sold last year for $900 and $500 respectively, though I’m sure the latter was a (lucky!) fluke. High Ds in brass and nickel show up on Ebay regularly; of those sold at auction, two brass Ds recently realised $838 and $868 respectively. The two that Mr Copeland sold directly were $800 a piece.
As you can see, the actual prices vary quite a bit, but this should give you a reasonable basis.
By the way, a very respectable collection of fine whistles you’ve got there! Especially the wide range of Copelands.
P.S. - I’ve never seen Copelands in A or G on Ebay, so really can’t help much there, except that I would expect them to sell for a similar price, seeing as all the other Copelands sell within a two hundred dollar window of each other. Assuming all your whistles are brass or nickel and are tunable.
Cheers
Thank you for taking the time to help me out. I really appreciate it.
Yes, my Thin Weasels are in D (I have two of them), and they’re Macasar Ebony. I’m surprised they’re not worth more. I thought they fetched more like $600.
And my Copelands are all brass and tunable. Yes, they’re wonderful whistles. My C is Michael’s personal whistle that he decided to sell. I actually wish I had bought the silver one he had on sale that day, because his personal brass one is a little out of tune and I use it for recording sessions, so that’s not good, though it has a wonderful, mellow sound. The silver one was perfectly tuned, but didn’t have such an interesting tone, and it wasn’t “played in” like his was. I might sell the C buy another one, but not for $1100!
My favorite is actually the low A. It’s absolutely dreamy. And extremely well tuned. The G is great too. The low D is very good, but my hands are small, so it’s a little hard for me to play it.
Thanks again for talking me through this a bit. I might actually contact Michael directly and ask him what the low whistles are worth. I guess it’s fair to say the high Ds are worth about $800. I have two of them, and they’re both great.
Maybe I’ll post a photo of my beautiful collection. They’re so nice to look at!
Thanks again,
Susan
A search of “Copeland” in our Sold and Old forum, topic titles only, turns up 7 pages of hits. That might be helpful.
O.k., I’ll have a look. Thanks!
A great resource indeed, but just be ware of the sales date! For insurance purposes, you will want the most recent valuation you can find – I’ve seen some vèry elderly C&F sales of Copeland whistles well below $300 – boy, do I wish I had been on this forum back in the early 2000s! Could have had a lot of nice whistles, and on the cheap! 
Cheers