This Low D whistle just now came up to auction
I checked on Colin Goldie’s site and he says “his earliest whistles” were stamped CSG OVERTON.
He says that stamp was used from when he started “in the early 1990s” until 1998.
After 1998 he began signing his whistles inside the bell which he still does.
Anyhow a cool bit of Colin Goldie history there.
The eBay ad suggests that the model is a “Skelig Low D” and that the country of manufacture is the US. Lack of info by the seller or something else amiss?
Best wishes.
Steve
Probably just edited an older ad, or used a template. The “Skellig” (or Skellig) is a whistle model I think made by Nick Metcalf. The listing also indicates the CSG Overton is “NEW” - that doesn’t fit with pancelticpiper’s historical info. Also, if that whistle is tunable, I can’t make any split in the tubing, but just may be a bad photo, or my monitor’s adjustment.
Yes it doesn’t look tunable.
The info is from Colin Goldie’s site:
“All Overton whistles I have made, have either my name engraved inside the end of the whistle or would have had CSG stamped before the Overton on my very early instruments (pre 1998).”
That happens on Ebay all the time, the details in the description are fossils and don’t match the photos or the main text.
I’ve had that happen, I create a new listing and Ebay will stick random things in the categories that have nothing to do with what I’m selling. And I don’t re-use templates, every listing I do is from scratch.
Looks like someone told him about it, he has added the details in the description.
It is likely that it came from the same place as the job lot of uilleann pipes he is also selling.
David
Looks like the auction has ended now. I’m wondering if the winner is from the C&F forum?
If so, it would be interesting (at least for me) for them to post a review of the whistler once they have received it and have had time to “get acquainted” with it.
Since I’m very new to whistling, please help educate me on this purchase. For what the winner of the auction paid did they get an average deal, a great deal, or did they pay too much?
From what little I know about whistles, it seems that Colin makes some very good whistles.
In the future if I find a similar whistle for sale I’d like to have an idea of the price that the instrument should bring so I won’t overpay.
I’d say for a non-tunable Goldie whistle, in uncertain actual condition, the final price was average to having overpaid. Perhaps some historical interest for being an early version. The Irish Flute Store (where prices are sometimes a bit inflated) has sold more recently made used Goldie non-tunable low D’s for around $250, and tunable (2-piece) for $300. Quality whistles new from other makers are often in that same price range, also somewhat dependent on material. Some cheaper, some more.
$200 is good for a Goldie Low D, however it was one of his “earliest” whistles (his words) and as was pointed out in unknown condition (looks like some corrosion or muck inside the top) so yes perhaps more value as a historical curiosity than as a player.
Colin has spent decades refining his whistles so the best Goldie is probably a new one.
I wonder if that old one had a tight windway like Phil Hardy says his early Overtons did.
Thank you kkrell and pancelticpiper for the information!
You’re welcome! Though as you see I don’t have much information about early Goldies.
Phil Hardy made a fantastic video: he traces the history of his whistle-making, showing and playing examples of every different model of whistle he’s made over the decades.
It may or may not shed light on what Colin Goldie was doing at that time.
Because as you may be aware at one point there were three makers producing Overton whistles
-Bernard Overton, the original creator
-Phil Hardy
-Colin Goldie
Bernard has passed. I never came across any detailed account of the variations he produced- though if you play ten different old Overton Overtons they will likely all be a bit different.
In any case Phil mentions that his early Overton Low Ds had a very tight windway leading to high backpressure/resistance/impedance.
Whoever bought that early Goldie will find out if Colin did the same.