I hope someone may help me to identify a whistle. My great grandmother and her friend came across a whistle in her friend’s belongings…and gave it to my great grandmother. The friend has no recollection of where this might have come from…but she’s always saved everything and has many wonderful antiques. The whistle is a silver color, it looks to be a pennywhistle (from the descriptions and pictures I’ve found on the net). It does not have a separate mouthpiece, but looks to be one continuous piece of metal with the end molded into a mouthpiece. It is worn and looks very old. It has an american eagle symbol stamped into the top of it slightly below the mouthpiece. She thinks it is military because it has the eagle symbol and US. It has a large C within a circle…which I believe means its in the key of C? She had an auctioneer pick up many items to sell at an auction house, and the owner offered her $75 on the spot for the whistle…but didn’t tell her that he knew what it was…odd? No one in the friend’s family has been in the military, so there’s no indication of where it came from? Is there a place to start to try and identify this piece?
Thanks so much for your help!
It may not be military. I think some were produced for school use similar to what you describe.
I’ve seen one and played it as part of an exhibit of civil war era artefacts (it was; I wasn’t part of the exhibit). If I had one, I’d have taken the 75 clams. AFAIK there’s nothing like a rare collectible whistle that’s worth big bucks.
There’s a thin chance that civil-war re-enacters might want such a prop well enough to drive up the price, but if that’s the case I’ve never heard of it.
I’m not promising that the whistle I’m thinking of definitely WAS a genuine civil waera artefact; I suspect that the person who put the exhibit together merely thought it “looked right”. If it was a treasure, they wouldn’t have had it out for any visiter to pick up and fiddle with.
The sound was thin and unremarkable, and the design, if I’m remembering, was a touch more slender than a Clarke original in C.
Moved the thread from Announcements - that’s basically an administrative forum that members can post replies on - to here where it belongs, and ought to fare better. 
Sounds kinda like a Shaw except for the eagle part. Do you have a photo?
A photo would be a big help.
As a Civil War era player, I’d definitely be very interested to see it.
Be aware that the fipple may be lead. 
You say it is “silver”. If it is made of relatively heavy, cast material, it may be pewter. Evidently early British and European whistles were often made of pewter.
I have a very nice sounding conical one, but that early pewter contained lead. For obvious reasons, I don’t play it regularly, but it’s fun to pull out and show friends.
Is this the same one?
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=320185679892
I once owned one similar…but it was in B. The fipple plug is indeed lead or lead-pewter. The body was tin. unfortunately, the whistle met its end whenever i attempted to remove the plug and it resulted in the decapitation of the instrument. I did NOT pay anything close to $75 bucks for it. I STRONGLY suggest you take that money since you probably won’t get it in any other market!!!
