I got this whistle off eBay UK and seems to be pretty old. Is there anyone out there who can identify it and tell me who made it and when?
The Whistle.
Close up of the insignia on it. The text in the relief says “Nesutor Ultra Crepidam” and is impressed in the players Bearskin. The initials JWSL are on his belt and are repeated on the side straps of the plate. Below the plate is a letter G, underneath and to the side is what looks like a letter B. It’s approximately 14 inches (35.5 cm) long so it’s definitely not a D whistle.
So you’re the fecker that outbid me (only joking, if had really really wanted it I would have put in a higher bid).
As a design it’s a very common type of whistle, yours is around B. It’s not quite clear to me if there were loads of makers or a limited number of makers who re-branded whistles for different sellers, I think there must have been at least some of that going on some unmarked and some of the branded whistles from that date have a remarkable similarity from one brand to the next.
I reckon they were made between 1880 and the 1920s
some similar examples:
note the left whistle is marked Bflat, it’s 14 inches and actually sounds in B, there’s a tendency for whistles of this age to sound a semi-tone higher than the pitch indicated on them.
Thanks for the info! I assumed that it would be older than the 1930’s and that it would be a piece of whistle history. It seems I was right… By looking at the head end it’s very worn as the nickel plating is completely missing. Someone obviously played a lot on this whistle, kinda makes you wonder who it was…
Well, if you look for them, they are quite common so they must have been popular enough. Sometimes the windway is a bit squashed which is easy to fix, they’re generally nice easy playing whistles.
From Wikipedia: ne sutor ultra crepidam - “Cobbler, no further than the sandal!”
“Thus, don’t offer your opinion on things that are outside your competence. It is said that the Greek painter Apelles once asked the advice of a cobbler on how to render the sandals of a soldier he was painting. When the cobbler started offering advice on other parts of the painting, Apelles rebuked him with this phrase in Greek, and it subsequently became a popular Latin expression.”
I received the whistle in the mail today. It’s beautiful but unfortunately someone tried to tweak the whistle and it’s not really playable any more.
I was able to make it work again though it’s not anywhere near as good as I supposed it once was. The balance between the octaves is magnificent and it has a really sweet sound and I can only imagine how it once sounded… There was one thing that the seller never saw as it’s poorly engraved but below the insignia there is a Bb marking so this obviously is a Bb whistle. Also, I took a piece of tape and covered the exposed part of the fipple with as it is of lead…
Many years ago I loved browsing through flea markets, but it was before my interest in whistles. When you say they are quite common, do you think that would include larger flea markets here in the states, for example, or are you referencing something else in particular?
