Ancient Mariner D whistle, made of antique mahogany taken from an old sailing ship. This is a one of a kind whistle, a collector’s item that also has a wonderfully sweet sound (but not tunable). Comes with the matching hand made mahogany box shown in the photo with the Irish coin inlaid in it-----------SOLD
Chieftain low D, non tunable, with the Lunasa name on it–$150
Who made the Ancient Mariner whistle? Cool concept, using the old timber.
I have a pocket knife with handles made from wood from Old Ironsides, including a copper medallion using copper from that same ship. When they do any reconstruction on The Constitution, they save all materials they take off and sell it to craftsmen to raise funds to maintain the ship.
It was made by Simon Styles, the guy who makes Weston whistles in England. This wood is several hundred years old. I was just amazed at how good this whistle sounds.
Sorry for hijacking your thread, but that whistle reminds me of a swiss recorder maker who makes a recorder from fossil bog oak wood which is nearly 5000 years old.
Brewer Paul, I didn’t know that…are you from the Boston area? I’m moving back there soon, how is the whistling scene in Boston/North/Southern NH? I know there’s an Uilleann piping club, but I had to sell mine.
Welcome back to the Northeast. I live about 3 hr from Boston, near Albany NY. I don’t know much about the whistling scene there, but maybe some other Chiffers would reply if you started a “Whistling in Boston?” thread. The city has a large Irish population, so I’ll bet there’s a lot going on. My wife and I might be convinced to make a weekend trip…
Oh, here’s some info on that Bog Oak. It’s not truly fossilized in the sense that minerals have replaced the organic material of the wood, but it IS from 4000 to 7000 years old.
A whistle customer contacted me about making him a whistle or two out of this material. He had a couple of chunks of the wood and sent them to me. I sawed one of the chunks into suitable sized blanks and went to work. The wood is a dark grey in color in it’s unfinished state and like “modern” oak it’s quite open-grained and normally would not be suitable for a whistle. Once I bored the pieces, I could put a finger over one end, blow air into the tube and air would leak out. I immersed the pieces in a commercial wood hardener which sealed the grain nicely.
With a finish applied, the wood is a slightly odd but interesting grey/brown/greenish color. Due to the very open grain, the finish is not glassy smooth, but has a nice woody look.
I am not surprised in the least about its sound. I have one of Simon’s whistles and it is a keeper. I don’t play mine as often as my Bleazey or Rose, but it does have a place in my bag that will remain filled.
Actually I have two more coming in the next little while, both Olive Bleazey’s. I will then be selling some of my Overton High whistles. I am considering posting the high d, c and a soon.
To Whoever grabs that Ancient Mariner, please drop me a line - Since it weighed anchor in Oz then set sail for port blackhawk I’m interested in charting it’s journey.
This whistle, and the case it’s in, is made from the timbers of a ship wrecked near Hull nearly 300 years ago - around the time Colleridge was penning his famous poem. It was salvaged and become part of a barn which had to be demolished last year - whereupon Simon rescued it and got just enough wood for the one whistle and case.
It is one damn fine whistle with a fair degree of pedigree - started out with heaps of mystique and is likely to gather more. Definitely the genuine article for playing sea shanties.
Read the poem, play the whistle, it’s a tad more than just a tube with holes in. At the price blackhawk is asking, this is a rare oportunity. If it’s still there at the end of the week, I’ll place a bid myself.
I thought we completed a creative bump. 
