Chiff and Fipple Forums

Hello friends,

I'm lucky to own 2 fantastic Michael Copeland's low whistles: a brass Low F and a brass Low D.

I bought them second hand in the past, so I wondered when they were made. The serial number of the Low D is 2185, and the one of the Low F is 2359.

It seems that the Low D was made in 2000 or 2001, but not sure though, so is someone know which year those 2 Copeland's low whisltes were made?

Thanks in advance for your help!

Chino wrote:I'm lucky to own 2 fantastic Michael Copeland's low whistles: a brass Low F and a brass Low D.
I bought them second hand in the past, so I wondered when they were made. The serial number of the Low D is 2185, and the one of the Low F is 2359.

It seems that the Low D was made in 2000 or 2001, but not sure though, so is someone know which year those 2 Copeland's low whisltes were made?

I sent an email to Michael back in August inquiring about a couple of the Coplelands I own. Part of what he wrote was this:
"Whistles with serial #s in 3000 range were fairly recent....Those numbers were made about 5-6 years ago, I believe."

I'm not sure how accessible Michael keeps his records. He didn't look up a production year for me so I'm guessing the records aren't easily available. For what it's worth, the serial numbers on the two I inquired about are 2952 (high C) and 3069 (high D). I'm not sure that helps much, but it's one piece of a puzzle you might get to put together should enough people have bits of information to contribute.

BTW, I also have a low F with the serial number 2367. That might mean our low Fs are siblings.

What a great post. Thank you, Chino.
I would love to own a Copeland....wouldnt we all?
This information will come in handy when that day arrives.

Thanks again, Susan

My Copeland high D serial no. 2136 was sold on 15 April 2000, per Michael himself. The rate of production back then would place no. 2185 in mid-2000, I'd guess May or June.

Don't know about the higher numbers. If others can supply a few more exact dates, we'll have a basis for rough interpolation / extrapolation.

Whistle Free or Die wrote:What a great post. Thank you, Chino.
I would love to own a Copeland....wouldnt we all?
This information will come in handy when that day arrives.

Thanks again, Susan

I hope you'll have one in the future: my brass Low D in particular is fantastic. I've got a Goldie's Overton and an MK as well, which I love, but this Copeland's is very different, look wise and sound wise. I like to play it to have a different feeling, it's a different beast. It's almost a mythical instrument!

Thanks a lot JTC and MT for your help.

Well, I made some researchs on the forum, and i found those posts:

- serial number 2136: 2000
viewtopic.php?f=1&t=80739&hilit=copeland+2136

- 2180: 2002 or before:
viewtopic.php?f=1&t=5234&hilit=copeland+2180

- 2278: 2002 or before:
viewtopic.php?f=1&t=9426&hilit=copeland+2278

- 2373: before 2004:
viewtopic.php?f=2&t=21385&p=247169&hili ... 73#p247169

- 2474: 2002 or before:
viewtopic.php?f=1&t=3428&hilit=copeland+2474

- 2507: 2002 or before:
viewtopic.php?f=1&t=4615&hilit=copeland+2507

- 2788: before 2004
viewtopic.php?f=1&t=22035&hilit=copeland+2788

- 3228: 2003:
viewtopic.php?f=36&t=66486&hilit=copeland+3228

- 3329: 2003 or before:
viewtopic.php?f=1&t=64833&hilit=copeland+3329

- 3770: march 2006:
viewtopic.php?f=1&t=55882&hilit=copeland+3770

- 3949: 2008 or 2007:
viewtopic.php?f=36&t=66843&hilit=copeland+3949

Anyone else have a Cope hi D with no serial # ?
Received this one as a gift about seven years ago
.....just wondering how old it might be. She's a great player
....had it tweaked by Jim R to take out the shrillness of the
upper register.

JTC111 wrote: BTW, I also have a low F with the serial number 2367. That might mean our low Fs are siblings.

Do you know when this low F was made?

Chino wrote:

JTC111 wrote: BTW, I also have a low F with the serial number 2367. That might mean our low Fs are siblings.

Do you know when this low F was made?

Sorry, I've no idea. When I sent that email off to Michael, I was actually trying to determine whether my high D and C were nickel or silver. The F is brass so I never mentioned it in the email.

Also, it appears that he date information Michael gave me doesn't hold up well against the list you've compiled. Perhaps he was guessing from memory and, memories being what they are, was off by quite a bit.

I know this is an old post, but in case anyone is interested...
My Copeland brass low D is serial 2269. I bought it from Michael in his shop in Philly in November 2000. My wife called and arranged the whole thing. I wish I had photos... I met both Michael and Jim there and they showed me the shop and gave a brief overview on how they were made. Michael even tested mine with his tuner and was happy to play it for me. We were there about an hour and gave me a lot of pointers. I had never played a low D before. It was a wonderful experience.

An interesting read.

I have a Copeland that does not have a serial number.Does anyone else have a Copeland without a serial number ?

And please don't tell me it was made in China !

The Copelands made when he was working with Jim had numbers. A few early ones and the more recent ones he has sold on Ebay don't.

JTC111 wrote:BTW, I also have a low F with the serial number 2367. That might mean our low Fs are siblings.

Completely Off-Topic - do you have a larger pic of that fretboard inlay, and what instrument is it on?

Thanks trekkie.

What a wealth of knowledge to be found on this site.

johnnytheshamrock wrote:An interesting read.

I have a Copeland that does not have a serial number.Does anyone else have a Copeland without a serial number ?

And please don't tell me it was made in China !

My low D is sans serial number. It's marked with a clover and "Philadelphia", so is quite old.

I just bought a Sterling Silver Copeland with the serial number 3227. It was the one made right before this one: viewtopic.php?f=36&t=66486&hilit=copeland+3228

Also, how many Sterling Silver Copelands are out there? Are they more rare than brass?