The “Copeland” stamp is not the usual uncial (Celtic) lettering style I’m familiar with, on my Copelands (pre-dating serial numbers) and the more recent ones I’ve seen illustrated. It also has a cross, and below that what appears to be “Made in Ireland” under enlargement and photo enhancement.
OK folks, what gives here?
Did Michael ever license anyone across the pond to produce a knockoff version?
It’s fine to link to active eBay listings. Thanks for asking.
The serialized Copelands also have the Celtic uncial lettering. I would have guessed this is one of the very latest ones (which I haven’t seen). But the 15 year time frame and “Made in Ireland”, if both are accurate - then I guess not. Not a clue.
The sale may be perfectly legit, but it does seem strange that one would have something like this for 15 years and only have played it for 10 minutes! That’s what I’d call giving up way too early.
If correct, the purchase would be around 1996. Mine have no SN’s and all date around 1993-95. I don’t think his stamp has ever varied. But externally, it looks exactly like the genuine article…except for the imprint. Hard to tell details like tube thickness from these photos.
I’d be very curious to see the back side of this whistle. I wonder if it was seamed in contrast to Michael’s labor-intensive mandrel method. Something seems just a little fishy here, and I hope nobody got taken!
I can tell you that the name stamp looks absolutely nothing like Michael Copeland’s lettering as it appeared in 1999. Nor is there any indication in his interview for Chiff & Fipple, that he ever made or stamped whistles for Ireland. According to that, he did stamp some with “Philadelphia”, and also some with a little shamrock. Otherwise, superficially at least, the general design does look like a Copeland. You might want to head over to Michael’s Facebook page and ask him about it.
Whew! Good work…I’d read that interview a long time ago and forgotten about it.
Yes, absolutely right. When I looked at my tweaked photo, “Philadelphia” is what it says.
(But at that resolution, you sort of have to make a guess first!)
Well, this must have been a quite early whistle, eh? More than 15 years old.
Owner must have gotten it from someone else.
Glad it was on the level.
Alarm level reduced to pale green.
Interesting about the change of lettering, though, which wasn’t mentioned. And adding a shamrock but dumping the uncial was a sort of pushme-pullyou approach. Well, mystery solved.
I spotted it within hours of it being listed and knew exactly what it was… decided to let it go when my max bid of $375 was topped 6 hours before the auction’s end. I was more interested in trying it to see how it compared with all the others I’ve played (and one in particular that I own). Every so often I read comments from other chiffers about those older whistles with the shamrocks being something special…
It’s not that I put any stock in such statements. I’ve owned and played enough Copelands to know that no two are exactly the same. Once in a while he turns out an exceptional one. I’ve also come across a couple of them I did not care for at all - but by and large, most of the Copeland D whistles I’ve come across are just “average Copelands”, regardless of when they were made. He used a tighter hole pattern on the earlier whistles that I prefer, but other than that, they are mostly set apart, one from another, on an individual basis - more so than by when they were made, as many people seem to suggest. My “keeper” is an old beat up “pre-serial” brass that sounds and plays unlike any other I know of, so to have something close to it (hopefully) that is in mint condition would be worth $375 to me, but not more. To keep a “rarer” Copeland from ending up rolling around with a siezed tuning joint getting all banged and scuffed in a drawer was worth that much to me too.
I’ll also say that I’ve had the opportunity to play a couple of his most recent high D’s (within the past year or so), and I definitely agree with Mr. Copeland’s statement that the whistles he is making now are the best he’s made… and they sell for $345 new.
But I’m sure that, if kept in pristine condition, this mythical shamrock whistle will probably fetch a pretty good dollar on resale sometime down the road, regardless of how it plays… although I’m sure it’s a fine whistle.
By the way, the latest ones still look just as they did before. Cursive D on the tuning slide, and the uncial lettering…
