Ha, good luck. The last person I know who walked through the front door of the headquarters office in Oswestry and inquired about Generation whistles was told (and I’m paraphrasing): “Whistles? Oh, I guess we have them in our catalogue. Sorry, there’s no one here who knows anything about them.”
Maybe, it’s because they call them Flageolets ? 
What about this one, which I never came across. The “Folk Whistle” with a green head and a brass body. A marketing stunt ???
That’s just a normal current build Generation with a green top. I’m tweaking ten of them “as we speak” for Thom at thewhistleshop.com.
Best wishes,
Jerry
They seem to be aimed at the US market. I have never seen one available here.
I’ve seen the green head ‘Folk’ Generations in a music shop
here in Lancashire fairly recently.
Just to add here’s a picture of a Generation I picked up on
ebay last year and asked here how old it was.
Pre 80s was the answer.
It has the oval mark underneath.
I’ll have a look for dots and rings later.
What do pre-'80s Gens go for anyway?
What ever the seller can get!
There’s no particular reason in my mind that a pre-80 Gen would be worth much. Unless of course if the whistle was owned and played by some famous player. In fact, I’d think if you could find and substantiate the provenance of one the Gens that Coltrane used to record the “Penny Whistle Tapes”", you could get a bundle. Hmmm…
Since NOS Gens of the period would be practically non-existent, your talking about used whistles which were likely not well cared for. We’re talking teeth marks, cracks, dents and dubious odors. Many I’ve run across are in terrible shape. So it’s risky business. But I have received a couple, as part of whistle lots on eBay, that were in surprisingly good shape. Still I don’t bid a lot for such things if I bid at all. And I do like Generation whistles.
My thinking is that Jerry Freeman provides a good service with his tweaked Generations. For his fee, he endeavors to provide you with a new Gen that has the characteristics of the vintage instruments. All without the dubious odors.
I have bought groups of NOS Feadog Mark I’s. Again I paid very little for them. It’s less about monetary value or quality and more about nostalgia, tonal character and personal preferences to me.
Feadoggie
I bought my new pre-1980’s brass/red top Eb 3 weeks ago in an oldfashion music store, a few blocks from my work. The Generation cardboard display had his colors nearly varnished (very old). The F I bought with it is a modern one.
I actualy learned it was a pre-1980’s because of this thread. Thanks for that !
You’ve acquired a small treasure, bernez. Congratulations!
Every now and then someone finds new old stock vintage Generations in a shop somewhere.
The D/Eb whistles are the most different from the current version. Other keys may be less different in voicing and playing characteristics compared to current build Generations.
There’s also quite a bit of variation from one whistle to the next in the vintage Generations, so if you happen to go into a store that has more than one, by all means, purchase all of them. If you find a vintage D/Eb Generation that is outstanding compared to other vintage Generations you’ve unearthed a Holy Grail.
Best wishes,
Jerry
Actualy, it sounded very, very nice right out of the box (so to speak). I only stuffed it with some poster putty and now it’s sounds even beter.
Bernez