James Dixon & Sons
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J Dixon & Sons (James Dixon & Sons) founded 1806 in Sheffield,were one of the great british manufacturers in the 19th century and the best-known manufacturer of britannia metal, beside being the world leader in manufacturing shooting accessories thru the late victorian eraand numerous items from prcision tools to aircraft propelors, they were whistle makers; renowned for their outstanding quality and one of the 4 great whistle makers , the others being W Dowler & Sons, J Stevens & Son & T Yates. The firm continued to be a family run enterprise until 1976.
Their famous registered trade mark since 1879 was trumpet & Banner .
Addres ; Silver Street (1806), Cornish Place (1822)
History
Whistles first appeared in a Dixon catalog in 1883 though some of their whistles appeared in Guns, rifles & sporting goods catalogs of American manufacturers & distributors as early as 1872 under Dog calls made of Britannia metal, ( J. H. Johnston at Great western gun works,Pittsburgh, PA. catalog ).
Early models of Dixon horn made Round pea whistle type were in use with carriage drivers & railway conductors since the 1840s and mailmen of the post office as early as 1850 .
Models, whistle types & Materials
Dixon were making whistles off sterling Silver, German silver also known as nickel silver, gun metal, britannia metal, ivory , horn . and using cocoa wood for fipples.
Dixon models were intended mostly for out door Sporting goods , hunting related dog calls , shooting gudjets combination whistles, extractors of various kinds and round whistles in variable sizes of over 50 different models , Beaufort whistles & double chamber type . D Dixon did not make Escargot-type whistles. It was not known that Dixon & Sons made General service whistles (GSWs) until 2006 when one was discovered .
Body stamps
Most of Dixon whistles found are not stamped as it was not customary to stamp whistles at earlier Victorian era except ones made of sterling silver .
As a result all of dixon stamped whistles are very rare and the ones stamped J. Dixon & Sons would be a bit less rare and so is the Dixon Logo of Trumpet and a Banner that hangs of it
Stamps found are: " Dourham county constabulary " on Tappered round whistles , some refer to as short beauforts.
Distributors name stamps found ; C. Parker Late Merry Parker & Merry , Merry Phipson & Parker, C. Parker ,PriestOxford St. , F. Sykes , Patstone Southhampton , Swaine & Co. London .
"Nimrod " and " Patent No.33196 " ( Moffatt's patent 11396 of 1887 )are to be found on extractors and shooting gudjets beside stamps of numbers 8 12 & 16 That show the , extractor ([cartridge puller]) gauge.
Some rare sterling silver whistles are found with the standart British silver hallmarks of the time and initials J.D & Sons.
External links
- Picture of a Round pea whistle
- J Dixon & Sons Beaufort whistle c 1860s picture at the Whistle museum .
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Further Reading & Pictures
More whistles By Martin Gilchrist 2005 isbn 0-9550231-0-6