Identifying whistles and small instruments

Bone flutes, pipe fragments, jaw harps, and hawking whistles.

Small sound-makers surface regularly: bone whistles and flutes (bird long-bones with drilled finger holes and a cut window), ceramic bird whistles, metal hawking and boatswain-type whistles, jaw harps (the lyre-shaped frame survives; the vibrating tongue rarely does), and bells of all sizes.

A drilled bird bone with a rectangular sound window is a flute or whistle, not butchery waste; count and measure the finger holes. Jaw harp frames — a rounded bow narrowing to two parallel arms — are common medieval and later finds often unrecognised as instruments.

Record dimensions, hole placements, and mouthpiece details; for jaw harps note the frame section (hand-forged versus cast). If it can safely sound, a recording of its note is a charming and legitimate part of the record.

From the guide library inside Collectors Catalogues, a free app for cataloguing antiques and finds with honest, museum-grade records.

More on domestic objects

Identifying mirrors — Polished metal discs.

Identifying oil lamps — Nozzle, filling hole, and mold.

Identifying clay tobacco pipes — Bowl shape and heel marks.

Identifying agricultural tools — Sickles, billhooks, plough irons, and the seasons written in iron.

Identifying fishing gear — Hooks, net weights, and line sinkers from rivers, lakes, and coasts.

Identifying spindle whorls and loom weights — The flywheels and tensioners of home textile production.

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