Silver Whistle

[Edwinsford]

sorry, it's me again. Hopefully with a clearer picture. It's the spike in the middle of the upright that makes me wonder about 1866.

[admin]

Thanks, that is 1866

[dognose]

Hi,
Agree 1866
Regards Trev.

[Edwinsford]

So since it is 1866, that would make it impossible that it was PS Firman and highly unlikely that it was PV Firman. It seems that your conjecture on a part of the family having a firm between the two might be correct Tom.

Anyway I'm very happy to have found all this out and I thank you all. It still whistles well and I always take it with me when fishing in case of problems. I find it more pleasing than a mobile phone!

[Edwinsford]

Can I take it then that the final word on this is that the whistle was made in London in 1866 by someone from the Firman/Firmin family who continued using the PF mark and ran a silversmithing business between the eras of PV and PS Firman/Firmin?

[dognose]

Hi,
Never say final, the great thing about a forum like this is that someone could come along in say a years time with fresh infomation about Firmin, and pick up this thread again,
Regards Trev.

[Edwinsford]

Thanks Trev, that's good to know.

I have had a quick look for Firman on the Net and have come up with a long established (1677) company set up originally by Thomas Firman. Here is a link but they appear to be largely button makers. You need to scroll down until you hit Firman. A PV Firman existed in 1855. Their offices were in The Strand. Eventually it appears as if they then they moved to Birmingham and are still going I believe, making items for military ceremonials and the like.

http://www.ukdfd.co.uk/pages/button-makers.html