Lipstick & Whistle
I was out detecting on Sunday 30th of December to escape from mince pies & turkey sandwiches for a few hours. I decided to pay a visit to my faithful farm in Hampshire where I found the Victorian mourning ring, which was featured on television last year. I began detecting over the other side of the river this time. One hour had past & I had had the usual finds...three old pennies (all Georgian), two pieces of scrap lead & one shotgun side pin case. I made my way towards some trees by the river when my Minelab Explorer gave a faint signal. In the past I have walked away from these, After two minutes I found what I thought it was a toggle of a coat after a gentle clean with a cloth it turned out to be a lipstick tube. I checked the hole to see if it was clean, & received another faint signal from the same hole. This time I found what I thought to be a Policeman's whistle. I wrapped both finds up in my cloth & put them in my pocket. I continued searching for a bit more until the cold December weather got the better of me so I headed for home. At home i wanted to research my finds. After looking through my books for information i had no further idea as to how old they were, so I turned to the Internet. On the lipstick tube there was a name- Helena Rubenstein. This meant nothing to me, but on the Internet her name was everywhere.
She started out as a penniless polish girl who grew up to be one of the richest women in the world, having made her fortune in the field of cosmetics. Carrying on searching, I found a name on the net who could help me out, Jeanne Little. I E-mailed her asking about my lipstick and the next day she replied. To my amazement, as a collector of Helena Rubenstein cosmetics in Long Beach California, Jeanne told me the Helena Rubenstein was a very popular cosmetic brand in the 30's and that most lipstick tubes then were very
small & thin or short & squat. The lipstick I had found was in fashion in the 40's. The colour, red, was very
popular at the time as there was a war on and colour meant everything in a woman's life. All this
information about my little lipstick tube came from the Internet.
As for the Policeman's whistle, I again had luck on the Internet. On the side is the name J. HUDSON & Co BIRMINGHAM and under this name was a
number 973-7001 with an arrow pointing up at the numbers. I put in the search box "old whistles", and sure enough the search engine
came up with a list. Third down on the list was the name J.HUDSON & Co BIRMINGHAM. Could this be the same maker as that on the whistle? I clicked on the entry and was taken to their web site. To my amazement, this was indeed the company who made my whistle. (They are still in business today.) I sent them a picture by E-mail and asked them to identify it. The answer came back the next day:
"Dear Paul,
Your whistle was made by us in the 40's for the
army denoted by the "broad arrow". Number 973 was the number of whistle made to that point and 7001
was the army's issue number. It was made for the infantry and may have been used in action. We
still produce this whistle today & carries the name of J.HUDSON & Co on it."
So it seems that the lipstick and the whistle were most probably lost on the same day. Perhaps it was placed in the hole as a time capsule on a romantic picnic beside the river before the soldier went back to war to fight for his country. It's a nice romantic thought but sadly he never returned & this story lay untold for 60's years.
She started out as a penniless polish girl who grew up to be one of the richest women in the world, having made her fortune in the field of cosmetics. Carrying on searching, I found a name on the net who could help me out, Jeanne Little. I E-mailed her asking about my lipstick and the next day she replied. To my amazement, as a collector of Helena Rubenstein cosmetics in Long Beach California, Jeanne told me the Helena Rubenstein was a very popular cosmetic brand in the 30's and that most lipstick tubes then were very
small & thin or short & squat. The lipstick I had found was in fashion in the 40's. The colour, red, was very
popular at the time as there was a war on and colour meant everything in a woman's life. All this
information about my little lipstick tube came from the Internet.
As for the Policeman's whistle, I again had luck on the Internet. On the side is the name J. HUDSON & Co BIRMINGHAM and under this name was a
number 973-7001 with an arrow pointing up at the numbers. I put in the search box "old whistles", and sure enough the search engine
came up with a list. Third down on the list was the name J.HUDSON & Co BIRMINGHAM. Could this be the same maker as that on the whistle? I clicked on the entry and was taken to their web site. To my amazement, this was indeed the company who made my whistle. (They are still in business today.) I sent them a picture by E-mail and asked them to identify it. The answer came back the next day:
"Dear Paul,
Your whistle was made by us in the 40's for the
army denoted by the "broad arrow". Number 973 was the number of whistle made to that point and 7001
was the army's issue number. It was made for the infantry and may have been used in action. We
still produce this whistle today & carries the name of J.HUDSON & Co on it."
So it seems that the lipstick and the whistle were most probably lost on the same day. Perhaps it was placed in the hole as a time capsule on a romantic picnic beside the river before the soldier went back to war to fight for his country. It's a nice romantic thought but sadly he never returned & this story lay untold for 60's years.
