The Valuable Brass Thrift Store Item To Look For That Doubles As A Statement Piece

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It's the stuff that old British police dramas are made of — the shrill-yet-comforting-all-the-same tooting in the deep of a foggy night. The toot-toot-tooting we're talking about comes from the brass police whistle, of course. And unlike other loud noisemakers, such as the megaphone, old police whistles actually look stylish outside of their original context. In fact, when used right, this thrift-store find can become quite the statement piece in your decor. And it can be quite valuable, too. It isn't unusual to find them on online thrift sites with prices ranging anywhere from $25 to over $100 (this 1939 brass whistle is currently listed for $250 on eBay). 

An antique police whistle is small –- just a couple of inches long. Its size represents a key challenge you'll face as you try to make the piece more noticeable in a room full of larger decorative items. To achieve statement-piece status, you'll need to employ a couple of interior design tricks, like creating a vignette, to make it eye-catching enough to start conversations.

Finally, given that your police whistle is a thrift store find (and has gone through quite a beating throughout its many adventures), it may require gussying up before you add it to your decor. If it's made of brass (instead of chrome or silver), it can be cleaned with dish soap, water, and a microfiber cloth, provided that the grime on it is light. More stubborn issues can be subdued if you clean the brass with household products, such as salt and vinegar. And if it has a goodly amount of oxidation, you may need to resort to putting tomato paste on it for 30 minutes before rinsing it off. Yes, really.

It might go without saying, but to be a true statement piece, a tiny decorative item needs to be striking in order to capture your eye. For a small piece, like the police whistle, getting it closer to a Goliath (rather than David) stature will require some augmenting. One simple way to do this is to insert the whistle into a small shadowbox or a deep frame. Adding other items from the time period to the display, such as post cards, eye glasses, or a pocket watch, will create a powerful and cohesive vignette. As the vignette's cornerstone piece, the framed item would carry enough visual weight to compete with larger accent pieces.

Placing the vintage whistle in a spot that's unaligned from the item's original purpose offers you another way to make it stand out. For example, you could replace your ceiling fan chain and its hardware with the whistle. To do that, use a cord, like this Cotton Pull-Switch Cord, to create the ceiling fan pull instead. Just cut the bell at the end of the string off, then loop the end of the cord through the ring on the top of the whistle. Similarly, a police pipe on a chain would be a smart addition to the ends of your curtain ties. Use the whistle (or a group of them) instead of fabric tassels to create the perfect curtain embellishments.