www.925-1000.com

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.

Thanks, that is 1866

Hi,
Agree 1866
Regards Trev.

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!

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?

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.

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" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;