Eisenstadt wing

[k bandow]

I acquired a grouping to a WWI pilot yesterday, and it came with this Eisenstadt wing. I am no expert on these, so I figured I would post it here for input and comments.

[k bandow]

Back

[k bandow]

Close-up 1

[k bandow]

Close-up 2

[k bandow]

Close-up 3

[k bandow]

Here is the rest of the grouping

[k bandow]

Both wings

[pfrost]

nice, very nice

[bschwartz]

Gorgeous wing and very nice tunic and bullion wing as well. I see you're in Milwaukee, I'm over in Madison so if you ever get sick of that stuff just bring it on over to my place, ha.

[cwnorma]

Very nice indeed.

 

Best wishes

 

Chris

[hawk3370]

They don't come any better than this. Do you have a name on the uniform? Eisenstadt was located in St. Louis, MO and this is a beautiful example of one of their wings.

 

Terry

[k bandow]

The uniform is indeed named and comes with photocopies of some of his official documents. His name was Lieutenant George Clair Bond and he was apparently a flight instructor down in Texas. The grouping had been acquired from his granddaughter back around 2003.

[k bandow]

Here is a shot of Lt. Bond wearing the exact same jacket.

[k bandow]

A close-up

[hawk3370]

Looks like he is wearing Signal Corps collar insignia, which was not uncommon for aviators of the period. He original came from Abingdon, IL. and was designated a Reserve Military Aviator, 2Lt in 1918. Did not go overseas.

 

Terry

[cwnorma]

The embroidered wing is a near twin to Cliff's Hertzberg Jewelers wing (on Bob Schwartz' website).

 

Was he a flight instructor in San Antonio?

 

Hertzberg was the big San Antonio Jeweler during WW1 and while we don't know if they ever made sterling silver wings, thanks to Cliff and Bob, we know they did at least sell embroidered ones. While Hertzberg is long gone, like Haltom, the civically minded Hertzberg installed a large mechanical clock outside their store. The clock is still in operation:

 

Herzberg Clock, San Antonio, TX

[CliffP]

Note:

The embroidered wing of 2/Lt George C. Bond is a near twin to the Hertzberg Jewelers embroidered wing once worn by 2/Lt. Carter Luscher seen on Bob Schwartz' website.

 

You have a keen eye for details and I suspect you may be on to something - Both wings were embroidered by hand in bullion nearly 100 years ago. . . and there does appear to be a considerable amount of matching DNA between the two.

 

Pictured below are both wings for a better view. The wing at the top is the one worn by Lieutenant Bond and the one on the bottom was worn by Lieutenant Luscher.

 

Cliff

[cwnorma]

Cliff,

Thank you for posting that photo of your Herzberg wing!

Chris

[cwnorma]

Cliff, et al,

 

I have had the pleasure of examining another sample of this particular embroidered wing. The third wing does not belong to me but the owner is a member on the forum and hopefully can be enticed to post the wing for this important discussion. The third wing is nearly identical to Cliff's wing but lacks the Hertzberg Jewelers label.

 

This is a very interesting wing!

- It has a very French feel to it: "Horizontal" feathering and thin "US" as seen on many French-made wings

- It was made (at least assembled) in San Antonio, TX

 

To whit, I would like to propose a collectors theory:

 

- This pattern of embroidered wing was sold by Hertzberg Jewelers of San Antonio TX (Verified by Cliff's wing)

- Hertzberg likely sourced the bullion embroidery from one of the French manufacturers: This supply probably dried up due to wartime constraints...

- This wing may be associated to flyers who took their training in Texas (especially San Antonio)

- Due to its French-embroidery and American-construction I posit that this wing is earlier (i.e. 1917) instead of later (i.e. mid 1918-1919)

- This pattern wing is far less common than other "American-type" embroidered wings

 

So having now seen three iterations of this particular embroidered wing. I would ask you to consider the above and share your thoughts. As collectors, we tend to like to be able to categorize things. Perhaps with the concurrence of the forum we can now identify this particular pattern of wing as the "Hertzberg" wing.

 

Your thoughts?

 

Chris

[guerrap]

Cliff, et al,

 

I have had the pleasure of examining another sample of this particular embroidered wing. The third wing does not belong to me but the owner is a member on the forum and hopefully can be enticed to post the wing for this important discussion. The third wing is nearly identical to Cliff's wing but lacks the Hertzberg Jewelers label.

 

This is a very interesting wing!

- It has a very French feel to it: "Horizontal" feathering and thin "US" as seen on many French-made wings

- It was made (at least assembled) in San Antonio, TX

 

To whit, I would like to propose a collectors theory:

 

- This pattern of embroidered wing was sold by Hertzberg Jewelers of San Antonio TX (Verified by Cliff's wing)

- Hertzberg likely sourced the bullion embroidery from one of the French manufacturers: This supply probably dried up due to wartime constraints...

- This wing may be associated to flyers who took their training in Texas (especially San Antonio)

- Due to its French-embroidery and American-construction I posit that this wing is earlier (i.e. 1917) instead of later (i.e. mid 1918-1919)

- This pattern wing is far less common than other "American-type" embroidered wings

 

So having now seen three iterations of this particular embroidered wing. I would ask you to consider the above and share your thoughts. As collectors, we tend to like to be able to categorize things. Perhaps with the concurrence of the forum we can now identify this particular pattern of wing as the "Hertzberg" wing.

 

Your thoughts?

 

Chris

Chris,

 

Thank you! You do an excellent job of "raising the bar" in the various discussion threads and I always appreciate your posts. I believe this is the third wing you made reference to above and a candidate for consideration in the Hertzberg family.

 

Pete

 

[guerrap]

Chris,

 

Thank you! You do an excellent job of "raising the bar" in the various discussion threads and I always appreciate your posts. I believe this is the third wing you made reference to above and a candidate for consideration in the Hertzberg family.

 

Pete

 

 

And here is the back...

 

[nbolinger]

super congratulations , great stuff.

[rustywings]

Bandow, thank you for sharing your handsome WWI Pilot grouping with us. I think Chris and Cliff have certainly shown reason to believe your bullion wing, although not pin-back, may have also originated from the Hertzberg Jewelry Company.

 

I think Pete's fine badge has many of the same characteristics as seen in Cliff's example, including narrow "U.S." lettering, horizontal feathering and distinct "C" style catch even though the pin is reversed. But I also see numerous differences in Pete's example which leads me to believe it's either a Hertzberg-made variation, or from another company.

 

I have a wing which is more like Pete's than Cliff's. Unlike Cliff's flatter wings, Pete's and my example have three rows of horizontal feathering which stair-step upwards toward the shoulders like you'd see in a Linz Bros sterling example. (I know it's difficult to see in a two-dimensional image, but it's prevalent in hand.) There's also a difference with the presence or absence of pig-tail style bullion around the upper perimeter. And there's a difference in the presence or absence of periods (.) behind the US initials.

 

Who knows, they could all be from the same hands, but there are differences we need to acknowledge before we categorize them. Interesting stuff guys!

 

[cwnorma]

Great thread!

 

Russ, you are absolutely correct your wing and Pete's wing share many common traits. The hardware is also nearly identical--with a pretty distinctive catch.

 

These are all very interesting wings. Very European in style. Your's and Pete's are "chubbier" and have more faceted bullion, Cliff and k bandow's are "slimmer" and appear to lack the faceted coils.

 

Chris

[CliffP]

Cliff, et al,

 

This is a very interesting wing!

- It has a very French feel to it: "Horizontal" feathering and thin "US" as seen on many French-made wings

- It was made (at least assembled) in San Antonio, TX

 

To whit, I would like to propose a collectors theory:

 

- This pattern of embroidered wing was sold by Hertzberg Jewelers of San Antonio TX (Verified by Cliff's wing)

- Hertzberg likely sourced the bullion embroidery from one of the French manufacturers: This supply probably dried up due to wartime constraints...

- This wing may be associated to flyers who took their training in Texas (especially San Antonio)

- Due to its French-embroidery and American-construction I posit that this wing is earlier (i.e. 1917) instead of later (i.e. mid 1918-1919)

- This pattern wing is far less common than other "American-type" embroidered wings

 

So having now seen three iterations of this particular embroidered wing. I would ask you to consider the above and share your thoughts. As collectors, we tend to like to be able to categorize things. Perhaps with the concurrence of the forum we can now identify this particular pattern of wing as the "Hertzberg" wing.

 

Your thoughts?

 

Chris

 

Just a couple of thoughts:

 

Yes, the bullion wire used to make the wing was made in France but the actual wing was probably made for Hertzberg Jewelers by one of several American firms in the northeast who specialized in making embroidered military insignia during WW1.

 

During WW1 the flow of French made bullion embroidery wire sent to the USA was hardly constrained which was not the case during WW2 when the supply of French exports came to a halt after the country was overtaken by German in 1940.

 

cp