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A couple of WWII theater-made bullion wings...


rustywings
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I found a couple of nice bullion wings at the Show-Of-Shows in Louisville two weeks ago...

 

Here's a full-size CBI theater-made USAAF Navigator's wing with intricate armillary sphere in the center. I suspect this wing was likely made in India... And the pin on the reverse may have been sewn to the wing well after purchase, but this was a fairly common practice as seen on similar CBI examples.

 

IMG_04231 (2).jpg

IMG_04241 (2).jpg

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rathbonemuseum.com

Hi Russ!

 

I actually have a contrary opinion on the id of that first wing. I actually believe that wing is made by Edward Stillwell & Son of London. I base that on a wing group I bought that came with the box from the manufacturer. The original post where I show the wings and box is here:

http://www.usmilitariaforum.com/forums/index.php?/topic/200560-fa-stone-son-tailor-made-bullion-wings-norwich-uk/

 

Cheers,

Tod

 

 

 

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Hey Gents, I very much appreciate your comments and shared thoughts.

 

Tod, you could very well be right with your "Edward Stillwell & Sons" manufacturer identification... especially since my Navigator wing has similar silver foil incorporated into its design. But the England-based company "Gwendyr Make" also produced fabulous silver foil and bullion wings for the USAAF... and the black material used on the back of their product is very similar to the material used on your Stillwell & Sons-made wings... so identifying the origins of some of these bullion wings is a real challenge.

 

Keeping in mind that India was still the Crown Jewel of the British Empire through the War and well into 1947, it's quite apparent the skills of many Indian Craftsmen & Jewelers were heavily influenced by their British counterparts, which adds to the puzzle.

 

It seems one material more prominently used in India than England, was that off-white backing paper found on the reverse of many bullion USAAF wings. (There are exceptions to this observation as well.) I've attached a couple of images of my bullion Navigator wing amongst other known CBI-made wings to show that paper for comparison.

 

I'm still atop the fence... and I'm not certain which way to lean? Indian or British made? What say you?

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IMG_04561.JPG

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I recall reading some place that many British textile companies were actually manufacturing products in India. That the technology to make these items were being used both there and in the UK. So is isn't surprising to me that there is a lot of overlap in what you see between "British-made" and "CBI-made" items. I am sure that the war impacted non-essential/non-military related trade and import/export (especially early in the conflict), but prior to and after the war, there was likely a great deal of overlap. Here is some information about Edward Stillwell and Sons:

 

Edward Stillwell & Sons, Est 1809 and trading as “Gold lacemen, embroiderers & general military wear, specialities: gold lace, embroidery, Masonic clothing & jewellery. Incorporated as a limited Company in 1907 and in 1914 trading from 25 – 27 Barbican, London EC. It eventually went into liquidation in 1959 under the stewardship of Clarence Stillwell.


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rathbonemuseum.com

Russ,

 

I will have to start a thread with a more complete treatise on the bullion pattern wings from Edward Stillwell and Sons. My reference to the earlier thread was to the second wings in the thread, NOT the first with the blue background and black backing that similar to those from Gwendyr of Wales. There is a unique pattern to the bullion, especially the vertical bars that are on each side of the inside portion of the wings that marks this manufacturer. This is in addition to the white papier mâché backer. Now whether this British embroidery maker had these manufactured in India, I could not say. My point was that there is a high likelihood this pattern belongs to this company. I have few of this pattern for different US wings. Will post more in an original thread.

 

I am re-posting this picture of the Edward Stillwell and Sons US pilot wings in the original box below.

 

 

PilotStoneSon.JPG

PilotStoneSon2.JPG

PilotStoneSon3.JPG

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