Weird ebay wings

[mghcal]

Hi guys, on the 13th I purchased a wing that I thought could be theater made. The fastenings were US type and I was a bit concerned but I was the winning bidder anyway. The wing was sent and came in the mail today. It's cast but has an interesting design to it. I've never seen this pattern before. The seller supposedly is in Pennsylvania.

 

Today I came across another wing that looks identical to the one I purchased. At first I thought it was the same wing but the tarnish on mine and the new ebay wing is a bit different. Wanted to hear other members opinions on this. Maybe it was an estate that was recently sold off? Or maybe someone made a mold and is cranking these out to fool collectors. What do you all think? I should also add that both sellers have very little militaria for sale.

 

My wing.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Vintage-WWII-Air-Force-Pilots-Wings-Military-Crest-Eagle-Emblem-Pin-Sterling-3-034-/172567415951?_trksid=p2047675.l2557&ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT&nma=true&si=misxv8Dc1G5oevPYeZHMpgvKuJ0%253D&orig_cvip=true&rt=nc

 

Current listing.

 

http://www.ebay.com/itm/292052744526?ssPageName=STRK:MESINDXX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1436.l2648

[tarbridge]

[Owen]

Could you post a photo of the reverse? I think I started to bid on

this and the catch raised a red flag with the "theater made" claim.

 

THX,

Owen

[Blacksmith]

Aren't those actually crew wings, not pilot?

[Lee Ragan]

Aren't those actually crew wings, not pilot?

Yes, those are enlisted aircrew wings. Why anyone would want to make repos of these is beyond me. There have been a million of more of these made since 1942.

[Bluehawk]

People, what maker would this wing have been a repo of?

[pfrost]

They are probably not repos. I suspect they were made in Mexico. They are cast though.

[mghcal]

Here is the back photo of the one currently on ebay. The color is odd but I would guess it's just bad lighting.

 

Here is a back and front photo of the wing I purchased last week. Both sellers say these were purchased at an estate sale. Probably the same one? The one says they bought the dogtags that were in the box as well. Will update this again if I can get photos of those.

[mghcal]

Mexico may be a great guess. Thanks Patrick. What threw me was that it's clearly a cast wing of a really unique but crude design but it has US type fastenings and a sterling hallmark. As you know most cast wings that are theater made have a silver hallmark and handmade type fastenings. What really bothered me was that there are two of these weird wings on ebay in the past week when I've never seen one like it in the past several years. Maybe they both came from the same estate but again the sellers on ebay live 700 miles apart according to their ebay listings but their location data may be out of date. Both sellers said they bought these at an estate sale so that looks to be what happened? I have no reason to discount what they told me. I'll try to get the dogtags and address of the sale so that we can possibly find out some more. I think we can discount that it's "theater made" in the CBI or European theaters.

[pfrost]

I have this wing in at least one other rating. I'll see if I can find them. My belief is that these are lost wax castings made in the Southwest/Mexico

[pfrost]

There were others theaters of operations other than the ETO and CBI. Sometimes as collectors we forget that. Your work in the Panamanian wings has been great

[pfrost]

I dug out my two wings. I think they are made through the lost-wax method. 99.9% of cast wings are probably fake. Usually, a mold of an existing wing is made and that is then used to make a bunch of fakes. There are all sorts of variations on how this is done, from the crude to rather complex.

 

In this case, I suspect a wax wing was made, and then this was used to make a mold. They didn't use an existing wing, but made one up from scratch. One could quibble if this was done in the 40's or in someone's garage a few years ago. My sense is that these were made during the 40's. The A/C wing came out of the Rose Bowl flea market for 10$. The navigator wing was part of a trade from another wing collector.

 

Both are marked sterling. Interestingly, a different mold was used to make both wings, as they have subtle but clear differences.

The A/C wing has signs of old silver polish, suggesting that it was worn and polished.

As I said, there is plenty of room to quibble if these are fakes or not, but for me an my collection, I think they are vintage and Mexican made, myself.

But they are what they are, cast wings.

[pfrost]

Close up of the shoulder. The original wax mold was made by hand. And you can see the trace silver polish paste in the recess.

[mghcal]

Really like those wings Patrick especially the Navigator! I don't see someone going through the trouble making two different molds for these in their garage, what profit would they receive for that much work? These may not even be ww2 era? I like them anyway. The other ebay wing didn't get much love yesterday but no matter, to me it's still an interesting "theater" made variation.