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Pasquale (B. Pasquale) of San Francisco, CA: Examples and Patterns


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I thought I would bring this new thread to life, rather than hijack a previous thread (http://www.usmilitariaforum.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=29623). Recently, some discussion came up over the Pasquale hallmark seen on a number of wings.

 

First some background on the Pasquale hallmark question. In one of the later reprintings of J Duncan Campbell's important book on Aviation Badges and Insignia of the United States Army 1913-1946, he addes a single paragraph on Pasquale hallmarks (in my book, page 96). In it, basically he says that the company always used the hallmark Pasquale S.F. in "letters usually 1/16th of an inch high". He goes on to say that he had recently seen some gold flight surgeon wings marked with only the Pasquale (no S.F.) and in letters about 1/8th on an inch high.

 

He never says that the wings are fake, but leaves it to the reader to draw their own conclusion. The first picture is of a EGA recently posted that shows a Pasqaule SF hallmark (of course it should be noted that even this hallmark differs from Duncan's statement as it is "Pasquale SF CAL).

 

The second picture is also of a recent posting that shows a mispelled Pasquali hallmark on an airhip wing that may be a fake. Also, an additional photo in which the hallmark has been altered. Not only is the Pasquale hallmark mispelled, but it appears that they used the wrong name altogether by adding the "& Co". So, according to Campbell, this hallmark has at multiple strikes against it!

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But....

 

Lets first recall that the ORIGINAL point that Mr. Campbell was making was in regards to some gold flight nurse and flight surgeon wings that he had seen. I have also had the chance to handle a number of these wings, and I must say that I think more discussion needs to be aired. Sadly, I do not own any of these wings, so I can not do a side by side comparison for you. I do know a few people who have the different examples, and you know who you are! Feel free to kick into the discussion.

 

First, it seems that not all the Pasquale gold flight surgeons are the same. Some are, in my humble opinion fakes, while others are more than likely real. The fakes are a bit thiner and less robust than the ones I think are real. BUT they are all hallmarked with the Pasquale hallmark, minus the SF.

 

So, the first question is, do vintage wings or insignia sold by Pasquale have the hallmark in question. Answer...Yes, I believe they do. Here is a recent example of a wing that was directed to my attention by a very smart and very advanced wing collector who pointed out that not only is this wing (which is very unlikely to be a fake) but other insignia in his collection, have just the Pasquale hallmark.

 

I also have seen WWII vintage US rank insignia with the Pasquale hallmark. Again, sadly I had traded those away many years ago, and do not have examples to share. But, I think with a bit of effort, someone may turn up some examples.

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So, we have some evidence in period pieces that Pasquale SF could also show up as plain old Pasquale.

 

It is also fairly accepted by a number of advanced wing collectors that Pasquale likely was not a company that actually MADE their wings, but likely bought them wholesale from other companies, such as Blackinton and perhaps LG Balfour.

 

However, before we do to much hand waving and hypothesizing, lets add a bit more "historical fact" to the mix.

 

In Russ Huff's Wings and Things of the World newsletter, Number 17, Fall of 1991,a Mr. Jim Chaffin wrote an interesting article about the Pasqule Wings--and Controvery (pg 27-28).

 

I am not sure about copyrights and what not, but I will try to faithfully paraphrase his article.

 

He writes that his information comes from an employee (a Mr. Glen Souza) of the Pasquale Company from 1976 to 1979. Supposedly, Mr. Souza was visited by a salesman of the Risnick Company who sold him gold flight surgeon and nurse badges that he had been stuck with as old stock, since the wings were changed from gold to silver in 1944. Interestingly, Duncan Campbell seemed to have had access to the old stock of Pasquale Uniform Shop in San Francisco in the late 1960's, but reported never seeing any gold flight surgeon wings (as described in his book). Perhaps because these wings were not there at the time, but with the other salesman? That is the question that may never be answered, of course.

 

At the same time, Mr. Souza also said that he found boxes of AAC DI, USN wings, USN submarine insignia (a sample of which a friend of mine has that I am told is marked Pasquale). Span AM war insignia, and Blackinton catalogs and invoices of orders placed for military insignia.

 

More on the gold Pasquale flight surgeon/nurse wings. They are very similar to the "clipped wing" first pattern LGB or Amcraft wings (the ones with the snowflake back). They are smooth backed, have the appropriate pinback hardware, one piece construction, and seem to have either a 1/16 or 1/8 inch incised hallmark over the sterling.

 

As I said above, I have handled a number of examples of these wings, and while I can not offer any insight ('cause I cant remember) which wings had the big or small hallmark, it is my opinion that some of these wings are likely WWII vintage (they are thicker and more robust, and with a slightly different finish) to the ones I think are fake (they are thinner, less robust and have a "newer" feeling finish).

 

At the very least, I hope that this post has directed those of you who are interested to some sources of information other than "some guy told me".

 

You can see that simply discarding Pasquale insignia because it lacks the SF at the end may be an error. In fact, maybe the size of the hallmark is more important.

 

One last point. In this article, Mr. Chaffin says that Pasquale was around from 1854-1979, and moved 5-6 times. The went by the following names (perhaps more were used):

B. P. Co (Benont Pasquale and Company), a P in a diamond, "Pasquale" with a small palm tree (maybe like Beverly Craft), Pasquale SF in very small letters, and we have seen Pasquale SF CAL and finally, a plain Pasquale. So, maybe the "wing lore" on the Pasquale hallmark needs to be better researched.

 

 

Patrick

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Finally, I did a quick search of this very site and found two very interesting items illustrating that Pasquale used both the sterling over Pasquale (which to my eyes looks a GREAT deal like the Sterling by Blackinton hallmark) and Pasquale SF on some navy insignia. Since these are all incised hallmarks, likely added by a punch rather than integral to the dies, it is totally reasonable to expect that wings were marked in a variety of ways depending on which company was contracted out to provide the insignia.

 

I hope this clears up some of the confusion.

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Adding to the comments made by Patrick; while visiting Duncan several years ago, I asked why he did not have any wing badges in his collection made by Pasquale. His response was that while in San Francisco during WWII he visited the company only to discover that they did not make badges and that all the full size badges being sold there were made by Blackinton; therefore, except for having the "Pasquale, S.F" backmark on the badges, since he already had examples of every wing badge made by Blackinton in his collection there was no reason in his view to purchase any just because they had a Pasquale backmark.

 

Something else to consider is that since Pasquale did not make wing badges it is feasible that the contractor or contractors who made other military badges for them may have also applied a Pasquale backmark before they were delivered to the firm.

 

-cp

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Thanks Cliff that is some helpful information. I have been told that a family connection existed between Blackington and Pasquale and information on that?

 

Additionally the company sold Society, Religious, and military items. They sold many swords and other items...

 

John

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Thanks Cliff that is some helpful information. I have been told that a family connection existed between Blackington and Pasquale (any) information on that?

 

:unsure: I wish so John but no that is the best I can do.

 

Cliff

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Pasquale sold fire and police insignia and uniform pieces as well. The daughter of the last owner of Pasquale is still living and occasionally shows up at the SF flea markes and I have talked with her at length. Sadly she knows very little about the old business practices of the company. She still has quite a bit of insignia and some day I hope she will sell it off as a group. As far as the hallmarks go I have a lot of Pasquale insignia(go figure) and they remain very consistent. Pasquale over the Sterling is the most common and Pasquale under Sterling next most common. Finally Pasquale SF is the last type. All other are IMO fake. All insignia I have seen in her posession are NOT mispelled. Most of the military insignia they sold was naval related 85% she estimated, and USAAF was very uncommon. The vast majority of the US Army insignia was coast arty related.

 

Cheers

Gary

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Here is a picture of a Flight Surgeon wing I picked up that came with the left over stock of a salesman story...sold it when I came to believe it wasn't of the period. However, it was a beautiful piece of work that I would have been proud to wear if I had been a doctor.

 

It was heavy, very well executed, absolutely new, no sterling mark, odd Pasquale font, a 90-degree pin, but I had the impression it was not sterling...it was not so marked as you can see. There were just 2 holes drilled through for relief, not hand finished. This was a one piece. Didn't make sense to me that a gold FS, obsoleted in 1944 would still look quite this new.

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In Russ Huff's Wings and Things of the World newsletter, Number 17, Fall of 1991,a Mr. Jim Chaffin wrote an interesting article about the Pasqule Wings--and Controvery (pg 27-28).

 

I am not sure about copyrights and what not, but I will try to faithfully paraphrase his article.

 

He writes that his information comes from an employee (a Mr. Glen Souza) of the Pasquale Company from 1976 to 1979. Supposedly, Mr. Souza was visited by a salesman of the Risnick Company who sold him gold flight surgeon and nurse badges that he had been stuck with as old stock, since the wings were changed from gold to silver in 1944. Interestingly, Duncan Campbell seemed to have had access to the old stock of Pasquale Uniform Shop in San Francisco in the late 1960's, but reported never seeing any gold flight surgeon wings (as described in his book).

 

I realize this is a bit off topic but it may be of interest to a few readers of this forum as to why very little 'new old stock' is rarely found today.

 

In 1956 when Duncan Campbell returned for a second time to the Pasquale Uniform Co., then owned by a Mr. Harry Conover, he was invited to go down into the cellar were he saw (in his own words) zillions of boxes of World War 1 leftover insignia that never had been discarded so he bought about ten pounds of it for a pittance. When he returned home he wrote a letter to Mr. Conover, enclosed a check (for an unknown amount), and told him that if his offer was acceptable, "would you please pack up all the old (WW1) insignia in the cellar and send it to me?" In his reply Mr. Conover wrote that the whole kit and caboodle of WW1 insignia was en-route to him via railroad shipment ... 375 pounds (!!!) of World War 1 insignia, at a time when collectors were just beginning to look for it. Well, over the years Duncan sold it wholesale, retail, traded some, gave away lots of it, in addition to adding significantly to his own collection, and by 1980 most all of it was gone. ;)

 

-cp

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Thanks for your terrific insight, Cliff. I had wondered how some reliable (IMHO) sellers could seem to have such a significant supply of "new" WWI insignia and were selling them at a good price.

 

There seems to be a parallel between Pasquale's practice of selling Blackinton insignia with what amounts to a retailer's stamp on it, and an earlier practice amonst the sterling flatware makers and sellers of the 1890s to 1920's; that being, both the manufacturer and the retailer's marks were on every piece. For instance Shreve made its own sterling, but it also sold wares made by Whiting, Durgin, and others. Shreve's stamp is found on those pieces along with the manufacturers hallmarks which is confusing to a lot of present day collector/accumulators.

 

Paul S

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  • 3 weeks later...

Regarding the Pasquale/Blackinton relationship...I collect WW2 Submarine insignia(USN), and I came across a small lot of original submarine combat badges on the Pasquale storecards. They are identical to the Blackinton pattern but with only a sterling mark. In fact, Dave Jones' book on sub insignia makes note of Pasquale invoices from Blackinton for both dolphins and combat badges. Pasquale dolphins are identical to Blackinton, save the hallmarks.

 

As an aside... and this is a true story...as I prepared to sell one of the pins I was watching the Color of War and they showed a small clip of submariners back from patrol being awarded the combat badge...they did a zoom on one sailor showing his badge as he held it up...and it was on a Pasquale card, just like the ones I found.

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  • 1 year later...

Great wing! Can you show the back? With all the issues with this brand ( on non Navy wings) I would love to see the hallmark.

 

Paul

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:D

 

What a terrific badge, and from this vantage point it helps to confirm that only V. H. Blackinton made the wing badges that were sold by Pasquale Company, San Francisco.

 

Three thumbs up for that one.

:thumbsup: :thumbsup: :thumbsup:

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Over the years I have seen many different Navy wings. This is the first time I have seen this wing, with a drop catch, and on a Pasquale card - WOW – impressive. This is one of the reasons why I just love the Forum, folks sharing their collections and interests. Gregg

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This is a hell of a find but I'm partial to Blackinton wings so I always love seeing them. I have a full size Blackinton Naval Aviator wing but the 1/20th 10k GF marked is excised but the Blackinton is still clearly visible. I love the wing. Mine is a clutch back.

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That's about the nicest wings i've seen and looks like they are one rare bird not to mention they are in mint condition with the original card man you must be very happy with those wings Bob.

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That's about the nicest wings i've seen and looks like they are one rare bird not to mention they are in mint condition with the original card man you must be very happy with those wings Bob.

Hello,

Are these the smaller 2 inch wings or the larger regulation size wings? Reason I ask is that I just picked up a pair of the smaller 2 inch wings, but I have never seen the regulation size Blackinton marked USN aviator wings.

 

Nice!

 

Patrick

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