Jump to content

Vanguard Navy Wings


The Rooster
 Share

Recommended Posts

The Rooster

I had to pick these up. They are barely Gold in color as compared to a set of Balfour wings. See Attached. They have a block lettered hallmark.

Flying tiger antiques has a pair identical to these. They advertise theirs as ww2 Rare Vanguard wings. They are asking $285.00 for theirs.

I had never seen a pair and the price was right.

The other thing about these wings is that they only have two holes down by the anchor instead of the usual 4 holes.

Sterling and barely a gold tint to them. No markings as to being gold filled etc. Gold washed? Maybe?

No numerical hallmark. Are these ww2 or post war? They are unusal wings to me.

post-181333-0-39184500-1530846477_thumb.jpg

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 4 weeks later...
The Rooster

I found a thread by Costa from 2014

 

http://www.usmilitariaforum.com/forums/index.php?/topic/152875-vanguard-sterling-navy/

 

Same wings... Same questions.... No answers....

The weird thing about these is that even though the flash or something is adding a gold tone...

When I look at them in person they are silver.

Next to a navy gold they are staight up silver.

Next to a small sterling navy hat wing... they match in color. On the back they are only marked Vanguard and sterling.

 

Here is a pair for sale from flying tigers... Rare???

 

http://www.flyingtigerantiques.com/mm5/merchant.mvc?Screen=PROD&Product_Code=usnw20003

 

 

The slight gold tone is the camera and Tarnish. They are sterling...

 

Anybody? Cause its an ongoing mystery to me. Why sterling wings?

If anyone knows any details about this particular wing please feel free. Thank you in advance.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Your Vanguard wings may or my not be WWII, I lean toward post WWII, but no later then 1956.

Yes, that pattern and back mark on and Aviator wing is uncommon.

The reason it appears silver and is marked sterling is because it is simply gilt over sterling and it is worn.

By the way the holes between the rope and anchor are called flukes.

Try searching an old thread called Im confused about my vanguard wings.

 

John

Link to comment
Share on other sites

This is kind of an interesting thread. I think it outlines a couple of things about collecting WWII Navy aviator wings. I once knew a guy who was very dismissive of the USN wings altogether. Basically, he said that from the front, you can collect all of about 5 total variations in patterns. After that, if you wan to look at any "variations" you have to flip them over and display their backs so they can see their hallmarks (he also made an off color remark about a similar way to look at girls... but I don't want the moderators to scold me!). He had an extensive USAAF pilot wing collection and had only an H&H/Imperial and a NANCO marked USN wing. that was it for him... He felt he was done with them as he had all the variations basically covered.

 

On the other hand, I know a couple of collectors who LOVE to collect USN wings by maker and get all tingly and engorged when ever they find a H&H marked wing with the hallmark in some new location on the back. Or they will get excited by a wing without the pierced flukes or the fouled rope being wrapped differently. I once ran into a collector who liked to look for variations in the patina of the wings. I always say, its your collection, get what you like.

 

As for the Vanguard wing, I would agree with B17-John that is is likely a post-war made wing. But that, in and of itself, is kind of an arbitrary division. Right about 1942 or so, the USN seemed to settle on a general pattern of wing (with the berries) and they never went back. Thus you have a kind of basic, all purpose wing, with generally very subtle and slight differences. There are a few pre-war and "early-war" variations that didn't use the berries (think the PANCO and NANCO wings which are likely from the Robbins Co) that were also used in that time period. In fact, I have seen KW-era trained pilots with NANCO wings. But for all practical purposes, their really is no REAL difference between WWII (early or late), KW (early or late) and post KW. Many of the pilots trained in WWII continued to fly or were called up during the KW, and most everything else was the same. Certainly, the manufactures didn't "well, the war is over, lets shift to our post war manufacturing themes to give collectors something to quibble about!!"

 

Compounding this, not all companies actually MADE their wings, and I suspect that Vanguard was one such company. I suspect (but could be wrong) that as a retailer, Vanguard likely bought many of their products from various wholesaler manufacturers, including manufacturers of wings. This makes it kind of interesting as a "rare" Vanguard wing may actually have been made by using a common "H&H" die (as an example). That goes back to the first example of a collecting mindset, where the rarity is only based on the hallmark, not the actual scarcity of the item itself. For example the Luxenberg marked AECo-made wings. A Luxenberg hallmark adds serious value to what is a rather mundane and common wing made by AECo.

 

But it is a cool wing, none the less. Would I spend Ron Burkey level prices for this wing... nope. But if you are going to collect USN wings and you want more than 2 wings for our collection (one with berries, one without), then you kind of have to collect by maker! :D

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
 Share

×
×
  • Create New...