balfour "S" command pilot sample?

[Costa]

ill take a wild guess------- ww2 salesman sample. I only guessed, am I right???

[mtnman]

yep, if that is an "S"

[pfrost]

I have never been so sure that the "S" was for salesman sample. It seems that in the 50's Balfour did use some variations in how they marked the metal content of their insignia and other products.

For example, I have a few 50-60s vintage Pan Am wings marked with an "X". I assumed that was to indicate 10K gold. So if I had to guess, I think that perhaps the "S" was for Sterling? Or something along those lines, rather than "sample".

 

There are few other threads where wings marked with an "S" are shown.

[pfrost]

Still, an argument could be made against the use of "S" or "X" for metal content in that (as I understand it) the hallmarking systems were set by law. Such that marking something STERLING was legally defined only when the metal content was in fact 92.5% silver (or what ever the exact number was). I am not sure how "S" or "X" would have fit in those legal requirements. Although I'm not sure you were REQUIRED to mark something as sterling or if the law only covered the situation that IF you did mark it, the mark HAD to be correct. I am sure there are smarter people than me who know that answer.

[Costa]

Pat, I have seen the threads on the subject of the S mark. one member here if I remember had a salesman's sample case of Balfour wings and if I remember some if not all were S marked?? in any event to me any way the S mark specifies sample or as you mentioned silver. I would take the guess that this command pilot is ww2 produced. lets see what others say--- Bob or Russ--- may shed more light on it.

if I may add, I have 2 other wings S marked made by Balfour and with those 2 and this 1 aside from the sample salesman case, I have never seen them before or after.