1914 Dress Cover EGA

[bobgee]

Howdy All...I have a bell crown visor made by and marked "Jacob Reed's Sons, Inc. Philadelphia Contract June 2, 1917". The interesting thing is while having a regulation grommet for the emblem, the 1916 type dress emblem is a PINBACK with an open catch 'C' clasp. Only one I've encountered. It never had a screwpost so not a rewortk. My camera won't work for closeup so suffice to say the emblem has been on the cover for a long and shows its impression quite clearly. Is this an oddity or something I've just not seen? Thanks.....Semper Fi!....Bob

 

[teufelhunde.ret]

Hi Bob. You certainly have a genuine period original there. Which is almost without doubt original and authentic to the cover. I have seen a handful these before, never as clearly as your picture depicts. These "c" clips and or pin-backs have been around a long time and apparently the practice of providing these for private purchase continued well into the period when the screw-back had become the most common in use. Thank you for sharing adding this (with great pic's) to the EGA reference section. I hope our resident EGA guru, Gary, will comment... Best regards;

[GLM]

Bob,

 

A very nice and rather scarce 1914-22 emblem you have. I'm of the understanding that these pin back versions of the dress cover emblem were intended for the white pull-over covers that fit over the blue bell crowns prior to and during WWI. Many of the pull-over white and khaki covers didn't have the grommeted holes that would take the screw post emblems, so my guess is an emblem maker came up with this alternative. As of yet, I have seen nada, zilch, zero pin back service emblems for the khaki cover, only the dress version like yours. If anyone has a pin back emblem in this pattern for the service cover, I would dearly love to see photos of it. Very nice find, Bob!

Gary

[bobgee]

Gary...Thanks for the comments. I'm posting pics of 2 emblems that I have a reasonable history on the Marine who owned them. His name was Seth Hanigan and he enlisted for the duration of the war on 2 January 1918. He made it to France as a replacement and was assigned to 49th Co, 5th Marines. He was recommended for a Distinguished Service MEDAL at Blanc Mont but received a Silver Citation Star. He won a Croix de Guerre at Blanc Mont. He was wounded on July 18, 1918 at Soissons. He received Victory Medal w/ clasps Aisne-Marne, St. Mihiel, Meuse-Argonne and Defensive Sector. He served on the March to the Rhine and was selected to serve in Pershing's Honor Guard in the Composite Regiment. (I have posted pics of his helmet in that section.) He came home and was honorably discharged on September 25, 1918. I'm telling all this because I have all of his medals and memorabilia which surfaced in CA in 1999, when I acquired it at the last GW Show in Las Vegas. There were the 2 service EGAs, a pair of USMC disks, shoulder patch, buttons from a tunic and overcoat, his original 1919 ribbon bar with Victory and CdG, dog tags and numerous Original documents.The pictures follow:

[Brig]

Figured I'd bring this one back up to show my own I just picked up...really are neat pieces, and scarce...I can't recall seeing another since Bob posted his here

 

The clasp on this one is more narrow and smaller

[C. Roelens]

Just so you know Brig... your new EGA was an extra from a small lot I purchased that once belonged to Lewis R. Williams 4604508, 18th Company.

 

S/F,

 

Chuck

[Brig]

good to know. thanks!