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IS THIS WING GOOD? Post your requests here!


John Cooper
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Patchcollector

Thanks for the warning Cliff.

 

I can see how these would look tempting to the inexperienced eye(such as mine) :)

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Heads-Up! :dry:

 

USAAF fixed-wing Pilot, Service Pilot, Glider Pilot and Liaison Pilot wing badges that look like the ones seen below should be given additional consideration before purchasing.

 

These badges started showing up in the market place within the last 12 months. Some carry no hallmark while others may be stamped GAUNT - LONDON. The badges may be in pin-back or have English style attachment loops like the two seen in the bottom photo.

 

The theory making the rounds among dealers is that most are New-Old-Stock made during WWII but only recently found in England; however, unless confirmed by an acknowledged unquestionable source, it should be an issue open for debate.

 

If anyone feels there is no merit to this concern, please do blast away.

 

Cliff

 

Another red flag waving? :huh:

 

Hummm, received an interesting message saying some have also shown up hallmarked AMICO.

 

 

post-4542-0-56591000-1405990236.jpg

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Cliff, this is an interesting wing. Some time in the 90's at one of the Great Western Gun Shows, Art showed me one of these wings, marked AMICO. We talked about it and he said it was one of the first he had ever seen. A very similar wing (also marked AMICO) is shown in the Pinks and Greens books as a "between the wars" style. Sine the one Art showed me, I have only seen this wing a couple of other times, mostly in higher end collections. Frankly, I have lusted after this pattern of wing and the ones I have handled in the past have not given me pause to imagine that they are anything other than early 20-30's vintage wings made by AMICO. In fact, I just missed picking one up at a flea market a bout 10 or 15 years ago for just a few bucks.

 

UNTIL NOW, I had thought that these were rather rare wings. However, the increase in number and the obvious attempts at WWII wings with the Gaunt hallmark makes me suspect that someone got the old dies and are making new fakes.

 

Up until relatively recently, I had only seen 2 or 3 of these wings-- then BOOM! I doubt that these are old-new stock recently found in England. Rather I suspect that these are the product of a made to fool collector wings using old dies.

 

Yet another black eye to the collecting field. :blush:

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  • 1 month later...

The balloon wings look old to me, some verdigris and displaced thread.The Airship has outstanding craftsmanship and is very attractive and looks new.However,I want provenance and proof if there are no others that match these in known good collections I would pass unless free. My vote No. Fraternally Mike

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Cliff,

I believe that both are fake. Especially the Aeronaut wing. I have never seen an original that was constructed so crudely. As for the Air Ship wing, nicely made but no age to it. This particular seller of the Air Ship wing has listed what I feel are bogus Air Service wings and patches for the past several years. I would be reluctant to invest any money in either of these items.

Terry

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Cliff,

I believe that both are fake. Especially the Aeronaut wing. I have never seen an original that was constructed so crudely. As for the Air Ship wing, nicely made but no age to it. This particular seller of the Air Ship wing has listed what I feel are bogus Air Service wings and patches for the past several years. I would be reluctant to invest any money in either of these items.

Terry

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Thank you Mike and Terry for sharing your thoughts with us.

 

Just by chance someone else might be interested, here are some close-ups of the safety catch on the Airship pilot badge that should have been posted.

post-4542-0-49088200-1410105600.jpg

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You can't save the world from itself, sadly.

 

The balloon wing isn't even an especially a close call.

 

I wouldn't spend any money on the airship wing, but it is something that I would like to handle before getting too adamant, one way or the other. The workmanship is very fine and maybe with a few years of aging it will look even better. I suspect it will sell for some big $$$$.

 

Patrick

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You can't save the world from itself, sadly.

 

The balloon wing isn't even an especially a close call.

 

I wouldn't spend any money on the airship wing, but it is something that I would like to handle before getting too adamant, one way or the other. The workmanship is very fine and maybe with a few years of aging it will look even better. I suspect it will sell for some big $$$$.

 

Patrick

 

Prices realized on eBay: :unsure:

 

Balloon Pilot uniform $1025.99 :dry:

 

Airship Pilot uniform $1890.00 :dry:

 

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Among other things, YES!

 

:huh: Is the safety catch the answer ? Can a time of production be determined by its style ? Thats a lot of money.

 

 

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Patchcollector

An interesting Wing,just wanted to get some comments on it before I bid on it.

 

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Superb-set-of-original-Bombardier-wings-Local-Estate-find/191324115089?_trksid=p5713.c100042.m2062&_trkparms=aid%3D555012%26algo%3DPW.MBE%26ao%3D1%26asc%3D25253%26meid%3Db3172bea8c9948ffa765abe48e3d0090%26pid%3D100042%26prg%3D10637%26rk%3D1%26rkt%3D9%26sd%3D181501470572

 

 

Sellers description:

 

Superb set of bombardier's wings mounted on a cloth covered metal mounting with pin back.Looks like one of the fastening wires is missing on the back . Very rare wings! -Local Estate of an old aviation collector who did most his collecting in the 50-60s . Will be selling a lot more wings from WW1 and WW2 gradually here on ebay. Fresh to the market, right out of the woodwork!

post-13386-0-72914700-1410484940.jpg

post-13386-0-70634000-1410484951.jpg

post-13386-0-03282200-1410484956.jpg

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Patch collector I was wrong and thanks to Patrick I checked Bobs site and there is a wing very much like the one you asked about. http://www.ww2wings.com/wings/wwi/us/bsiggww1bombardier.shtml Patrick thanks for straightening me out.I hope it's a lesson learned.Patch I like what I see three may be a Tiffany style on one and an egg barrel on the other,anyhow I need to do a 180 and now say I like it. Thanks Patrick. Fraternally Mike. PS I did check here. http://www.usmilitariaforum.com/forums/index.php?/topic/21830-examples-of-fake-fantasy-reproduction-wings/page-2

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