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Bullion Wings v. Metal Wings


stratasfan
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The ability to correctly identify theatre-made wings / patches can really only come with experience...in other words, looking at and handling many examples until you eventually get a "feel" for it. There are distinctive styles which true experts can readily attribute to specific theatres. Sometimes, this is due to the materials used, or the style of the embroidery or the backing material etc ( when it comes to bullion / embroidered items, the back is as important as the front!) Some styles are quite distinctive and readily identifiable...for example, British-made wings and patches...ditto CBI items ( China, Burma, India) However....the water has been muddied by the presence of large numbers of fakes and repros in circulation. Many of these originate in Asia...from Pakistan in particular...where detailed hand-embroidery and bullion work are native skills. Alas...there is no substitute for experience! There's a wealth of reference material on such patches etc in the forum's archives, if you have the time and patience to do a trawl?!

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Boy, thanks for the history. I'm really enjoying looking into this, as I've never really noticed them before. The catalogue page is really cool to see. I never think about the guys having to buy patches and pins! The pictures in the link to buy the AF bullion patches are really nice! Some are truly works of art!

 

I was looking at some and here are three links:

 

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Estate-Find-WW1-WW2-Military-Bullion-Patch-Lot-USAAF-Vintage-US-Army-Air-Force-/331690588705?hash=item4d3a4cba21:g:2swAAOSwA4dWLC-Q

 

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Original-WWII-Air-Force-tin-Wire-Bullion-Theatre-Made-Patch-/301775258294?hash=item46433502b6:g:I~YAAOSwhcJWKDyK

 

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Bullion-15th-Army-Air-Force-patch-WWII-US-Army-AAF-silk-Italian-theater-made-/271992192303?hash=item3f53ff7d2f:g:bfUAAOSwsB9V~2Wf

 

How can you tell that some are theatre made? The styles of each patch I've looked at always seems to differ slightly, so I was wondering if there were major differences or was it the type of thread?

 

The first eBay auction is probably for a CBI made patch. This is a classic CBI-pattern, with the dark blue/black velveteen type material and heavy, finely sewn bullion.

 

The second eBay auction is probably (IMHO) for a US made "tinsel-style" patch on felt. Some people will probably say it is English made, but the one I have really seems to be more of US manufacture than the typical Brit-made bullion patch These seem to have been rather cheaply done compared to the other styles of bullion. In fact at $12, it isn't a half bad price, even with the mothing! I think the price tells you about where people think it was made. Even a simple sild-thread embroidered English made USAAF SSI can sell for more than that.

 

The third could be Italian made, but again I would lean towards US or maybe even post war. Although I tend to be skeptical of all the wings and patches that I see attributed to Italian-theater made, myself. Still there are many people who have made the study of bullion patches their life's work and so probably know much more than I do.

 

Patrick

 

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The first eBay auction is probably for a CBI made patch. This is a classic CBI-pattern, with the dark blue/black velveteen type material and heavy, finely sewn bullion.

 

The second eBay auction is probably (IMHO) for a US made "tinsel-style" patch on felt. Some people will probably say it is English made, but the one I have really seems to be more of US manufacture than the typical Brit-made bullion patch These seem to have been rather cheaply done compared to the other styles of bullion. In fact at $12, it isn't a half bad price, even with the mothing! I think the price tells you about where people think it was made. Even a simple sild-thread embroidered English made USAAF SSI can sell for more than that.

 

The third could be Italian made, but again I would lean towards US or maybe even post war. Although I tend to be skeptical of all the wings and patches that I see attributed to Italian-theater made, myself. Still there are many people who have made the study of bullion patches their life's work and so probably know much more than I do.

 

Patrick

 

 

OH, this is cool! I read your post three times and compared photos. You can really see the differences when you look. The first link - the CBI patches - interests me. They embroidered on something like velveteen?! That is very cool! I thought they looked different, but figured it was a different type of felt. It would be thicker, but it would also look different. I like the overall look of the top link best. The embroidery itself is beautiful! Would you say that is a typical CBI look? Someone mentioned that "CBI" is "China, Burma, India" Why are they grouped like that? Because of that whole theatre of the war? I don't know much about that part of the war.

 

I found this photo of wings that they are listing as CBI : http://www.ebay.com/itm/Great-Early-WWII-RAF-Pilot-Wing-in-Pinback-Bullion-Made-in-India-or-Burma-/331602548005?hash=item4d350d5525:g:S50AAOSwDNdVn~eP

 

Would you agree? Compared to these gunner wings, they are really different. Also, what do you think of the photo that Sabrejet posted in the 7th post on this thread. I think that those are the prettiest bullion things I've seen so far!

 

Thanks for letting me pick your brains about this. I am having so much fun learning about these! I was looking through a book about insignia earlier this year and started wondering about bullion wings. Ever since then it has been on my mind and I finally decided to ask!

 

That is crazy about the AEF doing prototypes of wings during WWI! Ah, well . . . guess the war didn't wait for the red tape to be finished up! ;)

 

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Glad you're enjoying the bullion thread ( pun in-tended! ;) ) Here's an example of a bullion WW1 US Air Service pilot's wing. It's a repro. I wasn't duped...I bought it as such with the intention of using it in a shadow-box display, for which purpose it would be fine behind glass. It's quite well detailed and has an aged, tarnished look. I'm not sure where it originated...possibly somewhere in Asia?

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post-8022-0-99935700-1446131246.jpg

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