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Odd hallmark pilot wing MF&Co? Marshall Fields & Company of Chicago IL


mghcal
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On ebay a few minutes ago there was a lot for $450 buy it now. Being too slow to make up my mind I missed out. It looked like standard stuff, amcraft, smilo, graduation wings, a nice prewar, and a couple aircrews. The wing I was interested in is the top right. Looks like an LGB 1st pattern but it's not. The hallmark looks to be MF&Co which I thought might be Marshall Fields & Company out of Chicago. They had their own jewelry department so I'm thinking they might have possibly made this one. There aren't any examples I can find anywhere online and I'm kicking myself for missing out. What does everyone else think?

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What a stunning wing. Too bad you missed it.

 

I'm sure you have started your own research, but here is a web site about Marshall Field & Co.

 

http://www.langantiques.com/university/index.php/Marshall_Field_%26_Company

 

 

Great post thanks for bringing it up. I too have never seen or heard of this company making wings.

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It's a very interesting wing to say the least. It shares a strong resemblance to the early LGB pattern wings but is definitely different in the shoulders.

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wow.. that's a neat set.

 

Could be Marshall Fields but could also be a now-defunct business somewhere else I would think.

regardless they look like a very nice and interesting set.

-Brian

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  • 2 years later...

In researching the MF&Co. Hallmark and Marshall Fields I came across this thread. Thought I'd share my example. The wing is heavy, die struck, and with sharp details. As others have mentioned it's similar to the early Amcraft and LGB wings, but a unique pattern not the same.

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post-151849-0-82228300-1514323287_thumb.jpg

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  • 2 weeks later...

In researching the MF&Co. Hallmark and Marshall Fields I came across this thread. Thought I'd share my example. The wing is heavy, die struck, and with sharp details. As others have mentioned it's similar to the early Amcraft and LGB wings, but a unique pattern not the same.

 

Rereading my initial comments I'm unhappy with how they might be interpreted, so I'd like to clarify:

The MF&Co. mark indicates a possibility that Marshall Field & Co. could be associated, however the hallmark does not match any known hallmarks from this company that I can find. The wing looks legit and I'm happy to share it but make no claims to know anything else. Research has not proved fruitful. If anyone has further information on this wing badge please share. I also welcome any meaningful comments. Surely a die struck wing with only 2 known examples should ring some bells, and if they are alarm bells well that's fine too. Any thoughts?

 

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5thwingmarty

I did some searching around for other Marshall Field & Co. items with hallmarks to see if there was anything else out there that matched this hallmark. I found a couple of items that had very stylized MF&Co marks where the M and F looked to be joined and the Co had the bottom of the C extend under a smaller o. Most of what I found had Marshall Filed & Company fully spelled out. I did finally find this one item which was a small pin with given dimensions of 7/8" by 1/2". It looks to be exactly the same and the mark on the wings, and the Sterling mark also looks identical with the height of the letters seeming to diminish from left to right. The pin also looks to be of the same type as that on the first wing in this thread.

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5thwingmarty

In addition, I found a couple of references that indicate Marshall Field & Co was a supplier of military uniforms and equipment in WWI and WWII, so it is not hard to imagine the company being a supplier of military insignia as well.

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Thanks for the feedback gentleman! 5thwingmarty your research skills are phenomenal and I think you just hit a grand slam! The similarities in the hallmark details are compelling and I feel strongly now that this evidence points to this wing badge being of Marshall Field & Co. manufacture; that's if the pin posted can be itself definitively attributed to Marshall Field & Co. At the very least we got in my opinion, matching manufacturers.

Blue Skies,

Steve

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  • 2 years later...
5thwingmarty

When I posted the back of the pin with the hallmark, I had assumed it was just a small fashion pin and didn't share an image of the front.  Today I saw a similar pin on ebay listed along with another pin that were listed as unknown military medical insignia.  A couple minutes research identified it as a U.S. Naval Civil Engineer Corps insignia, so it turns out I have a bit of Marshall Fields militaria and didn't know it.

 

RIMG0056.JPG

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The Rooster

Cool Marty !!!

Marshall Fields was a landmark Chicago Department store on state street in Chicago.

My Grandma used to take my Mom there for lunch in the 1930's. Was a big deal to take the train downtown and go

to Marshall Fields.

The jewelers building is either directly south of Marshall Fields or a block away. Im guessing Marshall fields

purchased the wings etc etc from a jeweler nearby and had their name put on them.

Marshall Fields the last time I checked was owned by Macys.

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Thanks Marty for sharing your MF & Co. insignia identification. It should be mentioned that Marshall Field & Co. did make their own jewelry and not just outsource. On the 10th floor was what IIRC was called the "Craft Shop" which did include die stamping machines. There is a photo online of the shop which shows two die stamping presses but it eludes me at the moment. Again this info is online for those that want to do the research. I personally don't discount the possibility these wings could have been made in-house, maybe from an in-house made die, or more likely, from an outsourced die; or as rooster77 mentioned they of course might have been outsourced altogether. We do know that MF &Co. catered to the Military but to what extent is currently unknown. Gees, wouldn't it be something to find this wing badge 'for sale' by MF & Co.in some piece of old print media, maybe newspaper or catalog. Yep I'm a dreamer.

 

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5thwingmarty

I'm glad to share.  I wish I had posted an image of the front before as I'm sure many people on this forum would have known right off what it was.  I am curious if anyone else has any MF & Co. hallmarked military insignia.  Wings in this pattern and my little Navy insignia are all I have seen.

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The Rooster

I didnt know about the craft shop on the 10th floor.

It was an awesome store when I was a kid. The elevators still had operators running them. They had the best toy section on one floor.

And on the sporting goods floor, they had a 12 foot tall stuffed Kodiak Bear standing there on its hind legs.

Was quite a sight to a two foot tall 4 year old believe me !

this was 1966 or 67....

 

Thats all gone now. It's a Macys with the Marshall fields name.

The Marshall Fields marked insignia do seem to be rare.

Ive never seen one for sale personally.

 

I'd believe they did offer military items during the war as there were a large number of people from cook county serving in the military. Look up the lists of dead from WW2 in Illinois and you'd be shocked by the numbers out of Cook County.

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  • 3 months later...

Just found this thread... thanks to “Patches”.

 

Just the other day I posted an inquiry regarding a pair of Lt Bars with the same hallmark.
 

Here are a pics of the insignia...

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Just found this thread... thanks to “Patches”.

 

Just the other day I posted an inquiry regarding a pair of Lt Bars with the same hallmark that I could not identify.
 

Here are a pics of the insignia...

77D1439D-A888-41BA-89E5-A219E9F804BF.jpeg

359B0935-C2A6-4263-B940-78C4E8D38328.jpeg

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Just found this thread... thanks to “Patches”.

 

Just the other day I posted an inquiry regarding a pair of Lt Bars with the same hallmark that I could not identify.
 

Here are a pics of the insignia...

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