Jump to content

Moody Bros Jewelers of Los Angeles: examples and patterns


Recommended Posts

John Cooper

Hi Gary - recent pick up... if so nice find. Have you ever seen or do you own any other wings marked as such?

 

Cheers

John

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Hi Gary - recent pick up... if so nice find. Have you ever seen or do you own any other wings marked as such?

 

Cheers

John

 

Hi John,

 

I have had these wings for awhile (I have 2 sets of these). If I remember correctly these are the only type of wings this company made.

 

It's been awhile since we last spoke...on one of the other forums. I am getting ready to post some other wings in another thread.

 

Gary B

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 3 weeks later...

Here is an interesting Moody variety I've seen only a couple of times. Might have been a trial piece before they started making the Aerial Gunner's wings...gunners wore the A/C wing before the newer design was approved.

post-3515-1308373000.jpg

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Here is an interesting Moody variety I've seen only a couple of times. Might have been a trial piece before they started making the Aerial Gunner's wings...gunners wore the A/C wing before the newer design was approved.

 

Hi Paul,

 

I am not so sure that Moody Bros actually made any wings. I suspect they were simply a retail supplier of gunner wings at some point and likely contracted out to another wholesale company for their stock. I have no proof of that, but this is my theory.

 

As for the A/C wing, it looks like a cast wing? You have it in hand, so likely say better than I. Still, if it is cast, I would have some reservations that this is actually a WWII vintage wing. It does have that feeling of "collector copies" that frequent eBay.

 

Patrick

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Patrick, they may be cast, but it's not easily obvious as there are some faint vertical shear lines at spots around the edge perimeter, similar to how Beverlycraft finished their edges. It's also similar to the edge on a Moody gunner where it has been rounded off...the sharp corners broken down. It's 3-1/8" long and heavy at 21+ grams, so it would take a longer original to make a pattern for casting, which would imply a 3-3/16" or even a 3-1/4" original to make the pattern. There are very few pits that could be seen as signs of a cast piece.

 

Is the obverse pattern similar to any older designs you know of? And were the older ones long enough to have been used as a pattern?

 

I have another example of this wing that was made into a bracelet, not marked Moody, but has "1943" scratched in along with a scratched-in ASN that checked out in the AAF data base and the man died shortly before that bracelet came to market from the same area. So I'm of the opinion that the wing is of the period.

 

I'm thinking that since Moody marks are almost entirely found on Aerial Gunner wings and that the A/C was the wing worn by gunners before the new gunner design was approved that Moody may have had a small stock of these A/C or even tried making them up themselves when word of the design change came and they had to scramble to find a suitable replacement.

 

I've noticed in collecting that the A/C wings by all makers come available in abundance even though there were only a couple of crew members such as R/O and photographers that wore them. However, with 4-5 gunners aboard each heavy bomber, all of them discarding their A/C wings for the sexier A/G wings, in my mind that answers the question of why so may A/C wings.

 

PS

 

Do you know what Aerial Gunnery Schools might have been located fairly close to LA?

 

PS

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 4 weeks later...
Post #5

 

Hi Paul,

 

I am not so sure that Moody Bros actually made any wings. I suspect they were simply a retail supplier of gunner wings at some point and likely contracted out to another wholesale company for their stock. I have no proof of that, but this is my theory.

 

As for the A/C wing, it looks like a cast wing? You have it in hand, so likely say better than I. Still, if it is cast, I would have some reservations that this is actually a WWII vintage wing. It does have that feeling of "collector copies" that frequent eBay.

 

Patrick

I believe Patrick is hot onto something in the first paragraph of post #5, because I'm not sure if Moody Brothers ever actually made any wings either.

 

With regard to the second paragraph. Back on June 18, I thought that the badge looked a bit crude and also thought it may have been cast to fool a collector; however, yesterday, July 11, Paul pointed out to me that during WWII when the gunner wing was converted to a gunner bracelet, the jeweler who made the conversion applied a large amount of silver solder at the back of both wing tips to hold some chain eyelets that were neccessary to hold the bracelet chain in place. Well, while doing so, some of that solder trickled over to the front of the badge (see photo below). Next, going forward a few decades, when another jeweler re-converted the bracelet back to look like a standard wing badge he had to remove the chain eyelets which left some grinding marks, and then re-attached a pin and locking device on the back but when he did a "small puddle" of solder was left at the base. Those grinding marks and that "puddle" of solder looked a bit too messy to me back on June 18, but now that we know the rest of the story, I no longer suspect that the badge was made to fool anyone.

 

Cliff

 

:-)

post-4542-1310505575.jpg

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 3 years later...
rathbonemuseum.com

This company is another of those relatively small manufacturers of wings during WWII. They seem to have been a pretty successful wholesale manufacturer located in a downtown LA jewelry building that is still there today and still dedicated to the business. They did not seem to be a big participant in wing making, with only air gunner wings showing up with any regularity. But they did make others. It's not clear how many patterns or types. Their typical pattern is a narrow Amico-like pelican beak shoulder style with unique 'squared-off' blunt wing tips. I hope to find out more about this company and eventually add it to the research on the other LA maker Beverlycraft.

 

 

IMG_9486.jpg

IMG_9487.jpg

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Can't wait to see what you find. I've had a Aerial Gunner wing for years. It was actually one of the first wings I purchased. I always assumed that Moody Brothers purchased these wings and stamped their name on them for resale. Hopefully you'll find the real story !!! Good Luck !

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Tod,

 

Excellent subject matter and very nice images. Your Moody Bros Bombardier example is the first I've seen...

 

Moody Bros Jewelers of Los Angeles also produced Aerial Gunner's "High Score" award bracelets for Yuma Army Air Field (YAAF) and Las Vegas Army Air Field (LVAAF) during WWII.

IMG_5233.JPG

IMG_5228.JPG

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Those bracelets are very interesting Rustywings, I would like to find one of the YAAF type. I work at Marine Corps Air Station Yuma now and this is the site of the old YAAF.

Semper Fi

Phil

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 3 weeks later...
  • 2 years later...
rathbonemuseum.com

The brothers' names are Frank S. Moody and Joseph A. Moody. They were born in Canada and grew up in a jewelry family. I have not found much more on Moody Brothers history yet, other than to confirm they were jewelry manufacturers working in the jewelry trades building in downtown Los Angeles. Attached is the 1939 city directory listing:

Moody Brothers 1939.png

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 years later...

Hi Guys

Thought i would bring this back to the top with some pics of a few of my Moody wings.There are some slight difference in all 6,maker mark location,pin placement.All the wings apper to be made by the same maker except the wing where the maker mark is to the left.Sorry about the poor pics. shity camera and new app.Jay

 

post-564-0-28320900-1552094682_thumb.jpg

 

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 6 months later...

Hi:

 

Years ago...I picked this up at a gunshow in Washington State with some other USAAC wings (another gunner & bomber)

 

Annotated...scratched "KINGMAN ARIZ JAN 1944"

 

Made by "MOODY BROS. L.A. CAL"

post-153915-0-47340800-1570540211_thumb.jpg

Link to comment
Share on other sites

PacificGunner

The wings you found were most likely used by an airman that trained as an air gunner on B-17s. Another theory could be that a veteran gunner who flew in B-17s tin the early years of WWII, could have been assigned to Kingman Army Airfield as an air gunnery instructor to train new recruits. There was an Army Air Force Flexible Gunnery School in Kingman Arizona that was built at the start of World War II and used as an aerial gunnery training base. It was renamed Kingman Army Airfield when it started operations in 1943 and began training B-17 aerial gunners. It would become one of the largest Army Air Force training fields in the United States During World War II. After the war, since there was no longer a need for these training fields, Kingman Army Airfield was turned into a depot for surplus aircraft. At the end of 1945 there were something like 5000 war surplus aircraft being stored there. Once the aircraft were parked, they would then be systematically scrapped for parts. Even today Kingman Army Airfield is still used as a storage yard for unused aircraft. Its facilities like these that once housed bombers we see today, such as the B-29 Fifi. It is a shame to look at post war photos from Kingman and other army airfields and see the bombers, especially the noseart sections being cut to pieces after the war.

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
 Share

×
×
  • Create New...