Jump to content

World War One Weekly Wing #35 - Unknown American Jeweler Made Wing


cwnorma
 Share

Recommended Posts

World War One

Weekly Wing #35

Unknown American Jeweler Made Wing

 

Background

If it can be said that the Eisenstadt Manufacturing Co of St Louis Missouri turned out some of the most beautiful jeweler crafted badges, at the opposite end of the spectrum is WWOWW #35.  Duncan Campbell often lamented mentioning the existence of many varieties of jeweler crafted wings in the first edition of his book.  Noting that jewelers who had never dabbled in military insignia did so for two brief war years.  Campbell was so consternated that in his final edition, he felt the need to scribe a sort of mea culpa to the collecting fraternity for what he felt were the many, many spurious specimens spawned from the dark recesses of the minds of fakers of all sorts after reading his words.  Still, no examination of WW1 pilot badges would be complete without a discussion of at least a few of these jeweler crafted badges.  Some of this category of badge are nothing short of exquisite.  WWOWW#7 is one such badge on the finer end of the spectrum.  Perhaps on the opposite end of the scale is this weeks badge WWOWW#35 which while no where near as beautifully crafted as some still is a handsome badge that no-doubt was worn proudly by a young Reserve Military Aviator:

 

WWOWW35.png.aa6bd06d4b8896cde013e86f59f91ff0.png

 

Description

Jeweler made badge with exaggerated Art Nouveau curves to wings and asymmetrical shield.  Overall of the so-called "mustache" variety--for its resemblance to a waxed, upturned mustache.  The evident asymmetry of the shield is noteworthy.  This was a conscious decision on the part of the jeweler and not a matter of carelessness nor lack of skill in execution.  Art Nouveau had a preference for naturalistic forms and, symmetry was considered unnatural.  Thus the asymmetry exhibited on this badge and others like it was a design choice.  I have examined three badges evidently made by this maker, and there is another example on Bob Schwartz's website.  All examples examined show similar asymmetry.

 

There are 11 stripes to escutcheon alternating fine vertical lines with un-tooled silver.  The chief exhibits 13 five-pointed stars each bright cut by hand on a smooth background. The wings too are slightly asymmetrical but somewhat less so than the two halves of the shield.  The wing exhibits fine feathering with each individual feather consisting of at least three bright cuts, left and right and a textured bright cut to the middle.  The tops of the wings have a decorative border of feathers also individually bright cut.  The shield has a fine reed border also hand cut.  Between the the chief and the escutcheon, there is a three-line border consisting of two straight bright cuts on either side of a single texture-cut line. Finally, the voids under the curls of each wing are sculpted with bright cuts. A small 14K gold, separately applied, hand cut U and S rounds out the shield.  The US has fine horizontal texturing.

 

Manufacture. The wings and shield are cut from a single sheet of sterling silver.  All design details are hand cut.  Both the wings and the shield are chased from the reverse (repousse') to provide the badge relief.  

 

Mountings.  Standard pin and come-under safety catch.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Chris,

 

Thank you for another great post.  Here is one that has the same asymmetrical characteristics you described.  Personally, I believe these are under appreciated.  When I first saw it, was larger than I expected (3 3/16”) and just more impressive in hand. 
 

Pete

729E9C88-EA0C-401A-B278-7C7DED018F9C.jpeg

686AD7DC-4ACD-4777-AB8B-B076798FF608.jpeg

Link to comment
Share on other sites

To echo Pete's very appropriate statement, "Chris, Thank you for another great post."

 

The unknown jeweler didn't miss a beat with those asymmetrical characteristics when he produced the same design in two-inch and sweetheart sizes either.  Here's a couple of two-inchers...

 

 

 

Two Inch Jeweler-made A.jpg

WWI Two Inch B.jpg

Link to comment
Share on other sites

5thwingmarty

Another excellent and educational thread.  I am curious about Russ' wing with the gold shield.  It appears the revere is also gold.  Does it appear the entire wing was plated and then the finish removed from the fronts of the wings, or were the fronts possibly coated with something prior to plating to prevent them from being plated?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Some really nice examples Gentlemen!

 

It seems as though this particular unknown jeweler had a certain amount of prolificness.  Nice to see so many fine examples.

 

Cheers!

 

Chris

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Marty, with the aid of a loupe, I don't see any residual gilt in the recesses of the front feathering...  so I don't believe any gold wash was removed to create the two-tone design?

I've seen several different WWI era badge producers turnout similar wings with gilt shields and silver wings in a variety of sizes. Each company looking to add just the right touch of gilt bling to attract a buyer, I assume?  Here's another combination gilt shield with silver wings:

 

    

Gilt shields A.jpg

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Along the lines of a wing with gold shield, here is a true odd-ball that was auctioned off a few years ago.

 

It is apparently a product of the Tiffany company, but based on the markings could only have been made in the 1960s, and apparently for export?  

 

I have encountered two of these badges.  Very strange.  

 

1068204690_ScreenShot2020-01-12at9_27_05PM.png.2efa0cd1591fb2dd47f03e9b2079773e.png

 

392178288_ScreenShot2020-01-12at9_27_53PM.png.b4637c1511cf425659c95a2cb7000713.png

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Marty,

 

I don't own this badge, but have had an opportunity to examine one.  The entire shield is gold and the US is integral to the shield.  If you look closely at the photo of the back of the badge you can just see the line where the the shield is affixed to the wings (nominally similar to the way a Haltom badge is made).

 

I don't know why Tiffany decided to make these badges.  Evidently they retained the die/mold for them and at some point decided to make a few.  Strange to say the least.

Quote

 

 

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...