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World War One Weekly Wing #40 - English Made WW1 Wing


cwnorma
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World War One

Weekly Wing #40

English Made WW1 Wing

 

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Description

Reserve Military Aviator

 

Manufacture.

A finely embroidered badge, almost certainly made in England.  Overall, the badge incorporates at least five different types of bullion.

 

The wings have some design  characteristics in common with the quintessential American-made World War One wing, specifically each wing characterized by a first row of feathers picked out individually in smooth silver bullion, surmounted by a two-tier shoulder of individual feathers constructed with rachis of faceted silver bullion and, perhaps uncommonly in this example, the vane of accenting smooth gold bullion.  There is no contrasting black thread.  Unlike most of its American-made cousins, on this British-made example, there is no space between the wings and shield.

 

The shield is mostly rectangular with almost no flair.  The top has three fairly conservative points and the bottom has just enough of a rounded point to establish a shield shape.   The chief contains 13 small "stars" executed with faceted bullion in an x-configuration affixed atop a field of horizontal rows of smooth silver bullion.  Giving the appearance of “stripes,” the field portion consists of three smooth and two faceted silver bullion alternating vertical columns.  The chief and field portion are separated by a single, fine bullion wire coil.

 

The top half of each wing is bordered by fine coiled bullion wire.  The perimeter of the shield consists of two different bullion wire coils; one very fine, one just a hair more thick.  Both wings and especially the shield are thickly padded.

 

The US is made of smooth gold bullion coils, in a rope configuration, and with no apparent serifs or periods.

 

Mountings

The RMA badge is still sewn to its Oxford tailored uniform.  It would require removing the badge from the uniform to determine if there is any sort of a maker's label on the back.

 

Background

It was relatively easy to research the original owner of this badge--a Salmson pilot in the 1st Aero Squadron and 3rd Air Instruction Center at Issodun in France.  However, with respect to origin of the badge itself; this particular wing was difficult to nail down.  Turn of the last century bullion makers rarely marked their wares, leaving researchers and collectors only able to speculate as to their origins.  I know of one other similar badge I believe may also have been made by Adamson and Co.  

 

Some tailors could justify in-house bullion embroiderers.  Others would out-source embroidery work from specialty firms.   The uniform the wing is affixed upon was tailored by Adamson and Co of 102-103 High Street in Oxford.  Adamson and Co occupied the entire corner of the posh High Street location from 1891-1964.  Given British military dress-uniform and courtly customs including much metallic embroidery, and a prominent location near Oxford University, Adamson and Co was a, high-end, bespoke tailor certainly large enough to have in-house bullion work.

 

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Adamson and Co's 102-103 High St, Oxford location today

 

The badge itself is really quite lovely.  There are at 5-6 different types of bullion interworked in its design and the smooth bullion still retains quite a bit of sheen (as can be seen in the photograph).  Over 100 years old, the badge still remains quite handsome.  When new, it must have been stunning.  

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