WWI Naval Aviator Silver wing - Tiffany pattern

[rathbonemuseum.com]

I present to the wingdings this new (to me) WWI naval aviator wing. 

Very interesting, highly detailed pattern that does not match any of the ones on Bob's website.

Unmarked. Heavy planchette. Blancard or "Tiffany" clasp.

Unclear due to patina if this wing was originally silver or gold colored. I am leaning towards silver.

Strong arc shape.

Would love some input on who the manufacturer might have been...

 

 

[cwnorma]

 

Tod,

 

Real beauty!  Fantastic feather details.  Love those thick bars in the shield--very unusual!  I wish I could help on the maker...

 

Chris

[Airborne-Hunter]

The pin, the catch and that shine on the back really remind me of the Tiffany army pilot I have...even the feathering, while different seems to have similar characteristics. Were the Tiffany wings made by a third party? Could this be one of theirs? ABN

[rathbonemuseum.com]

What i find particularly unique are the highly detailed small work in the hollows and ridges of the shoulders and how highly arced these wings are.

[cwnorma]

Tod,

 

A quick follow up to this post.  New to me is the badge below:

 

Once I had it in hand, I realized It appears to be a match for your badge in both design and construction.  The main differences being this one is gold and marked Tiffany:

 

 

The badge also shows the same thick, vaulted construction and highly finished back.  I believe that your badge may be an "unmarked" Tiffany.

 

Chris

[rathbonemuseum.com]

Any idea why it is in silver? No evidence of gilding. And seems like an early pattern for the 1922 observer issue. But as Patrick says, maybe improbable but not impossible.

[cwnorma]

Tod,

 

No clue.  Speculating, Tiffany is well known for hanging on to dies.  It would not surprise me if they made a few sterling badges in 1922.

 

Frankly what surprises me more is the lack of markings.  Tiffany was normally pretty good at affixing their hallmarks.  Your badge is clearly well finished.  Its mirror like back and smooth edges are testament that it is not a "lunchbox special."  One wonders if it might be a very rare contract piece?  Perhaps, the order for NAO badges was so small that the Navy's NY purchasing agent just did a direct buy?  Clearly, more research is needed on this.

 

Of course some of the earliest NAOs were just senior Line of the Navy officers who were more or less "blessed" so they could take on leadership roles in the Naval Aviation Corps.  It would not surprise me to learn that a high-ranking NAO would want to get his badge from the likes of Tiffany.

 

At any rate, I think its a wonderful badge!

 

Chris

 

 

[5thwingmarty]

Those are beautiful wings guys, and very nice that Chris was able to identify the pattern as matching his WWI Tiffany wing.  I saw that Bob had added some new wings to his site, including this one from Tod.  Maybe he can add the photos of Chris' wing next to Tod's. 

[CliffP]

4 hours ago, cwnorma said:

Of course some of the earliest NAOs were just senior Line of the Navy officers who were more or less "blessed" so they could take on leadership roles in the Naval Aviation Corps.  It would not surprise me to learn that a high-ranking NAO would want to get his badge from the likes of Tiffany.

 

Chris, we both know that a couple of senior line officers such as Admiral William A. Moffett who was rated a NAO, took advantage of their high rank and wore full size Naval Aviator wings in gold rather than the silver wings that had been approved for NAOs. 🙄  Lets just say Admiral Moffett who became Chief of the Bureau of Aeronautics took advantage of his high rank and no one complained.

 

I also suspect as you do that even though Tod's badge is not back-marked it was still made by Tiffany because I've seen a few others like it that were also back-marked Tiffany. In fact, I believe Partick has a 'senior' collector friend in California who owns an identical full size and cap size version back-marked Tiffany.   

[pfrost]

Beauty of a wing.

 

All I can add is that I am not sure Tiffany actually MADE any wings.  This (even in a high caret gold) would have been a rather minor and relatively cheap product.  It is well known that Tiffany used lots of "jobbers" to make items that the Tiffany Co would put their name on for sale.  I suspect that is the case with the Tiffany "marked" RMA wings (and the very similar Johnson Manufacturing Co wings).  If true, the it is possible that some similar items were made and sold by another company.

 

If Tiffany did, in fact, own the dies then it is also possible that this was just an item that didn't make it through a run and get its gilt coat. No way to know, but it is a super addition to the nest!  A true masterpiece.

 

You should just make up a cool story to go with it!  LOL

[bschwartz]

1 hour ago, 5thwingmarty said:

Those are beautiful wings guys, and very nice that Chris was able to identify the pattern as matching his WWI Tiffany wing.  I saw that Bob had added some new wings to his site, including this one from Tod.  Maybe he can add the photos of Chris' wing next to Tod's. 

 

Always willing to add more wings to the site.  Especially these rare variants.  Chris, if you're willing to share larger photos of that wing for the site just send it my way!  Oh and the offer is always open to anyone who has wings to share.  They don't have to be as rare as these.  Ok, I'll stop the marketing pitch.  

[pfrost]

One other thing, I had a grouping to the Captain Bellingham of the USS Anteres (the ship that alerted the USS Ward of a sighting of Japanese subs just before the main attack at Pearl Harbor was beginning)--I suspect that he was the first US officer to be aware of the attack!  I had all his paperwork from WWI when up until the end of WWII.  IIRC at some point during his mid-career service he was trained as an aviator and NAO.  I think I had his NAO card n the grouping and (again, trying to exactly recall) his orders reporting for flight training. Although he remained a surface warfare officer and never seemed to have had a billet in any capacity in naval aviation.From what I read, it wasn't uncommon for officers in the mid-war years (it they were suitable) to take that training if available.  I also know of the Captain of a battleship who was KIA that he was also trained as an aviator, although never had an aviation billet.

 

I wonder how common it was for senior officers to get extra flight training during their careers (especially in the pre-war period).

 

 

[pfrost]

Not to highjack this thread, but I enjoy this Nimitz signed warning note to Bellingham!

[cwnorma]

16 hours ago, pfrost said:

All I can add is that I am not sure Tiffany actually MADE any wings. 

 

What Patrick explains about the jewelry industry is worth considering.  

 

In many cases, the question of what firm actually "manufactured" a badge is muddied by common practices of the industry.  Jewelry manufacturers often worked as "jobbers" by selling their excess manufacturing capacity to other firms - Even direct competitors!  For outsiders, it seems a strange practice but was perfectly normal in such a complex, interwoven, and often quite insular and nepotistic industry.  As strange as it sounds, Tiffany themselves, from time to time, may have sold their own excess capacity and performed the role of jobber for other firms.

 

A modern, similar example would be Apple's iPhones which are actually manufactured by Chinese electronics manufacturers Foxcon and Pegatron.  Like the iPhone, in the particular case of Tiffany wing badges, the question of manufacture might be a distinction without a difference.  

 

Although primarily a design company, Tiffany certainly had the capacity and manufacturing ability to produce their wing badges in house.  Whether or not they actually did would revolve around a question of available in-house factory capacity or expertise and would only be definitively revealed through examination of their manufacturing records (Tiffany charges $500-$1000 an hour to research their records--if anyone is inclined to commission the research).  Tiffany did indeed contract much work out to jobbers and other makers (the so-called Tiffany Colts, grandfather clocks, and Louis Comfort Tiffany's stained glass lamps are well-known examples), and their contracts with servicing firms stipulated jobbers could not use Tiffany's designs to market their own similar, competing versions of the Tiffany product.  Which, of course, does not mean it did not happen.  Tiffany also always reclaimed their dies and molds at the end of any contracted run.  Any firm that dared use Tiffany's designs to make their own products would surely incur the wrath of John C. Moore--a man of much power and influence in the industry.  So, given the practices and norms of the industry, the question of who actually manufactured a specific badge is always an uncertainty.  When production records no longer exist, manufacturers marks are often the only tangible evidence.  One collector has uncovered some eye-popping primary evidence that at least a portion of a particular manufacturer's wing badge production was actually produced under contract by a competing manufacturer!

 

With respect to Tiffany, the company still retained their WW1 RMA die at least up to the 1970s.  A well-known militaria dealer (now deceased) contacted Tiffany during that decade in an attempt to commission re-strikes.  Always aware of their reputation, Tiffany firmly rebuffed his request.  The last time the die was used was when Tiffany themselves manufactured some examples in the 1960s.  These were different enough that they could not be confused with Tiffany's 1918 product:

 

 

 

The old Tiffany jealously guarded their designs and it was company policy to service any Tiffany product in perpetuity.  This policy has become somewhat muddied since the original company was sold in 1978.  Various luxury brands and holding companies have owned the firm since that time - exerting their own influences over the company.  Another collector contacted the firm to get a broken "Tiffany" (we know it today as a Blancard) catch repaired on a 1918 RMA badge.  As those findings were never actually manufactured by Tiffany, they were unable to restore the badge to its original configuration.  Tiffany offered instead to refurbish the badge with an equivalent modern replacement catch.  Knowing the importance collectors place on period correct findings, the collector demurred the offered repair.

 

Unless broken or otherwise condemned or destroyed, Tiffany presumably also still retained their WW1 Naval Aviator die.  Up to at least WW1, Tiffany published a specialty catalog of their line of military insignia and novelties.  I don't doubt that when NAOs (or possibly the Navy) came knocking in 1922, Tiffany was able to access their die and produce a run of the badge in sterling.  Only a few years after the World War, they may still have had the gold Naval Aviator version available in stock.  As Patrick points out, it is of course entirely possible they contracted with a "jobber" for the small production run (rather than set up in their own factory).  

 

I still cannot specifically say why Tod's badge is unmarked except to speculate that the Navy might have contracted a small run of sterling badges, for issue, without markings.  Otherwise, it is uncharacteristic of Tiffany under John C. Moore for products to go unmarked.

 

Best wishes!

 

Chris

 

[rathbonemuseum.com]

The only evidence I have of a Tiffany silver wing being created by Tiffany is shown below. As featured in Robert Panidis book: Flight Badges of the Allied Nations 1914-1918 Volume II - The British Empire, American, Belgian, Japanese, Italian, and Serbian Air Services. (https://www.amazon.com/Flight-Badges-Allied-Nations-1914-1918/dp/1532305737/ref=sr_1_4?qid=1662234094&refinements=p_27%3ARobert+S.+Pandis&s=books&sr=1-4)

 

In it, he features a blueprint document from the Tiffany archives showing the intended wing with two types of fasteners (Blancard safety catch or loops) and two types of metal, gold or silver. Naval aviator - gold, Kiteman - silver. As we know, a two-winged silver badge ended up not being authorized when the badge was first issued. Only later with the authorization of the naval observer was a version created. 

 

I can't make any final conclusions but my hunch is that this wing was produced at that early time and was never issued or marked as it was never authorized. I am sure prototypes were made for USN review. And perhaps on even survived long enough in stocks to become a later naval observer. 

[rathbonemuseum.com]

Also, since the patina was so uneven due to something having been splashed on the wing at one time, I did clean these and have added some post cleaning pics below.

[cwnorma]

Tod,

 

These are amazing!  Love seeing them.

 

Chris