1.5" Pilot Wings from Unknown Maker

[5thwingmarty]

I have had one of these for quite a while, and just picked up the second thinking it would show who the maker was.  The first wing in the pattern has a raised Sterling mark, but no makers hallmark.  The second wing has an incised Sterling mark and a horizontally oriented diamond hallmark.  I cannot discern if the dots inside the diamond are supposed to indicate a letter or some other symbol.  They are nicely detailed 1.5" wings, with shoulder and shield details similar to those of Robbins 3" wings, but much more feather detail than a full size Robbins.  Does anyone recognize the hallmark?

 

[Steve L]

Just a thought, not an answer; could it be an Apple hallmark? It kind of looks like an Apple inside the triangle. It would be a different stamp than we see on their full size wings.

 

 

[5thwingmarty]

Under a loop, what is inside the diamond are just four round(ish) bumps, as shown in the photo.  I don't see anything that looks like an apple under a loop, but I agree in the photo the bigger bump to the left and the upper one on the right do look a bit like an apple.  Thanks for you thoughts Steve.

 

Marty

[Nack]

Robbins, perhaps?

 

[5thwingmarty]

With the naked eye, I can almost make the four bumps form an R but I am afraid that is more a factor of me wanting it to be an R for Robbins than it really being that.  I have a hard time imagining Robbins caring so much about this sweetheart wing they put a hallmark on it, but not caring enough to give it a crisp hallmark that clearly showed an R for Robbins.  I have one WWI Robbins wing to compare hallmarks with, and it has a similar sized diamond, but clearly shows the letters CMR in the diamond.

[rustywings]

Marty, I have a near-identical 1.5 inch wide Pilot wing with a spelled-out, but tough to see "Bates & Klinke Inc." hallmark.  After googling "Bates & Klinke, Inc" I learned Harold Bates and Oscar Klinke established a jewelry and silverware business in 1919 in Attleboro, Mass. They frequently used a small diamond-shaped hallmark consisting of a backwards letter "B" against a correctly-facing letter "K."  I believe this might be your mystery hallmark? 

[5thwingmarty]

Russ, I think you nailed it.  Thanks for pulling another obscure one out of your hat.

 

Marty

[5thwingmarty]

I googled the company and the first site that popped up said "Bates & Klinke are noted for making souvenir silver charms from tourist travel destinations, along with souvenir spoons, brass souvenir plates, medals, keychains, & military insignia."

 

I looked again at my other wing, and although lacking the B & K hallmark, it does have an excised sterling mark with the same unique font as on this item on a website (http://www.silvercollection.it/AMERICANSILVERMARKSB.html):

 

 

Now I am curious if they made any full size wings.

[5thwingmarty]

Russ sent me a couple of photos of his example of this wing that he said could be shared, so here is the full name on an example of this wing.

 

[5thwingmarty]

I believe I have found another Bates & Klinke sweetheart in my collection, a nice 1-1/2" Naval Aviator.  It has the same distinctive font on the raised sterling mark and also has the same findings.  Still don't know if they made any full-sized wings, and now I wonder if they made any other sweetheart wings?

[5thwingmarty]

I found another little Bates & Klinke sweetheart wing.  Again not hallmarked, but the details match the other Pilot wings and both pieces have the same distinctive 1/4" wide sterling mark.  This wing is even smaller at only 1" in span.

 

[5thwingmarty]

And I found another Naval Aviator example on Worthpoint that had the full Bates & Klinke hallmark like on Russ' wing.