Some Airborne wings I found today

[manayunkman]

Two glider and three paratrooper wings.

 

Two of the paratrooper wings are Gaunt made in London.

 

All comments are welcome.

[Tonomachi]

Nice to be able to find all five at one time.  I like your J R Gaunt at the very bottom with the antique silver finish as a lot of them you come across does not have any finish on them at all which I usually stay away from.  Your other JR Gaunt doesn't seem to have ever had an antique silver finish front or back so I'm not sure about that one despite the extreme wear on the front.  That type of combat jump star is I believe British made with those flat wire prongs.  It shows no wear at all so if this is a legitimate piece it would have had to be added late in life so to speak as there is extreme wear underneath it.  

[manayunkman]

I think that the wing was polished out.

 

Ive had wings before that the vet polished off all the details.

[Tonomachi]

3 hours ago, manayunkman said:

I think that the wing was polished out.

 

Ive had wings before that the vet polished off all the details.

True as this was done on purpose by some US paratroopers either by polishing their sterling wings to death over the years or I was told once by an 11th Airborne Division paratrooper veteran that during the occupation for a cigarette or two you would provide a pair of sterling paratrooper wings to a "boy" who would use emery boards and the like to remove all of the details on the front and then polish it to a bright mirror like finish.  However if you were to polish your other JR Gaunt paratrooper wing at the very bottom with the silver antique finish this wouldn't affect the back which has a duller silver finish.  Your polished front JR Gaunt paratrooper wing has never had this antique silver finish based on the reverse.