Norsid Co. New York, NY: examples and patterns

[Kropotkin]

Yep, original.

[pfrost]

Ditto

[Kilroy56]

Great !

Many thanks to both of you.

[Costa]

just got this in. Norsid gunner. company logo is not defined, can only see N----- Co. with the bottom on N.Y. N.Y. visible. a nice scarce heavy badge.

[The Rooster]

Thats a real nice style wing! Those feathers in the shoulders !! Awesome Mitch !

Nice catch and Ive never seen a norcid for sale even. Wow! Nice!

[Kropotkin]

It is a lovely design. The Norsid Pilot wing of this style is one of my favourites.

[jeff41st]

Hi all. Hope everyone had a good holiday weekend under the circumstances...Was wondering if I could get some opinions on these flight surgeon wings I picked up recently. They appear to be made out of copper?  Has anyone seen a finish like this on other wings?  No hallmark on them, but they resemble a NORSID pattern and with the exception of the Caduceus, are very similar to a set of wings (number 15 from the top) posted on Bob's site.  The Caduceous closely resembles the one on the GEMSCO wing that is directly below it.

 

http://www.ww2wings.com/wings/usaaf/usaafflightsurgeon.shtml

 

[jeff41st]

Nice heavy roller mechanism like on the ones on the web page linked above. Do you think that they were issued this way?  Or never finished with a silver plating?

 

 

[rathbonemuseum.com]

I can't really tell what the intended finish was. Yes, you are right, wing is norsid pattern with those shoulders. No sure what to make of it.

[MikeK]

The wings look fine, late WW2 to more likely KW vintage. Re the finish, I'd guess the lacquer on the obverse has toned/aged. Either that, or it came from a smoker's display.

 

Regards

Mike

[jeff41st]

13 minutes ago, MikeK said:

I'd guess the lacquer on the obverse has toned/aged.

 What are you thinking they might be made of? I'm fairly confident that they are not sterling.

[MikeK]

The wear on the high points (front and back) appears to show a silver coloured basemetal, so I'd suggest a lower quality silver alloy, somewhere below sterling (.925). A US wing made from copper would be highly suspect. As mentioned, the wings look fine. Good shear marks on the edges indicating die struck, etc. So I don't think it's the basemetal that is causing the strange colour, I think it's something that's happened to the finish that was applied to the basemetal. Yes, silver/sterling wings also had a silver finish applied to them, and sometimes that finish was also lacquered - ie had a protective clear coating applied.

 

Regards

Mike

[jeff41st]

I see what you are saying Mike, but looking at them I don't see any indication of a silver finish. Just a base metal that looks very much like copper.  Here are a couple of sterling wings for comparison. Hopefully this better captures the difference in color/tone of these wings that I see having them in hand. Also, I rubbed a little of the oxidation off of the back of the Flight Surgeon wing using some silver polish. I'ts the area just to the right of center of the wing. Distinctly different color than the silver wings and their brass pins.

[pfrost]

Nice wing. No problems there, IMHO.

[jeff41st]

What about the base material Patrick?  Do you think it is copper or some other metal?

[The Rooster]

Could it have once been a gold plated brass wing by any chance ?

And not a silver wing at all ?

[jeff41st]

 

2 hours ago, rooster77 said:

Could it have once been a gold plated brass wing by any chance ?

 

Yea I guess they could have been Dave. Its possible there are remnants of gold plating remaining on the caduceus...  

[The Rooster]

Hi Jeff,

Yea then Im gonna guess that its Brass. ???

One of the earlier Gold Flight surgeon wings...

 

[The Rooster]

Here is one on Bobs site. Same looking base norsid pattern Wing but different Cadeuces...

 

http://www.ww2wings.com/wings/usaaf/flightsurgeon/anonaafflightsurgeon.shtml

 

No Hallmark.

[rathbonemuseum.com]

New to me. Came out of a large collection. Anyone seen anything like it?

 

 

[rustywings]

Technical Observer?  Jeweler’s variant?

[rathbonemuseum.com]

Obviously I will never know for certain Russ! Would think it would be Tech Observer if anything. Definitely jeweler made but he did a terrible plating job. Or did Norsid do a terrible plating job? Another mystery. 

[5thwingmarty]

I don't recall seeing Norsid wings with the nailhead type pins before, and from the photo I don't see any indication that older fittings had been removed and replaced.  It is a nice looking wing that looks to have a well-crafted T applied.  It certainly implies it is a jeweler-crafted Technical Observer wing, but like you said, with no documentation there is no way to know for sure.  As it has been often pointed out to me, the Technical Observer wings did not seem to carry the same weight of implied coolness as a Pilot wing, so given the choice, most of those who qualified chose to wear the Pilot wing even if they were also a T/O.  

[B-17Guy]

Could be anything, even post war non aviation.

Texaco?

[rathbonemuseum.com]

All could be possible. Just no evidence of any kind yet.