GAUNT WINGS

[Gary Cain]

That's pretty cool, but I think you would be surprised how much WWII insignia is being worn. I gave a set of Firmin Senior Pilots wings to a good friend of mine so he could give them to his son who had just made Senior Pilot. Now he is a Command Pilot and I need to find a nice WWII set for him again!

 

 

Cheers

Gary

I think I may be the only guy in the division with a WWII 28th patch on my class A's , WWII green tabs and LT bars!

[101combatvet]

I need a Gaunt Command Pilot wing if anyone one has one.

 

That's pretty cool, but I think you would be surprised how much WWII insignia is being worn. I gave a set of Firmin Senior Pilots wings to a good friend of mine so he could give them to his son who had just made Senior Pilot. Now he is a Command Pilot and I need to find a nice WWII set for him again!

Cheers

Gary

[Cobrahistorian]

I need a good, early, sterling Army Aviator wing for my Class A's too. My wife got me a really gorgeous Sterling pair for my blues when I graduated from OBC. I want to get a good, vintage Sterling wing for my A's to compliment that.

 

Jon

[brian e]

hi all heres a few gaunt insignia 3 lt bars a jump wing and a glider wing brian

[brian e]

heres the glider wing the hallmark is almost non existant you can barely make out london

[brian e]

hre are the fronts of jump and glider wing

[brian e]

here are the lt bars

[teufelhunde.ret]

Most Gaunt made insignia of all eras is not sterling. Sterling was a upgrade fom the standard insignia. Also except for some very rare instances they would use the English hallmarks to show Sterling content. I have only seen three pieces of insignia that are only marked STERLING that I know to be real(they all belonged to Hub Zemke) and until I saw those I would have said they didn't exist.

Cheers

Gary

 

.... http://www.usmilitariaforum.com/forums/ind...st&p=100671

 

[101combatvet]

[Gary Cain]

Marked STERLING because it was sold out of their New York showroom thus had to conform to US regulations and not British ones. My point that you are trying to refute is applicable to the UK made insignia. In the UK they had to follow the UK silver laws which are very harsh. I will look at Hubs insignia again to see if it was sold out of the New York shop but I don't believe to be so marked, which would make it an exception to the rule.

 

Nice EGA BTW!

.... http://www.usmilitariaforum.com/forums/ind...st&p=100671

 

[Torch]

Hi, I'm just visiting this wings site, I'm more of an SSI collector, but I dabbled in wings up until the late '80's. This issue about Gaunt drew my attention because of a discussion I had with a UK militaria dealer called Les Martin. Les was well known then(1980-90's) on the UK circuit, and he and I specialised in AAF items. He told me, sometime in the late 80's, that he had contacted Gaunt about purchasing their obsolete stamping equipment for WW2 US wings, and the Gaunt person he spoke to informed him that Gaunt had already sold off all those items to a dealer "some years before". This may account for the "repro" Gaunt that began hitting the market since then. I never bought anything US marked Gaunt since. I know of one other dealer, around this time, who persuaded Meyer NY to reproduce a whole batch of Glider wings, I means 100's, which he rthen advertised and sold one a first come, first basis. He operated out of Ramsgate,UK, but I don't recall his name.

Gary is correct about the London Gaunt wings not being sterling silver. ALL silver items in the UK have always had to be stamped with a lions head, and assay marks indicating the town and the jewellers stamp, by law. I have only ever seen these on some British Army Regimental badges, and very commonly on Scots units and other private purchase items, never on any US pieces. Among UK collectors the word "Sterling" usually indicates a US made item, and even those that are unmarked are still described as "silver" wings, but thats the generic term.

 

Torch(London, UK)

[Pluto]

Hi, I'm just visiting this wings site, I'm more of an SSI collector, but I dabbled in wings up until the late '80's. This issue about Gaunt drew my attention because of a discussion I had with a UK militaria dealer called Les Martin. Les was well known then(1980-90's) on the UK circuit, and he and I specialised in AAF items. He told me, sometime in the late 80's, that he had contacted Gaunt about purchasing their obsolete stamping equipment for WW2 US wings, and the Gaunt person he spoke to informed him that Gaunt had already sold off all those items to a dealer "some years before". This may account for the "repro" Gaunt that began hitting the market since then. I never bought anything US marked Gaunt since. I know of one other dealer, around this time, who persuaded Meyer NY to reproduce a whole batch of Glider wings, I means 100's, which he rthen advertised and sold one a first come, first basis. He operated out of Ramsgate,UK, but I don't recall his name.

Gary is correct about the London Gaunt wings not being sterling silver. ALL silver items in the UK have always had to be stamped with a lions head, and assay marks indicating the town and the jewellers stamp, by law. I have only ever seen these on some British Army Regimental badges, and very commonly on Scots units and other private purchase items, never on any US pieces. Among UK collectors the word "Sterling" usually indicates a US made item, and even those that are unmarked are still described as "silver" wings, but thats the generic term.

 

Torch(London, UK)

 

Re British wings: to add to this discussion I illustrate a selection of original British-made wings, all bought from flea markets, boot sales etc over the last 5 or 6 years, none costing more than a few ££. None of them bear any kind of maker's mark. Firmin, Gaunt, perhaps another maker. There is a degree of variety to the feathering and to the shoulders of the wings. The wing illustrated at bottom has had the lugs/pins filed off, I don't know why. Perhaps to make into a bracelet. This example is cast from some type of low grade 'silver' or alpacca. The other wings are all plated brass. The middle wing is interesting as the aircrew roundel to centre appears to have been made out of a button, which has been trimmed at the sides to fit over the wings.

[Pluto]

Re British wings: to add to this discussion I illustrate a selection of original British-made wings, all bought from flea markets, boot sales etc over the last 5 or 6 years, none costing more than a few ££. None of them bear any kind of maker's mark. Firmin, Gaunt, perhaps another maker. There is a degree of variety to the feathering and to the shoulders of the wings. The wing illustrated at bottom has had the lugs/pins filed off, I don't know why. Perhaps to make into a bracelet. This example is cast from some type of low grade 'silver' or alpacca. The other wings are all plated brass. The middle wing is interesting as the aircrew roundel to centre appears to have been made out of a button, which has been trimmed at the sides to fit over the wings.

 

 

Another British-made wing, again unmarked - and of plated brass

[John Cooper]

@ Torch - very interesting info!

 

@ Pluto - thanks for posting the examples.

 

Here is a wing that was recently in the for sale section which is brass with a silver plate.

 

 

[Torch]

Following my post above, I contacted Firmin's main Office in Birmingham UK a couple of days ago. They now own Gaunt. They confirmed that they did sell off many of their obsolete WW2 dies and stamps many years ago, so this would confirm what Les Martin told me back in the 80's. I'll get to if and when I can squeeze anymore info from them. They tend to discourage these sorts of enquiries.

 

Torch, London UK.

[Torch]

Sorry, that last sentence above was meant to read, "I'll get back to you, if and when......."

 

Torch London UK

[pconrad02]

Following my post above, I contacted Firmin's main Office in Birmingham UK a couple of days ago. They now own Gaunt. They confirmed that they did sell off many of their obsolete WW2 dies and stamps many years ago, so this would confirm what Les Martin told me back in the 80's. I'll get to if and when I can squeeze anymore info from them. They tend to discourage these sorts of enquiries.

 

Torch, London UK.

 

Yes, I emailed them about a year ago and got the "brush off"!

[John Cooper]

Interesting - it was my understanding they produced a number of wings for a WW2 movie not too many years ago. I wonder what was sold and what was kept.

 

John