Jessop Jewelers of San Diego, CA: examples and patterns

[Steve Brannan]

#2 wings are 43mm long and are 14K gold. Could say JESSOR?

 

 

 

 

[B-17Guy]

Picked up a new addition to share, cap size aviator wing badge by Jessop, mostly likely 1920's.

Very rare maker that is almost never seen.

 

John

[B-17Guy]

Back

[rustywings]

That's a beauty John! Thanks for giving us a peek...

[pfrost]

Nice John. Very nice. I have a Kinney and Robbins (with the three hallmarks) that are very similar in size and pattern. Cool beans!!

[Steve L]

Nice wing. I believe these were sold by Jessop Jewelers, located downtown San Diego, CA They've been around since 1892 however are in the process of closing down. I've seen these Jessop wings before, also the full size example but only in the Naval Aviator pattern. I guess this makes sense with San Diego having the longtime Naval presence.

[tomcatter]

Wow! This is a very nice pair of Wings! Thank you for sharing.

[B-17Guy]

Nice wing. I believe these were sold by Jessop Jewelers, located downtown San Diego, CA They've been around since 1892 however are in the process of closing down. I've seen these Jessop wings before, also the full size example but only in the Naval Aviator pattern. I guess this makes sense with San Diego having the longtime Naval presence.

Hey Steve, you are partially correct.

Jessop was a family owned jewelry company in San Diego, CA.

A few years back, after picking up a full size engraved Aviator wing badge in 14k by Jessop, I contacted the company and was able to speak directly with Jim Jessop.

He told me that they made their own insignia for many years, but sold out to Dayton-Hudson (Target) about 1970.

Sadly, as part of the buy out, all company records were destroyed (including the old dies he said) which included all the old sales catalogs, which is what I was trying to track down.

In the 90s the family bought the jewelry part of the business back and have been operating in San Diego since.

I hadnt heard they were going under.

Over the years I have seen a few assorted pieces of Jessop insignia and wing badges.

As far as wings go, I have seen one Air Service WWI Pilot wing badge and know of two Aviator in full size besides mine. This is the first cap size I had seen.

Jessops quality, in my opinion is absolute top flight and some of the most stunning seen.

 

John

[Steve L]

Hi John;

Thanks for the priceless information. Having spent a great deal of my life as a San Diego resident I can attest to Jessop's reputation for quality, and their wing badges are a great example of this. I was not aware of the Jessop WWI Air Service Pilot Wing Badge, I'll bet it's also stunning / would love to see a pic!

 

Steve

[rathbonemuseum.com]

Another great find with great information. Congratulations John!

[mghcal]

Really nice pickup John. Never seen one with that hallmark before. What is the base medal? I thought it looked like gold but see now maybe it's brass?

[5thwingmarty]

I posted the grouping with this wing in another thread but thought I would post a couple photos of the wing itself. Here is the front:

 

 

[5thwingmarty]

And here is the back.

 

[BBG]

Thanks for showing this wing. What's engraved on the back?

 

Here's a link to the WW1 pilot grouping:
http://www.usmilitariaforum.com/forums/index.php?/topic/330980-wwi-pilot-grouping-display/

[5thwingmarty]

The engraving below the pin is his dates of service, June 6, 1917 to March 19, 1920. His WWI rank and name is engraved above/behind the pin but I don't want to post that. I have tracked down a few records on his service that include records of missions he flew in France during WWI. He lived in California when he enlisted and was then stationed near San Diego after the war so he had plenty of time to pick up a Jessop wing there. Among the photos in the album are a number of aerial photos of the San Diego/Coronado area. North Island was only connects by a thin stretch of land, and about the only thing on the island was Rockwell Field where he was stationed.

 

[cwnorma]

Marty,

 

Great wing, and a really tough one to find!

 

Chris

[rathbonemuseum.com]

Great wing, Marty

[pfrost]

This is a very interesting wing I've seen a number of cast versions. And a few post war brass versions. I've also seen a few vintage catalogs with this pattern illustrated but I cannot recall where. I love the hand chasing as well

 

Im not a fan of the engraving (from an artistic sense) but I wouldn't reject it?

 

Thank you for sharing. I think you have made a significant addition to our knowledge of WWI wings. Cool beans and great find

P

[pfrost]

Just FYI. An identical wing is illustrated in both Terry Morris and Duncan Campbell's books

[5thwingmarty]

I believe Duncan's wing had a cloth backing that he never removed to view the actual back of the wing, so he didn't know his was a Jessop. His wing is not identified in either book as a Jessop.

 

Several much more experienced wing experts reviewed high resolution photos of the wing after I got it. The rank and name engraving look to have been done at one time and the dates at another time as the engraving styles are not the same. Here is a photo of some of the engraving.

 

[5thwingmarty]

Here is the center of the back with the Jessop and Sterling marks.

 

[bschwartz]

That's a beauty!

[5thwingmarty]

I was looking at the photos I got with the wing and noticed something I had missed before. Here is a photo of the wing being worn on his cap. I'm not sure is this is a VFW cap or an American Legion cap.

 

[rathbonemuseum.com]

I believe it is American Legion, Marty as VFW post 39 is in St. Petersburg, FL and AL post 39 is in Abilene, KS.

[5thwingmarty]

He was from Abilene too so the AL Post there looks to be what the cap was for.