The Official U.S. Mint Army Air Corps airship die hub and airship wing designs

[rathbonemuseum.com]

Due to a fortunate circumstance where a collector had a US Mint die hub for sale, Heath White was able to get us a good photographic look at the official design the mint and war department established for the Airship wing. The master die hub started as an illustration, then an engraving that was produced in a very hard steel hub by a die sinker. The die hub is a positive image of the airship which will produce the negative image when pressed into a master stamping die. The master hub was held by the mint and sent out to companies to use to make their own master die sets with a stamping die (the hammer) for the obverse and a forcer (the anvil) for the back of the wing badge. The mint did not supply a forcer pattern. It was up to each company to design their own per material structure, costs and aesthetics. (more on master hubs and die stamping here in a video from the U.S. Mint https://www.usmint.gov/learn/production-process/die-making). 

 

 

The Airship wing rating was authorized for wear 14 October, 1921. But even before then the War Department, General Quartermaster department had designed a new qualification badge in anticipation of the new rating as of 4 January 1921 (see above). Note that the official master die hub below is marked U. S. M. (U.S. Mint) and the date of 8.7.22 (August 7, 1922). All the details we think of when we see an Airship badge are already represented in the drawing and the die hub really adheres closely to the intended look of the wing. There are some interesting details in the engraving to note as they indicate how much manufacturers either closely adhered to the official pattern or preferred more of an interpretation of the official pattern. The central device is of course the airship itself, patterned after the Zodiac RN-1, shown in the postcard, an airship acquired from France. The shoulder pattern is made of unique leaf-shaped feathers lapped over each other. The main feathers are rather flat and un-detailed with a series of fine fletch lines cut diagonally and evenly. The gondola is attached to the main gas bag by a series of branching lines including some in the front that reach the midline of the bag. The gondola itself is a simple symmetrical tube shape. The ship has an upper and lower rudder and midline elevator at the rear. We will return to these details as we look at badges produced by various manufacturers. 

 

[rathbonemuseum.com]

The first wing we'll look at literally says "From Official Die" and as expected is a copy of the original hub. We can see where a lot of the detail from the tether lines and gondola is lost. The forcer would be what ever the manufacturer designed.  

 

[rathbonemuseum.com]

The next examples from M.C. Lilley and Co., American Emblem Co., Bailey, Banks and Biddle and N.S. Meyer are all products of the same original design and we could assume started as master stamping dies created from the Official master die hub. Note there are very, very slight differences in details that could be embellishments or license taken by the die sinker when creating the new stamping die. But for the absolute most part, these all come from the same origin. Note that each reverse is unique as each forcer was created by the manufacturer, not based on something from the U.S. Mint.

 

[rathbonemuseum.com]

Now when we get the Kinney & Co. airship wing we start to see some artistic embellishment from the original die hub. The die sinker probably knew that some of the details would not transfer well and so made the leaf-shaped feathers in the shoulder a little simpler and more prominently cut. The lines in the gas bag are cut a little deeper. They also cut the fletching lines in the main feathers deeper and added some more detail. They also seem to have erased some of the fine tether lines on the gas bag as unnecessary and subject to rubbing away quickly.  So even though they started from the same basic design and hub, they made it their own.

 

[rathbonemuseum.com]

Now we come to the V.H. Blackinton example and we step even further from the government issue design. Most notably, the shoulders are of a different look, consistent with other Blackinton shoulder patterns. Gone are the leaf shaped feathers. Also missing is the top rudder at the rear of the ship. The gondola has been reduced to a little squib. There are no little "under-feathers" poking out at the bottom of the gas bag. Added are some fine feather lines. And the inscribed lines on the gas bag that easily rub down are now raised ridges. A complete reversal of the die hub. 

 

[rathbonemuseum.com]

Finally we come to the William Link Co. pattern and we see that the die follows the content and proportions of the government pattern but with a completely unique design interpretation. Consistent with the art nouveau movement of the early 20th c, the Link design exhibits a tremendous amount of natural detail. The wings literally look like bird wings. The wings have a bit more flair to the shoulder tips. The airship is a bit more football shaped, a little squatter, and noticeably tilting downward at the nose. This must have been done by an artist that worked consistently with Link as this wing has lots in common with other Link ratings of the time. 

 

[rathbonemuseum.com]

And finally we come to what we can only assume are American Metal Craft (AMCRAFT) airship wings as they feature this pattern in their 1920s period catalogs and these models feature a back starburst pattern unique to AMCRAFT marked products. We can only assume that AMCRAFT acquired these dies as part of the Link company's demise. Also, this is the only example we see of gold gilt airship wings, which were never regulation and we have no evidence of them ever being officially worn. 

 

[jeff41st]

Wow, very nice. Thanks for posting/sharing all of this information. Some day I hope to add an example to my collection.

[pfrost]

I still think the gilded versions were just salesman samples to show off the different finishes that could be made by the company.

 

With AMCRAFT snowflake wings, there seems to be a variation in the divots in the back. Some had them, and some didn't. I have a silver-washed brass wing that has no divot at all. 

 

[pfrost]

notice that there is also a row of feathers that poke out behind the gas bag.  Many of the other patterns only have 2 or 3 small feathers poking out below the bag

 

Also, many of the non-AMCRAFT wings have a large set of feathers between the top of the wing and the top of the gas bag that have an arc-shape

[cwnorma]

Phenomenal work @rathbonemuseum.com Tod!

 

Chris

 

[B-17Guy]

❤️

[bschwartz]

Great study of the different makers of these wings. The market is flooded with so many fakes that it collectors would do very well to internalize the information presented in this post to protect themselves from buying a fake.  

[rathbonemuseum.com]

Thanks for the positive comments. Edited the first entry to include the official design blueprint for the Airship wing dated 4 January 1921.

[Bull Moose]

Tod, thanks for compiling all this information on Airship Pilot wings.

 

With the information in this thread and the M. C. Lilley & Co thread, I believe I have identified one of my Airship wings as being manufactured by Lilley.
 

The wing has the low detail forcer characteristics shown on the Lilley wing in post #3.

 

It also matches the specifications detailed in the War Department drawing in post #1. It has the same dimensions and interestingly, even though it is stamped “Sterling”,  it tests as 99% fine silver as called for in the drawing notes.  

Remi

 

[cwnorma]

1 hour ago, Bull Moose said:

...

With the information in this thread and the M. C. Lilley & Co thread, I believe I have identified one of my Airship wings as being manufactured by Lilley.

Remi,

 

Fantastic!  Given M. C. Lilley & Co's enormous manufacturing capacity, I believe our community will eventually determine many heretofore unknown maker wings were actually made by that esteemed firm.

 

Chris