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1930's USMC AVIATOR WINGS - OROID


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Well I just got my hands on this set of wings this past week from an 86 year old neighbor. The story is that they were left in the dry cleaning store in which he worked when he was 17 yrs old. He kept them and has had them all these years. HH hallmark with "DROID" MARK, pin back with tongue catch. 1930's style navy pilots wings with an applied sterling EGA over the navy shield. The wings have a nice "trenched" worn & been there curve to them as well.They are full size and have fine feathering detail in the wings. Hardly a trace of the gold plating left on the front. I've never seen another 1930's unathorized USMC pair of wings like these. Are others aware of similar pieces? From what I understand their were only a few hundred marine pilots in 1938 when these were left at the cleaners.

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Well I just got my hands on this set of wings this past week from an 86 year old neighbor. The story is that they were left in the dry cleaning store in which he worked i when he was 17 yrs old. He kept them and has had them all these years. HH hallmark with "DROID" MARK, pin back with tongue catch. 1930's style navy pilots wings with an applied sterling EGA over the navy shield. The wings have a nice "trenched" worn & been there curve to them as well.They are full size. Hardly a trace of the gold plating left on the front. I've never seen another 1930's unathorized USMC pair of wings like these. Are others aware of similar pieces? From what I understand their were only a few hundred marine pilots in 1938 when these were left at the cleaners.

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this was a practice done by some US Marine pilots against regulations. I have seen a couple of other examples, I believe member Flying Tiger has one. I've also seen it done on jump wings. These pieces are few and far between.

 

Your piece, while worn, is fantastic. I envy your stumbling upon these! If you're not a USMC collector, let me know :lol:. Again, very nice thumbsup.gif

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That is the Hilborn-Hamburger "Star/Eagle" mark but I don't know what that 'DROID' is about - are you sure that's what it says?

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teufelhunde.ret
That is the Hilborn-Hamburger "Star/Eagle" mark but I don't know what that 'DROID' is about - are you sure that's what it says?

 

Have seen the "Droid" hallmark on H&H EGA's of the period. Anyone know what this means or stands for?

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  • 2 years later...
Salvage Sailor

Aloha,

 

I believe that's OROID

 

I have a HH marked 4 piece USAAC collar disk with the OROID mark. It's part of my Hawaiian Division collection and goes with an 18th Pursuit Group (Wheeler Field) DUI. They are both circa late 30's.

 

I've been trying to find more definitive info on the OROID mark and what it means for some time with no success.

 

What I have noticed is that it's usually stamped on Aviator related examples of the late 1930's.

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teufelhunde.ret

Oroid, is a word which came into use in the early 1800's. It is a reference to the making and use of "artificial gold". The use of the word was largely gone by the turn of the century. My hunch is H&H (which came into existence 1926 or earlier as some suspect) hired a journeyman for insignia production who served his apprentice work while the term was in use. The H&H insignia I have viewed over the years which has this word - has been consistently of the highest quality and simply beautiful with the "artificial gold" appearance, as shown...

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teufelhunde.ret
Darrel,

 

You are amazing -

 

Best, Dennis

 

:thumbsup: thx goes to goggle - if your willing to do "deep" detective searches, the info is typically there in bits & pieces

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Salvage Sailor
:thumbsup: thx goes to goggle - if your willing to do "deep" detective searches, the info is typically there in bits & pieces

 

Yep,

 

Thanks Darrel. With your "artificial gold" tip in post #7, last week I found the scant info that had eluded me in an 1888 text All About Gold, Gems & Pearls (also minerals generally) in Ceylon and Southern India

 

Regards

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  • 3 years later...
Salvage Sailor

for reference, an example of an OROID piece

 

HH marked 4 piece USAAC collar disk with the OROID mark. It's part of my Hawaiian Division collection and goes with an 18th Pursuit Group (Wheeler Field) DUI. They are both circa late 30's.

 

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Oroid

 

Usual spelling is

 

o·ro·ide

 

An alloy of copper, zinc, and tin, used in imitation gold jewelry.

Copper - approx. 81 %, tin - approx. 15 %, zinc - approx. 5 %

 

Sorry for not being on line for a while was out of the US.

 

Paul

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:unsure:

 

This may be the wrong thread to ask this question, but can any one tell me why someone would have to operate incognito?

 

Usual spelling is

 

in·cog·ni·to

 

Thanks in advance,

Joe Btfspik

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