Jump to content

USMC Officer's Visor EGA


Brig
 Share

Recommended Posts

Up first is the Model 1936 Dress Cover Screwback EGA by Gemsco...notice how the rope sticks close to the anchor and the eagle is once again 'split legged'

M1936_Dress_Cover_Screwback_Gemsco.jpg

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Model 1936 Dress Cover EGA by H&H. Notice the differences in the eagle, rope and continents compared to the Gemsco model above

M1936_Dress_Cover_Screwback_H_H.jpg

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Model 1936 Dress Cover EGA by Vanguard. Notice the entirely different style of eagle with 'split legs' and that the rope doesn't spread across as much of the anchor head as with other models

M1936_Dress_Cover_Screwback_Vanguard.jpg

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 7 months later...

I bought this EGA about a week ago. It was sold as a standard WW2 era subdued officers visor cap EGA. The reverse photo gives away what is underneath the paint. About 15 minutes of work with a cotton ball and some paint thinner revealed its true self. Was this a common practice suring the war?

 

Regards,

 

Mark

 

Before photos:

 

post-569-1184238598.jpg

 

post-569-1184238605.jpg

 

After photos:

 

post-569-1184239077.jpg

 

post-569-1184239082.jpg

Link to comment
Share on other sites

teufelhunde.ret

Hi Mark, hard to explain why someone would be inclined to do this. First off, if this were done "in theater" it would could be reasoned that an Officer could not obtain an emblem for the service barracks cap and simply improvised. :blink:

 

In looking at the photo's it would appear the paint is reasonably new? If so, its quite likely a collector did this for a display (to cheap to acquire a period original). Or possibly a reenactor did this? Either way simply a terrible thing to do. I suspect most all of us EGA collectors have a few like this that have been doctored up, thinking it would sell for more :blink: Sort of like the idiots who will take a Morgan dollar and shine it thinking it will sell for more, not realizing they took away 100 plus years of patina and reduced its value to metal content.

 

I've never been faced w/ removing paint from silver & gold??? Just don't take brasso to it ;)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Nice save, Mark! I have absolutely no ideas as to why someone would downgrade a dress emblem into a service emblem, other than an officer maybe needing a service bird right then and there and only having the dress bird to work with? There is also a fair difference in values between the two, so you definately came out ahead on this one!

 

First thing I noticed when I looked at the darkened "before" version were the little thingamadeelies (fletchings?) between the the longitude lines. Just that one little thing suggested that it was a camoflaged dress emblem because the service pattern doesn't have them.

 

My suggestion is to clean the crap out of that bird until you get it back to it's true glory as a dress emblem. You can use a mild silver and gold polish like Jewel Lustre and it wont damage the finish.

 

Other than the sterling and 1/20th marks, are there any other hallmarks you can find?

 

Gary

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Gary

 

I noticed the "fletchings" when I first saw the photo and that was the reason I jumped on the purchase.

 

I was also puzzled why someone would do this as the initial cost of the dress version was significantly higher than a subdued too! Perhaps it was an extra that was given to the owner and not needed.

 

No other markings on the reverse that I can find.

 

I will keep the Jewel Lustre in mind, but I am not sure if I will clean it any more or not - I sort of like the patina the paint residue has left. It gives it a nice 3D look.

 

Mark

Link to comment
Share on other sites

teufelhunde.ret

Gary, have you ever used the "Jewel Lustre" on older / tarnished EGA's? If so, what kind of results?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Darrell,

 

When I used to metal detect, the silver coins came out of the ground around here completely black and corroded to the point you didn't know if you had a Mercury or Roosevelt dime, so I'd dip them in JL to get to the dates and mint marks without using abrasive rubbing cleaners. It worked like a charm on coins, so I tried it experimentally on a single sterling and 1/20th G.F. H&H collar emblem and it came out looking like the day it was made. It completely disolved years of black, ugly grime that had the emblem looking horrible. With me, it's a judgement call which emblems I dunk and which emblems I leave alone, but as we all know, some dress emblems just need to be cleaned to be half-way presentable. I also make sure that after I dip in JL, I also dip them in baking soda water to neutralize the JL, so as to not get any black "fly specks" showing up later. Don't try this on bronze or copper emblems, though, because the chemicals in JL will change the color of that type of metal. I learned that the hard way with some Indian Head pennies I found.

 

EDIT NOTE: I also forgot to mention that you can use Jewel Lustre to check silver content with supposed sterling USAAF/USAF wings that aren't marked sterling. If sterling, it cleans them, if not, it turns the metal white with a look of being almost painted. Some kind of weird chemical reaction, so after using the jar of JL to dip non-sterling, don't use it on sterling again, because you might get a weird reaction with sterling or gold on the next dip. Those were a few tricks a local coin dealer showed me, maybe, to keep me buying new jars of the stuff?

 

s/f, Gary

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 1 year later...

Just wanted to show off my first officer dress cover emblem...a very nice WWII era M37 H&H emblem with plenty of hallmarks, great patina. The rollar and stabilizing pin are intact, as is the gold plating. Beautiful emblem I got at a good price. I'm thrilled to add it to the collection

Officer_Dress_Cover_HH_Front.JPG

Officer_Dress_Cover_HH_Rear.JPG

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
 Share

×
×
  • Create New...