This beautiful W.W.1 Naval Air Service Pilots gilded 800 silver breast badge retains most of its gold gilded patina & is in very good uncleaned condition! The badge depicts a sea eagle flying over the ocean with Heligo Island on the horizon & is flanked within a split wreath of laurel & oak leaves, berries & acorns interspaced throughout the wreath. A bow at the bottom & the Prussian Hohenzollern Crown surmounts the badge. It is the heavy one piece constructed solid silver “vertical” pattern badge worn by Naval Air Service Sea pilots. There is another variety depicting the sea eagle flying over countryside which is the Naval Air Service Land Pilots badge.

 This badge sports the Paul Meybaur factory stamp mark, solid rear flared & fluted pin attachment & clasp assembly, the pin especially designed for badges such as these to hold them in place on the thick woolen material of the period. The type of material used for tunics was thick & once pierced, would encompass the pin of the badge to prevent movement. If the badge became accidentally unclipped, it would stay in place hopefully long enough for the wearer to notice. A nice solid construction & one of the ways to spot the many fakes around on the market. These badges were costly to produce & even today if there was an original die, it would be very worn after 100 years & this would show in the quality of the work produced by imperfections & flaws. Laser technology is good but has not perfected the weight ratio of original badges!

The badge was instituted on 23rd February 1915 & awarded to pilots on completion of all flight training. It is worth noting that there were 254 pilots enlisted in the Imperial Air Service in 1914 & these numbers did not extend greatly during the course of the war. These badges are getting scarcer as more collectors “swallow” them up with the desire for original items of the world war one era!