ebay AAC grouping

[Michael Page]

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll...MEWA%3AIT&rd=1

This grouping sold for $125 and only one bidder--was this mainly because of the lack of provenance?

The guy presumably went from flight officer to 2nd Lt to 1st Lt. in '41-'45 but had a GCM-was he enlisted for a year, then made flight officer, and so on?

Also I think the ADSM was for a full year--wouldn't quite fit.

Thoughts?

[historyguy]

This grouping sold for $125 and only one bidder--was this mainly because of the lack of provenance?

It looks put together: Although the DFC looks vintage WWII -- the threads from the slotted broach are clearly visible-- some of the medals look like crimped broaches, which would make them 60s-current issue.

[vzemke]

Put together or not, the price still seems rather low, considering how many truely bad groupings we have seen go big bucks on ebay. I think the DFC and PH are vintage, while the SS and Air Medal look newer. As for the other medals, they all look ok execept for the Occupation and American defence. Note that many of the WWII campaign medals were normally made in crimp brooch version only.

In its defence, I highly doubt it was put together by this seller. They seem to be a general purpose antiques seller, not a militaria dealer. Besides, it looks too nicely framed to be simply thrown together to make a quick buck.

My bet would be that the vet and or his family put this together using a combo of original and replacement pieces. This happens all the time.

Just my two cents,
Vance

[Allan H.]

I think someone got a good deal. Perhaps the auction lot was stuck in the wrong area? It is hard to say. It looks to me like the Air Medal is wrap brooch, and I don't se a problem with any of the other medals really. I don't like the factthat the guy was a Flight Officer and then a 2nd Lt. This very rarely happened. Flight officers stayed Flight Officers like Warrant officers.
The Silver Star is a scarce medal for an AAF guy too.
I would say that the biggest detractor to the group is the factthat it is all framed. It is tough to tell if the pins have been busted off or whetehr everything was glued into the frame to secure it in place.
Other than those issues, it appears to have been a sleeper.
Allan

[vicjoy1945]

This medal group is a bit odd...the DFC and Purple Heart appear to be WWII period medals with slot brooches as do the rest of the campaigns save the American Defense and Occupation medals...these two medals appear to be recent or current vintage. The Silver Star medal looks as though it has a crimp brooch and would be recent or new vintage as well.

The fact that this Flight Officer was promoted to LT doesn't bother me much. I remember Al Gleim telling me that there were a number of Flight Officers (especially those who were awarded gallantry medals) that were eventually promoted to Lts at some point in their service.

This lot as a whole was poorly described which probably prevented a lot of "players" from finding it using the usual "search" key words. If I had found it, and was interested, I would have certainly requested scans of the backs of the medals although its not a group I would have "gone after" purely from a my own collecting interest...it just doesn't have enough bells and whistles for me.

As Allan mentioned, AAF Silver Star medals are fairly rare. I just recently picked up a very complete AAF Silver Star grouping to a Pacific P-47 ace fighter pilot with an incredible amount of original papers, documents, and photos. This type of grouping...with all the documentation...is much more my cup of tea in comparison !!!

[George C.]

The fact that this Flight Officer was promoted to LT doesn't bother me much. I remember Al Gleim telling me that there were a number of Flight Officers (especially those who were awarded gallantry medals) that were eventually promoted to Lts at some point in their service.

Hello Victor -
No problem with the promotion from flight officer to Lieutenant..... I have known a number of Troop Carrier men who were sergeant/pilots, promoted to FO when the sergeant pilot program was abandoned. One told me that there was no FO insignia available in N. Africa when the promotions came through, so lieutenant bars were painted blue, and then scraped off when promoted to 2nd Lt .

The book AIRBORNE TROOP CARRIER :Three-One-Five Group has accounts of two sergeant pilots who were captains by autumn of 1944

Cheers,

George C.