April 5, 2024
US AIR SERVICE OBSERVATION BALLOON PATCH
Pricing & History
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- Sold Date
- Source eBay
This is the last of my once vast WW1 patch collection. I held this one back as I was going to collect WW1 balloon items at some point but all of my collecting days are over so it is on the market. The construction is hand embroidered with cotton thread on light weight wool shirt material. The workmanship is crude but attractive. Any balloon patch or hand embroidered patch has to raise a caution flag because of the fake problem but I am very confident this is real. I bought it many years ago from a very competent and knowledgable dealer, Ron Wolin. It was not inexpensive so I spent a long time with it in the sunlight. I do not remember the year I bought it but WW1 fakes were not a real issue at the time. Dozens of colectors have handled it, none have questioned it. It has the expected difference in fading from front to back. The stitching from being sewn on looks legit. On the downside is the "Balloon Division." It was recently pointed out to me that it should be balloon COMPANY. All of the years of owning it and I never noticed it. I think this anomaly probably has more to do with the doughboy that made it. He may have used the term casually rather than in terms of strict military usage. I know my grandfather always talked about his WW1 artillery division though it was not a division at all. In the end, the bidders will have to
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