Theater Made Wings

Theater made wings are an entire subsection of wing collecting.  When flyers arrived in their stations of responsibility, they fell victim to what we all fall victim to, losing those necessary little trinkets and accoutrements which are necessities in our day-to-day life (ever lost your car keys?).  This was not the only contingency, as some underwent training in these new stations or were advanced to new duties requiring insignia to be worn as of marks of rank, purpose and responsibility as well as respect.  There were many different forms of theater made wings from many different nations.  I have seen Egypt and, Indian, Chinese, Japanese postwar, British, Australian etc., all uniquely characteristic of that nations particular method of working with precious metals.  An example would be an Egyptian wing made of sterling silver sand cast by an Egyptian jeweler and maker marked before the wing fully cools.  These wings show the ingenuity and devotion of the nations we were helping to be freed or to stay free from tyranny.  I have included a few pictures of the sin cast Indian wing which used a J shaped tong pin clasp and and are shaped pin fulcrum to give leverage to the pin to stay in the clasp.  If you look closely you can see the initials of the gunner who wore it or he was merely marking AC to signify Air Corps followed by four numbers on the opposite wing probably signifying his squadron.  Enjoy