And the fact that it came with an AVG "Peacock Pin" and AVG Kuomintang Sun badge, makes it all the more intriguing. There were a handful of CAMCO employees who became full fledged members of the Flying Tigers, and based on the accompanying insignia, this could have belonged to one of them! Or, these could have been issued early on to AVG members because they were all technically CAMCO employees. We just don't have all the answers here yet.
The badge is in excellent condition, with only light wear to the surface and chrome plating, and no enamel damage to the beautiful red and blue enamel. Which, along with the silver/white of the chrome of this Chinese made badge makes a very symbolic Red, White, & Blue for this patriotic American Company badge.
Read on below about the 4 Chinese Related Aviation Artifacts that were found together sometime approximately 25 to 40 years ago in California, and are now being offered publicly for the first time.
We are honored to bring to market some incredibly rare Flying Tigers / American Volunteer Group & Chinese Aviation Artifacts from Early and PRE WWII.
We were recently contracted by the family of the original finder of these artifacts and given the directive to market the pieces.
3 are directly related to the near mythical American Volunteer Group, the original Flying Tigers, and the 4th is an equally rare piece of pre-WWII Chinese Aviation History.
The original finder of these artifacts has passed. He was an avid collector of coins and historical badges and pins, and he scoured his native California for yard sales and flea markets to locate the artifacts he so passionately collected. He was not a displayer, more of a "pack them away for safe keeping" kind of collector. So, after his passing, when his son came upon the small box with the 4 unknown artifacts, he was unsure of what he had.
Luckily, we keep our past sales up on the site for historical reference, so he was able to Identify the most historically important piece (although probably NOT the rarest piece, of the group of RARE artifacts!) through our site, which led to our eventual custodianship and marketing of the artifacts.
The 4 artifacts are pictured here to show what came together, but they are being sold individually.
What the group consisted of as found was:
1 The so-called "Peacock Pin", which is a complete misnomer since it is actually 2 Eagles embracing each other, one eagle representing China, and one the US, which was given out to (First) American Volunteer Group members. So there only ever existed a little more than 300 of these. They are extremely rare, and each Flying Tiger was given ONE, which they iconically wore most often on their tan khaki overseas caps. These are individually numbered on the back, and this one is numbered 116.
2 The Chinese Kuomintang 12 Ray Sun emblem, THE enameled badge made SPECIFICALLY for AVG wear. On the other side of the tan khaki overseas cap, opposite of the "Peacock Pin".
3 A Worker Identification Badge for CAMCO, the Central Aircraft Manufacturing Company. NOT the Chinese version of this company from Hangzhou, but the AMERICAN CAMCO, the "Parent Company" of the American Volunteer Group, in Kunming! This is the ONLY example of this badge that we have ever seen! It is in excellent condition, and #'d 207 on Front.
4 Last but not least, a PRE-1939 Equipment Tag for a PARACHUTE from the Chinese CENTRAL AVIATION SCHOOL. The Central Aviation School was located in Hangzhou, Zhejiang from 1932 to 1937, then moved to Liuzhou, Guangxi in late 1937 and finally to Kunming, Yunnan in 1938. We do not know the exact date of this tag, but it is sometime from 1932 to early 1938. What was to become the Chinese Air Force Academy in July 1938, started out 1928 in Nanjing as the Central Army Academy's Aviation Corps, then reorganized as the Central Army Academy's Aviation Class in 1929. In 1931, it was moved from Dajiaochang Airport to Jianqiao Airport in Jianggan, Hangzhou, Zhejiang. A year later in 1932, as mentioned above, it became the Central Aviation School. This tag may also be the only example to still exist. It is numbered 225 on front, and that same number is stamped in on the back.
All of the above artifacts are being offered for the first time publicly now, at flyingtigerantiques.com
GUARANTEE: As with all my artifacts, this piece is guaranteed to be original, as described.
