Hi Frank, Phillip and Wingnut
Thank you for your input, thoughts and questions. I agree that posts om a pathfinder wing are uncommon and perhaps an unpractical method to affix the award to a uniform pocket but finding a Canadian made variant is also uncommon.
It is my understanding that Lamond was in business by the early 1930's (after they had purchasing Caron Bros). Exactly when they first started manufacturing eagles, I don't know. I'll try to contact the current company of the same name (& fils) to see if I can clarify that and I'll get back to the Forum with any information.
I agree that the 3 examples in the 2nd photo are probably post war issue, especially with the hard fiber backing as you suggested Phil, but the eagle pattern is the same to my eye. I have others with tangs that appear even more recent.
This is the exact same eagle, number 7, that Warren Carroll has illustrated on page 15 of Eagles Recalled and it is his words which state that this is a 1943-45 RCAF Pathfinder eagle hence the regret I expressed in my initial post in not having the opportunity to have asked him about the provenance while he was alive. There must be someone in the collecting field who was involved or around when this book was published in the '97 or earlier, in its first incarnation of his book Wings, Canada & Great Britain, 1913-1945 published in 1981, who knows the answer? In that first edition, where I believe he illustrates this same eagle, he comments that, ".. many have been specially made and in gold plate. Several have been seen that were hallmarked. 55mm" (p83). Here, he dates it 1942. Perhaps the extra weight of this example is due to the gold plating?
Thank you all for raising these interesting questions and I hope we continue the debate.
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