Arms & Militaria

First World War Imperial Russian Pilot's Wing Badge & Photos

Appraisal: WWI Imperial Russian Pilot's Wing Badge & Photos

Transcript

GUEST: These are imperial pilot's wings from World War I that were my grandmother's first husband's.

APPRAISER: What was this gentleman's name?

GUEST: Yury Vladimirovich Lee. We really didn't know anything about him till we closed up my grandmother's house in San Francisco. And I think it was about '88. We found a little suitcase that she brought with her when she immigrated to the U.S. in 1940. She never spoke of him at all. Even my father didn't know about him until we found the grouping.

APPRAISER: We have a gentleman of, uh, Chinese ancestry...

GUEST: Yup.

APPRAISER: ...who is clearly in possession of a Russian wing.

GUEST: From our understanding, he grew up in Russia with a f, foster family, as such, and then joined the air force, or whatever they had, the, um, Imperial Air Service, I guess, at the time. After the revolution, he flew during the Civil, Russian Civil War, and till about, I guess it was 1920 or 1922. And then he met my grandmother. (chuckles) And they got married, uh, uh, about that same time.

APPRAISER: What side did he fight for during the Russian Civil War?

GUEST (stammers): For, for the Tsarist side.

APPRAISER: That is a little unusual.

GUEST: (clears throat)

APPRAISER: There are-- still are, and were at the time-- a fairly large ethnic Chinese population in Russia.

GUEST: Yeah.

APPRAISER: Because they did what countries do. They expanded, they took over territory.

GUEST: Mm-hmm.

APPRAISER: In this case, they absorbed part of what we would typically think of as China into Imperial Russia, not without some level of conflict. And, and it's interesting to me that he found that level of, uh, acceptance to the point where he's being trained as an aviator.

GUEST: I guess he grew up with, in a wealthy family there. His foster father, is what I call him, was a barrister.

APPRAISER: And it's also interesting to me that he fought for the White Army.

GUEST: The White Army, yes.

APPRAISER: He, he fought, you know, the Red... We call it the Red-White Civil War.

GUEST: Yes.

APPRAISER: There was conflict amongst the, uh, the Communists.

GUEST: Mm-hmm.

APPRAISER: There was conflict among the Tsarists, and of that ethnic Chinese population, they are known as participants in that conflict, but for the most part, everything that you read is on the other side.

GUEST: On the Red side, yeah.

APPRAISER: So what you brought today is the 1917 military pilot badge from the Moscow School of Aviation for warrant officers.

GUEST: Mm-hmm.

APPRAISER: This is essentially a graduation badge. He entered the school in February of 1918...

GUEST: Okay.

APPRAISER: ...and did not complete his training.

GUEST: Okay.

APPRAISER: Because by October of 1918, things are in upheaval...

GUEST: Mm-hmm.

APPRAISER: ...and at some point, he is expelled from this because he is a, uh, a, a student who is probably not gonna want to fly for the Bolsheviks.

GUEST: Yeah.

APPRAISER: So he, interestingly, never earned that badge.

GUEST: Ha, cool. (laughs)

APPRAISER: But he acquired one.

GUEST: Yeah.

APPRAISER: You know, at some point, somehow, he acquired this badge, and clearly w, was very, very proud of it, because we see in the photograph he's there wearing the badge...

GUEST: Yeah.

APPRAISER: ...in, on his civilian clothing after the war.

GUEST: Huh.

APPRAISER: And the other photograph is interesting. He's in flight gear.

GUEST: Mm-hmm.

APPRAISER: But that's not a Russian uniform. What did he do after exile?

GUEST: After exile, when they, they were living in Harbin, Manchuria, he joined the Chinese military there, and he was a colonel in that army.

APPRAISER: So the first thing that tells us that we have an Imperial Russian badge is, on the center of the shield, is the iconography of St. George slaying the dragon. That's something that was used extensively by the Russian Empire. And then if you move above it, you see the Russian double-headed eagle, which appears on an awful lot of their insignia. And right below that is at, the front end of an aircraft engine with the big prop on it. And that tells you that you have an Imperial Russian aviation insignia.

GUEST: It was, uh, published in a book on Imperial Russian aviation.

APPRAISER: So you have already contributed to the public discourse on these.

GUEST: Yes.

APPRAISER: Because I have to tell you, in searching, that's the only thing that I was able to find.

GUEST: Okay.

APPRAISER: As, as far as documentation of the pattern. There can't be very many of these in existence. This is something of a unicorn. Have you ever had these appraised?

GUEST: I had an open offer about eight years ago for, um, $2,000.

APPRAISER: We are very firmly of the opinion that a retail price today would be between $5,000 and $7,000.

GUEST: Cool, that's good to hear. Much better. (chuckles) So when I'm ready to sell, I'll, it'll be worth some good money.

(both laugh)