Imperial German Naval Aviation Patriotic Pin Anchor Propeller Crown WWI Era

An Imperial German patriotic pin combining the emblems of the navy and the air arm: an anchor crossed by a two-bladed aircraft propeller and surmounted by the Imperial crown. Badges of this design appear to have been worn in support of the naval flying service of the Kaiserliche Marine (Imperial Navy), the Marineflieger (naval aviators), and they belong to the large family of patriotic jewellery produced in Germany during the First World War. The pin measures approximately 2¼ inches (5.7 cm) from the tip of the crown to the crown of the anchor, with the propeller spanning approximately 2 inches (5.1 cm).

The badge is die-struck in gilt base metal, probably brass or tombak, and finished in relief on the obverse with a flat reverse. The anchor is of the traditional Admiralty pattern, with a smooth shank, a knurled stock set crosswise below the crown, and two broad, pointed flukes, each edged with a fine beaded border. Across the shank, between the stock and the flukes, lies a two-bladed propeller with gently curved, tapering blades and a raised circular hub chased with a ring of small segments. The stock carries a raised oval boss at its centre. In place of the anchor ring stands a closed crown, its band and arches chased with lattice and jewel detail and topped by a beaded finial, the form of the Imperial crown used on naval insignia of the period. The reverse is plain and fitted with a long pin on a barrel hinge mounted behind the crown, running the full length of the shank to a C-shaped catch behind the crown of the anchor. No legible maker's mark is present.

The Imperial Navy took up the aeroplane shortly before the war. Trials with seaplanes began in 1911 and 1912, and a naval flying detachment, the Marine-Fliegerabteilung, was formed in 1913, the same year that Wilhelm II instituted a badge for naval pilots of seaplanes. The service was small in August 1914, but it expanded quickly as the war at sea revealed the value of aerial reconnaissance. Seaplane stations operated along the North Sea and Baltic coasts, among them Kiel-Holtenau, Wilhelmshaven, List on the island of Sylt, Norderney, and Helgoland, and on the occupied Flemish coast at Zeebrugge. From these bases naval aircrews flew patrols over the Heligoland Bight and the approaches to the Channel, spotted for the fleet and coastal batteries, hunted submarines, and attacked British shipping and coastal targets. Floatplanes of the Hansa-Brandenburg and Friedrichshafen types became the backbone of the service, and the two-seat Hansa-Brandenburg W.12 and W.29 seaplanes from Zeebrugge proved effective fighters over the water. The best known of the seaplane commanders, Friedrich Christiansen, took command of the Zeebrugge station in September 1917 and received the Pour le Mérite that December.

Naval aviation also fought on land. The Marinekorps Flandern (Naval Corps Flanders), which held the coastal sector of the Western Front, raised its own land-based fighter squadrons, the Marine-Feldjagdstaffeln, from 1917, and in September 1918 these were grouped into a Marine-Jagdgeschwader (naval fighter wing) under Gotthard Sachsenberg. Separate from all of these, the naval airship division under Peter Strasser operated the rigid airships that scouted for the High Seas Fleet and raided Britain.

Patriotic pins of the period were made in enormous variety and sold through jewellers, outfitters, and charitable collections, with proceeds frequently going to war welfare funds. Many took the Iron Cross, the oak leaf, or the portraits of the Emperor and his commanders as their subject. Designs dedicated to a single service are less common, and those devoted to naval aviation are seldom seen beside the far more numerous army aviation and general patriotic types. The combination of anchor, propeller, and crown here is a clear and economical statement of the branch: the navy, the aeroplane, and the Kaiser.

The badge carries no inscription or date. It cannot be dated more precisely than the war years and the period immediately around them, and no wearer or maker is known.

Condition is good. The gilt finish is well preserved on the obverse, brightest on the flukes and propeller, with a darker, mellowed tone on the crown and stock and light wear to the high points of the beading and blades. The reverse shows toning and areas of thinning gilt. The pin, hinge, and catch are intact. There are no breaks, repairs, or missing elements.

The piece suits a collection of Imperial German naval material, of First World War aviation, or of patriotic jewellery of 1914 to 1918, and it makes a natural companion to naval pilot's badges, Marine-Flieger photographs, and Zeebrugge seaplane material.