Germany, Luftstreitkräfte. A Pilot’s Badge, With Flight Helmet And Photo Album, To Wilhelm Wagner

(Flugzeugführerabzeichen mit Fliegerhelm und Fotoalbum). A lot of three items retrieved from the estate of First World War fighter pilot Wilhelm Friedrich Wagner, including:

1. A Pilot’s Badge, constructed of silvered brass, the obverse consisting of an oval laurel and oak leaf wreath, joined together at the bottom with a bow tie-style ribbon, topped by a German State Crown, around a central depiction of a monoplane flying over a rural landscape, the reverse with a crimped barrel hinge and vertical pinback meeting a round wire catch, unmarked, measuring 45.95 mm (w) x 71.95 mm (h), weighing 11.3 grams, in extremely fine condition.

2. A pilot’s flight helmet, constructed of a cork shell, fully lined on both the exterior and interior with an olive-drab canvas liner, with the exterior crown and edge bearing padded impact bars and with a short canvas visor protruding over the front, with dual flaps emanating from the sides featuring hidden ear flaps, the left flap retaining a blackened leather chinstrap, the interior featuring the remains of a multi-finger black leather liner, unmarked, measuring 200 mm (w) x 265 mm (l) x 160 mm (h), demonstrating soiling and material fatigue throughout consistent with pilot’s usage, including some cracking and disintegration to the cork core, a wartime-used example in fair condition.

3. A photo album, constructed of a card stock binding, the cover bearing an inscription of “SKIZZENBUCH” (“SKETCHBOOK”) and handwritten addition of “PAPA’S KRIEGSFOTOS 1914/18” (“PAPA’S WAR PHOTOS 1914/18”), the interior with 12 paper stock pages pasted with 30 black-and-white photos, featuring an array of wartime images depicting Wagner in the uniform of a Heer soldier in the Champagne region in 1916, prior to entering Luftstreitkräfte service, followed by numerous images of him in aviation gear and posing alongside other pilots with a variety of German aircraft throughout 1917, notably including two field portraits depicting Wagner wearing the accompanying Pilot’s Badge, measuring 182 mm (w) x 115 mm (h), one photo has been detached from its page and minor material fatigue is evident to the album, a fascinating look at wartime service across two branches, in extremely fine condition.