Picked up this B-17 Yoke Cap

[grimes]

I picked up this B-17 Yoke Cap. It's in pretty good shape, only problem is the locking tabs are broken off. It still makes for a good original piece though. The back has a number 6-14657.

How did I do?

[tom d. friedman]

those are highly sought after & bring a pretty good buck!! where did you get it, & what did you pay??

[Pat Carry]

aren't there replicas out there as well? how does one tell the difference?

[tom d. friedman]

ohhh yes!!! but his has some sort of serial number to the obverse side. I can't imagine a counter fitter going to that trouble for a certain basically obscure object sought by so few people.

[grimes]

Got it from a well known collector. I may have overpaid at $300 (though a similar one I saw last sold for $280), but they rarely come up and are very sought after.

[tom d. friedman]

you pretty much paid the standard selling price. nice piece. if it could talk it could tell some great stories!! I've been buying, selling, brokering collections since 1987, if your looking for anything, or selling then pm me. fyi I sold my Lockheed cap for $195.00 about 12 years ago.

[grimes]

Do you know what years during the war these caps were installed? I know the early ones were aluminum with just a Boeing symbol.

[tom d. friedman]

no clue, & 1st I've heard of an aluminum cast. yours is bakelite, the earliest form of plastic.

[grimes]

Here's what the early cap looked like.

[kmiles]

aren't there replicas out there as well? how does one tell the difference?

There are people that are making reproductions. The easiest way to tell them apart is the material that they are made of. 70+ year old bakelite has a different feel (and appearance) than a modern plastic. The polished fronts look the same, but when you look at the backs, the originals are very easy to spot (even without the serial number part of it). The repros are selling for about $75, and the original Boeing ones are going for right about $300 when they come up.

[tom d. friedman]

you are 150% correct!!

[grimes]

Also most the reproductions have very uneven lines, and reproductions most noticeably have a honeycomb set of feathers, as well as the wings are all connected in the Boeing wings symbol.

[kmiles]

I have seen reproductions that are much "cleaner" than that one. That almost looks like whoever made it was trying to make it look old.

[tom d. friedman]

that's how you fake anything "quote" antique..... beat the crap out of it, & throw it out the back door of your house & expose it to the weather for a few weeks, come up w/ some b.s. yarn to it's history & look for an all day sucker to buy it. it's the American way!! have seen it many times.