click the pic for double-size view
USS Philadelphia Reunion Dolphins: Either: $40.00 Both: $75.00
SOLD OUT OF ENLISTED! If you still want, let me know and I will see if I can get any more.
These beautiful dolphins, showing a 688-class fast attack submarine, were made especially for the 2004 reunion of USS PHILADELPHIA (SSN-690). More than a year in the planning and making, they were produced by COLLINSON JEWELERS who crafts what some feel are the finest police badges in the country. His work is, quite simply, superb. The dolphins are solid back, die stamped brass pieces with the Officer version blasted with hot nickel so that the gold plating adheres, while the Enlisted version is brass with a Rhodium coating.
These turned out so nicely that they are being submitted to the U.S. Navy Uniform Board with a request that they be adopted for official wear by all attack boat sailors!
The 688 is a starboard shot and is the regulation dolphins width of 2-7/8" and height of 7/8". The towed array fairing is a raised surface with the sonar and whistle cover visible on the sail. The sonar sphere cover is also outlined, as well as the starboard fairwater plane angled view.
ICBM had the honor of being selected by the PA crewmen who put this all together, as the exclusive website location selling the dolphins after the reunion which is now history. This is the 3rd striking which is fully polished. The original strike for the reunion were a brushed finish and didn't have the jeweler's mark. Telling you all this so down the line you will be able to distinguish which strike you are looking at.
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HERE'S SOME INFO ON THE WAY PINS ARE MADE AND HOW THEY ARE SOMETIMES COPIED.
"DIE STAMPED" and "CAST" pins
Die stamped pins are made the same way the U.S. Treasury mints their coins, i.e. with a tool and die, stamping out the pins (coins)
under HUGE pressure (thousands of pounds). This method produces the finest pins and finshed surfaces.
Cast pins are produced by "casting" the pin material (usually but not always by centrifugal force) into a mold. Normally these pins do not have as high a quality feel and finish as die stamped pins do.
"RESTRIKES"
Several of the pins below (and elsewhere in the catalog) are "restrikes". These are pins that are recently made, using the original tool and die. That means you are getting an absolutely original pin, usually even made by the original jeweler, but they are just not 50 (or whatever) years old. A reputable dealer should advise you if a pin is a restrike.
REPRODUCTIONS
If you have followed all of the above, you should have this one down already. A reproduction is a pin that someone has made, copying the original in some fashion, usually by making a cast "mold" of it. I have been told that Fox Militaria has sometimes done this with older pins that were no longer available.
A reproduction can also be made from a drawing or a photograph.
If you take an old cast pin, make a mold of it and cast new pins, that's a reproduction, not an original.
OK, now you know.....and prepare for the quiz at the bottom of this page................................................NOT!
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proposed U.S. dolphins design: $9.00
Aren't these nice? Some of you who own Pete Prichard's book might recognize this as one of the designs submitted from the Fleet for the (then) coming U.S. Navy dolphins. Bill Talcott thought it was pretty neat and had one of the badge companies make these up for him. An inexpensive, and interesting addition to your dolphins collection!
Now Restocked!
Best Insignias Dolphins Full/Messdress Sets: Off or Enl: $15.00
I have been concerned that a lot of the dolphins I am selling are just too expensive for the beginning collector and have been looking for more inexpensive dolphins to help people get started (read, "get hopelessly hooked"). Found these and they fill the bill perfectly. Best Insignia Company nicely
made clutch-back dolphins.
OK YOU BEGINNING COLLECTORS....HERE'S A GOOD PLACE TO START!
Also see the Best Insignia Company deep wave dolphins further down the page.
Just for info, here's what one of my steady customers has to say about them: "Too bad, I already have these. I compared your photo to the unmarked
set I have ...... identical. Hey, they may be inexpensive, but it's not a bad
quality strike, with good detail. I've found they're perfect for putting on a
ball cap when I don't want to risk further wear on my older sets. In all
honesty they're nicer than a set of current issue HH stamped hollow backs
that I have."
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"Bush" Dolphins: Officer or Enlisted: $15.00
Many have asked....and now I have found a source for these novelty dolphins.
Now available in both Officer and ENLISTED
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BORIS' SPECIAL QUALIFICATION AWARD: |
a customer writes: "One of those bush dolphins is going to an Internet acquaintance who claims to have impregnated his wife in his homebuilt submarine."
...and here's a p.s. from the actual person involved: ... "I just got the dolphins from my internet friend - the story is true and .... the baby was a normal girl, (she's 14 now), no fins or scales but she really likes real Dolphins and water a lot. (true! I just asked her again.) I wonder if there is a connection? :-)" |
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DBF (Diesel Boats Forever):Enlisted $10.00
These were originally designed by some shipmates aboard the USS BARBEL(SS-580), sort of in protest of the new nuc boats coming into the fleet and the diminishing numbers of diesel boats. It immediately became popular with all the diesel boat sailors and many of the skippers looked the other way when folks wore this illegal pin. I'm told that the BARBEL sailors had the original mold made in Yokosuka by one of the local jewelers there. The BARBEL later left on patrol and they forgot to take the mold with them. Too bad as they could have made lotsa bucks today with it! This is a good copy and the price is right!
"WHY ARE THERE SO MANY DIFFERENT KINDS OF U.S. DOLPHINS...
SHOULDN'T THEY ALL BE THE SAME?"
You would think so, but fact is the the specification for the pin in the Navy's Uniform Regulations, is rather general, thus various artists have interpreted the design in different ways, all of them within the guidelines of the specification.
That's made it fun for collectors to discover all the different variations
(or driven them crazy, depending on who you ask!)
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Now on to the others a bit higher in price
STAFF CORPS
$45.00
EDO: Repro of 1950 version of the Engineering Duty Only pin - Hillbourne-Hamburger
Price Reduced! Now $35.00
Another EDO restrike using original die (mfr. won't allow saying who, but trust me, they are one of the best).
This is 1952 Engineering Duty Only which superceded the previous pin.
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Current Medical Officer Dolphins: $15.00
1943 Style Medical Officer - restrike with LG Balfour die: $50.00
BEAUTIFUL!!!
NOTE - OUT OF STOCK. WAITING FOR NEW RESTRIKE (COULD BE SEVERAL MONTHS)
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Supply Officer $15.00
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DSV Official - Officer or Enlisted: $12.00
shown 1.5 X actual size so you can see the details
This is the design that WAS adopted and is now standard issue.
FLEET BOAT: $12.00
I don't recall where I got these from, obviously some sort of souvenir pin, perhaps from Electric Boat. These aren't old, rather a repro. Included clutchback so you could see size.
FINALLY GOT MORE!!!!
Not strictly legal, but nice anyway!
Silent Service Dolphins: $14.00
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"Deep Wave" dolphins, Hillborne-Hamburger, BEAUTIFUL!!!
Officer or Enlisted: $19.00
SORRY, OFFICER PRESENTLY SOLD OUT. MORE COMING IN A FEW WEEKS (?)
Deep Wave dolphins from Best Insignia Company
Either: $12.00
Both: $22.00
These less expensive deep waves are not as finely detailed as the H/H ones
but they are VERY nice nevertheless. I have both officer and enlisted.
$33.00
WWII combat patrol pin, Hillbourne-Hamburger, clutchback. Restrike from H/H. You want the best? This is it.
$15.00
Later combat patrol pin, this one by Vanguard and others.
You may want both styles in your collection.
Neptune Award: $16.00
Originally given to the ONE enlisted submariner with the most SSBN patrols
and now given to all intrepid submariners who have completed 20 or more
patrols. Now THAT'S a lot of time underwater!
Info courtesy of LTJG Tory Swanson-USS MAINE SSBN 741-"Remember the Maine". Thanks Tory!
Either one $14.00
SSBN Patrol Pin: Brushed or shiny finish:
This is the regular SSBN patrol pin. For some reason the Navy Exchange Uniform Shops no longer carry the shiny version,
which is driving some people nuts, because they want their dolphins and patrol pin to have the same finish...
AND I JUST FOUND OUT - it's now a uniform requirement that they match
NOW, after numerous requests from YOU, MY VALUED ICBM CUSTOMERS,
I have managed to talk one of the pin manufacturers into making some...
in other words, another ICBM EXCLUSIVE!
Yokosuka Dolphins: Officer or Enlisted: $20.00
Presently sold out of officers....more coming in a few weeks.
"YOKOSUKA", also called "WESTPAC", DOLPHINS arrived on the scene when the U.S. Navy established a base at Yokosuka, Japan after the end of WWII. The industrious local jewelers started making emblems to sell to the sailors, and amoung them were, of course, dolphins. The earliest ones were stamped hollowbacks with a pin back. Later Japanese jewelers cast from the originals and this is what you see most of the time these days as sailors bring them back from their WestPac (Western Pacific) cruises. The old stamped pin-back jobs are rare, but still sometimes seen. Through the much appreciated help of a couple of my regular customers, we have scoured the "Honcho Alley" stores outside the Yokosuka Naval Base and bought all we could find.
The ones shown here are solid back with clutch pin attachments,
and are TERRIFIC QUALITY!
OFFICIALLY BANNED
688 Fast Attack Dolphins: Off/Enl: $18.00 each PRESENTLY SOLD OUT OF ENL
These dolphins originated shortly after the "boomer" pin came out (for SSBN patrols).
The fast attack gang apparently got their feelings hurt and decided they needed a pin of THEIR own too! This is it.
Highly illegal,
never authorized by the uniform board,
officially banned in a letter from COMSUBPAC back in 1988,
and....
therefore loved and proudly worn
by plenty of fast attack guys!
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