Fake ?

As for alla sectors of collection, also in URSS militaria there are a lot of fakes, even if most of the times it's a question of not corresponding items. With few exceptions, to produce a perfect copy to cheat a buyer it's just not worth, since the value of Russian militaria is not so high. As regard dress and accessories, it is usually necessary to verify the presence of marks(all URSS material usually is!). As regard medals it a bit more complicated, and we will talk about it later.

Russian post-soviet production

USSR doesn't exist since; out of doubt that an item realized later cannot be defined soviet.

For example a Russian camouflage uniform may looks like the previous one; if the differences between the two are not known (lenght of epaulettte, closing of pockets )it is not possible to recognice the model at first sight. Only through the examination of the mark the period of production can be stated post-soviet.

infact the model code indicates the year of production (in the last two numbers); in the image above there is a model of 1994


Warsaw Pact items

Who knows the ciryllic alphabeth can desume that the following letters cannot be represented in soviet marks:

D F G H I L N Q R S U V W Y Z


This allows to distinguish soviet militaria from ungarian, polish, czech, DDR (but not from the bulgarian). The cap of tank corps in the following image was polish even if it's actually the same as the soviet cap (exept for little differences). The presence of letter Z in the mark allows to state without any doubt that it is not a soviet item:




The letter N belong to the latin alphabet, but in russian it can be found to indicate a number (nomer) and this the unique exeption.


Adulterated item

This is the most common case: the item is enriched with accessories of not corresponding datation or not referring to officials rules. This is due to three main reasons:

- first of all the attemption to rise the value of an item by addying not proper badges, so crating a cap no one ownes or an high officer uniform never seen before ...

- very often original items are adultered by addying stars, pins, badges or medals. The most common case is that of sidecap sold, often by stall sellers, that are really overcrowed with badges and pins; in this case it will not be possible to restore the item anymore (the holes will rest on the fabric)


- the uniform has been modified by the owner at the end of military service (so-called Dembel Art - it usually occured also in italian military forces); look at the image below: a couple of epaulettes of the Baltic fleet (made in phosphorescent stuff), a patch, and a pair of velvet cuffs in a sailor blouse.
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