Just try to think of this kind of philosophy, which could help you in the future: what is the true reason to spend money on items, belonging to the area where you are not a specialist? Only a naive hope for a lucky chance to get a really great item for reasonable money? Or belief that the seller has no idea what he sell, and offers good items with wrong identifications, which result in low competitor activity? Both of these reasons will surely bring fakes into your collection, because the only true reason for decision to buy could be your professional knowledge in this particular area. Well, some people think that they could be specialists in all areas: nazi uniforms, soviets, Imperials, British Victorian militaria... Or maybe thinking that having professional knowledge in items of one histoty period, this experience will bring them success in covering new areas. But judjing on Russian forums I see very few examples where people reach impressive results in covering multiple areas: for example, I know professional collectors of elite regimental badges, who spend huge money on fake shoulder-boards, professionals in collecting rare soviet uniforms who buy low-quality theatrical items, "supposed to be Russian Imperial Guards", etc. Just think of it. I don't claim that foreigners should "leave Russian uniforms for Russians", my idea is different: if you rely on lucky chance rather than on your knowledge, you become not a hunter, but rather a victim, and further complaints on bad guys selling bad items are naive and useless.