REGAL UNIFORMA COLECTOR

Generals visor cap.

Generals pants.

Left pocket loops. Wore both Romanian and German awards.

Right Pocket loops. Wore both Romanian and German awards.

Generals Shoulder boards and collar tab.

2 wound stripes on sleeve.

Romania... In World War 2, Romania was the 3rd largest Axis Power and the 4th largest Allied Power. A major player and contributor in World War 2 and a country who has participated in every major Balkin conflict since the Russo-Turkish War of 1877-1878. Yet, somehow, very little is known and written about the Royal Romanian Military. Most WW2 books concentrate on everything except the Eastern theater in which Romanian was a major player. With the country overrun and in control by the Soviets during WW2 and directly afterwards thrown into a puppet state dictatorship, any possesion of Royal uniforms was considered sypathetic to the old regime. These people were either excecuted, imprissoned, or black listed. Thus, their WW2 uniforms were worn as civilian clothing directly after the wars end, destroyed or donated to the Military Museum in Bucharest. Very few pieces survived today. Those who held onto their uniforms hid them well while running a great risk for their own safety and survival. Today, it is still difficult to find a WW2 Romanian uniform. Many WW2 Vets who posses such uniforms are still fearful of showing these things. A paranoia from the communist days. Since the fall of communism, I made an effort to seek out and collect these scarce uniforms. I would like to show off my collection. General George Avramescu Commander of the 4th Romanian Army Prior Commander of the Mountain Corps that fought in Russia. Holder of the Order of Michael the Brave 2 wound stripes on his sleeve. WW1 and WW2 Russia.

Rear Admiral Butakoff. Assassinated in 1917 in the streets of Savastopol by rioting menshoviks. He was the Grandson of the famous Admiral Butakoff of the Crimean War period.

Rear Admiral in the Provisional Government of Kerensky 1917. These Naval officers where shot on sight if they were caught wearing such a shoulder board in public. A very short lived shoulder board that outlived the Admiral who wore it.

Naval Captain in the Imperial Suite ( The Czars most trusted advisors) Aide-de-Camp Adjutant to Czar Nicholas II

Naval Aide-de-Camp and Adjutant to Czar Nicholas II Rank is Rear Admiral Belonged to the same individual who was Naval Attache at the Russian Embassy in London during WW1. He was promoted to rank of Admiral during WW1.

11th Naval Infantry Regiment Captain

Naval Infantry Usually made up of land based Army infantry units assigned for the protection of Naval bases and ports. Rank is Major General-Admiral.

Naval Guard Equipage NCO Officer Cadet

1st Naval Guard Flotilla of Czar Peter the Great Lieutenant

2nd Naval Guard Flotilla of Grand Duchess Olga Lieutenant

Naval Aide-De-Camp Adjutant to Czar Nicholas II Captain. Belonged to a Naval Attache to the Russian Embassy in London during WW1.

I do have some other aviator pieces. these are extremely rare as a lot of these aviator shoulder boards were one of a kind pieces. I will have to make some photos and post them here.

Those are good moral and standards to use and to collect by. If you collect what everyone else collects, then your collection is always substandard and everyone else knows more then you do. You will never become one of the leading experts. On the other side of the coin, collecting is also an investment. You collect something that is a unique and rare field and you become a leading expert in that area. You can write books with your collection photos published in these books, thus, you create a collecting interest and a demand for that particular item. Now, your items become desirable and priceless especially since it is published in a reference book. Sounds exciting don't it ? My life long dream of collecting. Now if I can only find the time !

I started my Imperial Russian collection back in 1975 long before all the fakes were being produced. Collecting shoulder boards among Imperial Russian collectors was a dog item or bastard child at the time. No one wanted them. All the Imperial Russian collectors wanted the orders, badges and swords. Cloth was considered left to the moths. I considered shoulder boards to be as equally rare if not rarer. As a teenager in the 70's, I could not afford a gold Saint Vlad for $200.00, but for 5 or 10 bucks could obtain a shoulder board. So thus my collection got started. And... believe me when I say that original shoulder boards were not easily found back then either. Now that I have a fairly large collection of original pieces, it is very easy to spot all the fakes coming out of Russia. To me, collecting Imperial Russian Shoulder boards was very fascinating because it told more of a story : Rank, unit, City the person came from and where on the front that person fought if you did some research. Today, these boards are very well sought after and rarer then the badges and orders everyone pursued.

2nd Kaukaus Division Pilot Staff-Captain, Overcoat Style

Naval Rear-Admiral, Retired Overcoat Style

Shoulder boards of Czar Nicholas II. Colonel-en-Chief, 4th Guard Rifle Regiment of Tsarkoe Selo. Adjutant to Czar Alexander III and Alexander II (His father and Grandfather) These shoulder boards were worn exclusively by Czar Nicholas II. These boards have no cardboard inserts and were made soft for the purpose of sewing to his gynastorka shits. Most photos of Czar Nicholas in the period of 1916 till his death show him wearing a gynastorka shirt with these boards. The uniform of the 4th Guard Rifle Regiment was worn by the Czar throughout WW1.

Her Majestie's Maria Federovna Guard Cuirassier Regiment Captain

Sounds like an area of collecting best left alone.