Daredevil

well, since i am being talked about by an "expert" located in Russia (who seems to know a lot about everything; must be nice), who likes to declare this cap a repro, i feel i should respond..the cap was sold to Nack as real, but postwar, with a very questionable stamp...I do not really post here but since something i sold is being questioned by someone who has never had the cap in their hands, i felt the need to respond. The cap is NOT one of the current junkers being made, as detailed in the 'other' forum. It was sold years ago as a good postwar cap to use on display, is real (as others here have even stated), but probably had the stamp added to make it look war time. The "reputable" guy in NJ.

"In Soviet as in every other collecting field, one thing that is always a GOOD sign to me is the SCARCITY and or uniqueness of Things Wierd. Fakes are mass produced for easy money, not hand-crafted as one-offs." I agree; while one-offs might be modified or altered items to make more money, outright fakes are made in at least somewhat good numbers. If i see a large number ( or even a few!) NKGB field boards showing up on E, or at ismailova, or anyplace else, I would be nervous, but like your BG boards, these are the only ones I have seen.

there are some out there who claim that these boards can't be real because they have not been seen in original photos. Thats fine if that is what they need for proof (to each his own). However, if they are going to claim they are repro, they need to be able to explain why. Here is a set that I claim are repro; the material is modern, the stamp it far too clear and the backing of the boards themselves is not of the correct material. the actual construction of the boards is not correct as well. if the 'bottle boards' are not correct they should have some signs of being repro, that can be explained and pointed out.

it actually ended up uploading better than i thought; the buttons are a bit different, but the collar is there (unless my eyes are really bad).dd

richie, here is an original photo (i know you like these for authenticity purposes) of Major General Samonov wearing the M1940 pullover (i use this word instead of gymnastroika; hope thats ok with you), with external pockets and turndown collar. Hope the image helps you, as you say, in learning about this area; always eager to help out here in the open. dd ps- sorry about the darkness of the photo, but i think the detail is still there.

rick, sorry, there are no original photos of an NKVD officer wearing these boards so it MUST!!! be a fake, modern made example designed to fool those of us who do not know what we are doing : ) the fact its a perfectly good example should just be ignored! dd

the bottle boards a very nice example; the field green ones are even rarer than the gold ones (super rare in themselves). the story on 'bottle boards' according to some of the experts (including S. Caza whom I trust quite a bit for NKVD EM and Officer items), is that the bottle boards were to be for all NKVD units, but production and supply problems caused a lack of boards to be made. those that were made, were issued to NKGB units for a bit in late 1943 and 1944, until all NKVD units went over to the traditional boards. I have also been told that they used blue engineering boards at times when NKVD boards were not available, but I take that with a grain of salt. dd

richie, Honestly, I do not know. I bought it from Shalito (it is in both of his books, though i suspect he added both boards; also, i do not think it ever had the collar tabs on it). I have had in Generals pullovers with both the internal and external pockets. However, these have mostly been M1943 pullovers; the M1940 pullovers for generals are pretty rare. The last one I had was for an artillery general and is in the webster/nelson book. That pullover is much more standard M1940 in construction; this one, other than the turndown collar, is almost identical to the M1943 design. The cap and belt were added just for the photo. I am not much for field stuff, but i thought this was pretty unique when i picked it up. I would love to see one that was a converted mundir. dd

...its kinda odd to see Buddha looking around the corner of the commissar....

here is a good example of a converted M1940 pullover; has M1943 insignia added, but still has the fold down M1940 collar. dd

I have taken photos at Russian bases (Kubinka, Khronsdat among others), airports, closed museums, etc. Never had a problem until August of 2000...we were taking a small boat around the port of Sevastopol during Navy Day celebrations and taking shots of the ships and subs. No one seemed to care about the large ships and we got quite close. However, when we were over near the subs (some not looking to be in good health) we started to be chased by a small boat that was filled with plaincloths, 'stocky' and rough looking gentlemen. They were not happy with us and started to make gestures to pull the boat over. We just kept going, hoping to outrun them. One of the guys with us worked for the Ukrainian Navy in Intel. and later found out that the guys who were chasing us (they eventually turned around) were actually working for Yuri Lushkov , mayor of Moscow, who had a small private boat near the subs.

M1947 cap for Militia general

here are a few shots of M1947 militia generals, with the red piping....i was dumb and did not shoot the hat with the tunic/belt (the belt is the only example i have ever seen of the gold M1947 militia generals belt); again, note the army generals M1940 style cap badge, not the "correct" militia cap badge (i owned an M1947 militia general many years ago when i was a collector and it had the textbook M47 cap badge; again, i think there was a difference between textbook and reality). The M47 service is just shown for reference ( and was not one of mine, but a friends). dd

i am not sure where the red piping came from for M1943 Militia generals....have had in a few Militia generals 1943-1947 and only the M1947 had the red piping. here is M1943 with the correct blue piping. same as ricks cap, but parade. cap badge is original to the cap, has not been altered or removed; i expected it to be the same as ricks service caps badge, but not...as stated, i think generals often wore what they wished, or what was available. i think ricks badge is correct textbook, but i think actually very rare; i think most wore the traditional M1940 generals badge. dd

rick,i am not sure if you still have access to the air force uniform, but if so, can you post detailed pics (cap lining, etc.)? I do not mean to question you, but just from the pics, it does come from the exact same seller, has the same (in my opinion) repro buttons, the same stamps, the same order holes, as the repro uniforms / caps I have posted pics of here. Does this not seem at least odd that the same seller would have the same "sets" all with the same exact tell-tale signs? DD