Fakes and Replicas

The Threat Posed...

"Legitimate" Reproductions

Shown below are a couple caps used in a German movie in the 1980's. The fabric was polyester rather than the correct wool/cotton - only the cockades and buttons are authentic. The chinstraps were originally German as well (I replaced one with gold Soviet cords).

Legitimate Russian-made reproductions also exist of some older uniform items. These were manufactured primarily for historical parades and displays (such as the 50th Anniversary of the end of WWII parade in Red Square). Some of these have been exported and offered for sale in the West, although most of the ones I have seen have been correctly identified as reproductions.

None of these pose much of a threat for the observant collector - which is NOT the case of the next group we will discuss.

Targeting Collectors

The vast majority of these caps replicate those worn by the Russian and Soviet militaries over the period 1900 to 1945. There is apparently no profit motive to fake newer caps - except for generals/admirals' caps that we will discuss later. I have seen fake Border Guard, KGB/MGB, tank, infantry, cavalry, medical, Air Force, general staff academy (as seen here) and all-khaki field caps for sale - but more are probably being made. The variety of different bright-colored WWI copies is even greater - but these seem to be reliably identified as reproductions.

As mentioned above, when you found a replica WWII cap a few years ago - it was typically rather crude looking - with a modern stamped aluminum red star, plastic chinstrap, and thick leather visor.

The inside lining was typically poorly attached and made of cheap, non-authentic materials. These were no threat to collectors. If it had a leather visor - you were 99% sure it was fake (since only a very small number of caps with replacement leather visors apparently exist). Even without that - a glance at the poorly finished interior could be counted on to identify the fakes.

However, faced with collector demands for higher quality items, clothing shops have now greatly improved the quality and "authenticity" of their caps. First and foremost, producers of these caps have switched to fiber visors virtually identical to the originals (eliminating a key identification feature of earlier fakes). Chinstraps, buttons and cap stars also look better and may even be original (often the stars are real brass and enamel ones from the 40's and 50's and buttons are from the correct time period). Luckily, producers continue to neglect the interior of these caps. Most replicas remain devoid of maker labels or markings, although post-1991 general/admiral ones usually do have them - but without dates and from improper materials. Unfortunately, a few other fakes have very recently been showing up with bogus interior markings (see below). Even on these, however, the linings are still not as nicely sewn as on the originals or made of the same materials.

In addition, all of these caps look new - because they are! Not a flaw on them - no wear, no staining, no damage, no fading. As soon as sellers start "aging" them a bit, the danger will ratchet up another notch. Again, however, just looking new doesn't automatically mark a cap as fake. A number of old, authentic caps are being sold right out of former Soviet museums - and many of these have never been worn and are in excellent condition. So the condition of the cap alone cannot be used to determine authenticity - you must look at other factors as well (as we will discuss).

To help determine if a cap is a fake (or at least less than it's advertised to be) I have come up with a list of "things to look for" when considering an older Soviet cap (1950's and earlier).

1. Be suspicious of ALL Soviet caps with spade or "square" visors of the WWII period (actually authorized from 1935-1954). Unfortunately, due to the large numbers of copies of these caps now being made, most of what you see is FAKE. See the rest of this list to help you decide for sure.

2. Crown size. All caps made prior to 1969 had a small top (the "teller" shape) - usually 9 inches or less in diameter.

3. If it has a leather visor - it's a fake.

4. If anything is plastic (buttons, chinstrap, visor) - it's a fake - or has fake replacement parts.

5. If it is made from anything except wool or cotton - it's a fake.

6. If the cap star or cockade is not brass and enamel - it's wrong and the entire cap is probably a fake.

7. If there are no markings on the inside (either stamped on the cloth or on a sewn-on leather or oilskin label) or indications that one was on it previously (and now worn off), it's "often" a fake.

8. If it looks brand new - it's probably a fake. However, this is less certain, since a number of authentic caps coming out of museums look "almost" brand new.

If a cap tests positive for two or more of these elements - you can be 99% sure it is a fake!

Please note: I am not "against" reproductions in theory. Many are well made and allow collectors to acquire "representative" caps that they could not afford otherwise. AS LONG AS YOU KNOW THEY ARE FAKE! (and don't pay more than $25-40 for one).

False Advertising

I believe the second greatest problem facing a novice cap collector comes from authentic caps improperly "badged up". I would guess that 25-50% of all caps offered for sale have wrong badges or cords attached. These usually reflect the seller or some middleman trying to make the cap more attractive to prospective buyers. The more gold bits attached the better, right? The old joke about men being attracted to shiny things is dangerously close to the mark here. Fortunately, most of these errors are correctable by simply unpinning the wrong emblem and replacing it with the correct one (simple if you have it!), or swapping out the chin strap/cords. But watch out for anything pinned to the crown of the cap or the sides of the band. Unless you know that type cap should have an emblem there (Air Force or Railroad wings for example) - don't buy it. A hole in the crown or band cannot be easily repaired and will be apparent as a flaw to most anyone viewing it.

Be especially suspicious of caps advertised as "Marshal's". It is not widely known but is a fact - that "regular" Marshals' and Chief Marshals' caps were identical to Generals' caps. Only Marshals of the Soviet Union (MSU) wore the more lavishly embroidered caps one thinks of when you hear "Marshal". Ninety percent or more of caps advertised as "Marshal" are actually General's caps. In most cases, the seller himself is just ignorant of the difference, but make sure you know what you're getting for your money. A MSU's cap, as you can imagine, is worth much more than a General's. MSUs had a unique pattern of embroidered leaves on the band, visor and chin strap (MSU here on left; general here on right). Just having a lot of embroidery doesn't make it a Marshal's hat.

Even when purchasing a General's cap advertised as such, make sure it is complete. The greatest threat comes from having the wrong cockade attached. A General's/Marshall's cockade has an unpainted gold-colored metal background behind the red star (on the right in this picture) - not the white enamel one used on cockades for colonels and below.

Real generals' cockades are somewhat difficult to buy separately, so make sure the cap has the right one before buying it (or if you do buy it, pay less for an "incomplete" cap). Again, the seller may not know the cap has the incorrect cockade or he/she may just be counting on your ignorance to pull a fast one. This "a sucker is born every minute" attitude is certainly not limited to sellers here in the US. In 1990, when I visited the Red Army Uniform Museum outside Moscow, I was offered a General's Papakha (red-topped winter wool hat) for $75 by the director of the museum. I accepted (good deal at the time), but noticed it had a regular officer's cockade attached and protested that fact. The director tried to bluff his way by insisting it was the correct badge, but when I asked my translator (an Army colonel from the Military History Institute) if I was correct, the colonel smiled and told the director to get me the correct badge - which he proceeded to take off one of his own display uniforms and replace with the incorrect one!

Post-1991 Production

We need to also discuss the issue of post-1991 Russian (or Ukrainian or Belarus or - you get the idea) manufacture of Soviet-style items. This situation has some elements in common to the post WWII production of Nazi items in Austria. Are items fakes if they are assembled using the same materials, identical methods, and in the same factories as the "originals"; just because they were made "after-the-fact" (post 1991)? Many former Soviet military clothing factories and independent uniform tailors continued to produce their products after 1991.

Shown here are inside shots of two Army caps made in Kiev, Ukraine in the 90's; one dated 1992, the other undated. Note the light felt sweatband and the clear plastic diamond holding a cloth manufacturer's tag on the first one - neither of which were used on Soviet era military caps. The second is a little more "standard", but it too has an odd light gray sweatband, a little cloth tag attached to the inside band and a brand new, yet blank, maker's label - all indications of post 1991 manufacture.

Much of this post-1991 production reflected the slow pace of national uniform reform after the collapse of the USSR. In fact, most uniform items and emblems used by the Soviet Army remained in use by the new Russian Army and other former Soviet republics for a number of years. Although the Russian Army and its uniform manufacturers had pretty well transitioned to their own look by 1995, a few tailor shops and small factories continued to produce small numbers of high-demand Soviet collector items thereafter (such as Marshall/General/Admiral pieces); perhaps even to this day.

Marshall/General/Admiral

Speaking of these caps, most of you have on your own noticed the relative abundance of certain types of Soviet general and admiral caps in the militaria marketplace. It is almost as easy to find gray generals' walking-out dress caps as enlisted Border Guard caps! Admittedly, there are other possible explanations for this - such as the fact these caps were phased out in 1980 and there were no doubt many of them sitting around tailor shops and clothing stores that were unsellable until the USSR fell and the collector's market opened up with a vengeance. However, there are still way too many general/admiral caps out there to all be pre-1991 manufacture; generals' red-banded everyday caps and black admiral caps are especially available. In fact, a number of Russian/Ukrainian dealers confirmed to me that these caps were still being made in uniform shops! The only thing keeping them from absolutely flooding the market was their relative high cost to make (because of all the embroidery - although the current practice of using silk has lessened the cost). As with the pre-1945 reproductions, it is not necessarily wrong to collect these caps - as long as you treat them as copies. They are identical in all (or most) respects to the originals and usually much less expensive than older pre-1991 versions. I even have a couple of these in my collection - see my KGB and Border Guard pages.

But you must be able to tell the difference between old and new production! I have listed a number of the details below that I look for (or look out for) in general/admiral caps I am thinking of buying. If one of these details is/is not present - the cap could very well still be legitimate; but if two or three are questionable - it was almost certainly manufactured post 1991.

Crown size - If it looks ridiculously large - it's post 1991! Caps with very exaggerated size crowns appeared in small numbers in the early 1990's but were adopted as the Russian military standard in the mid-90's.

NOTE: there are actually three size "classes" of post-war Soviet caps. The small "Teller" shape used from WWII up to 1969, the larger "Saddle" form used from 1969 until the collapse of the USSR, and the even larger "German" form introduced in the early 1990's.

Makers' labels - Be suspicious of makers' labels that aren't real leather (as shown here made of vinyl) or are missing. General/admiral caps almost always had leather labels.

Very large size - Most post 1991 general/admiral caps I see are size 60 or 61. Not sure why that is, but it has made me very suspicious of very large caps. If this is the only questionable characteristic of a cap - I will still buy it, but if it's combined with something else suspicious, I'd put it back. Conversely, I feel very comfortable with a cap marked 58 or smaller.

Lack of year markings - As discussed above, "most" caps made prior to the Soviet collapse were stamped with the year of manufacture - even generals & admirals caps (as shown here with the "72"). These may be worn off, but such wear is a good indicator by itself the cap is authentic. I am growing ever more convinced that 99% of all new-looking general/admiral caps without a year stamp were made post 1991!

Lack of wear - Again, most later general/admiral caps you see are brand new. Although very suspicious, I don't use this as a "stand-alone" justification for rejection. But I always feel good about a cap that does have a little wear.

Quality of embroidery - Tough to really compare until you've seen a few different ones and looked very closely at them. Most general/admiral cap embroidery is first rate - very high quality. If the embroidery is poorly done - the cap is a fake, a factory reject (they had those too!), or post-Soviet manufacture. Unlike most of the other details - I will reject a cap based on this alone.

Thread used in embroidery - Before last year, I never saw a general/admiral/s cap that used anything other than metalized or wire thread for its embroidered leaves and edging. However, I recently handled a MSU parade cap with yellow-colored silk thread embroidery much like that used in the later war years by German cap manufacturers. This cap also was very new looking and had an artificial leather maker's label, which led me to conclude it was made post-1991. I have included some pictures of this cap on my "MSU Caps" page that you can compare with another MSU cap with high quality embroidery. Recently I have seen admiral parade caps with this same silk thread embroidery. I believe any cap with this silk embroidery instead of wire is a fake!

Border Guard and KGB General Caps - I am now convinced that most, if not all, Border Guard and KGB (blue band) general caps you see offered for sale are post 1991 manufacture. In fact, there is a great deal of circumstantial evidence that "authentic" ones may never have been worn, although I believe at least KGB general caps existed (Border Guard generals may have worn Army general uniforms with red-banded caps). Unfortunately, even if these caps did exist, they would have been extremely rare, since only a small number of such generals existed at any one time. And yet, "anyone" can find these caps offered for sale now. Although MVD general caps (rust colored bands) definitely existed and were worn (see my MVD page), most now offered for sale are post 1991 manufacture for collectors.

Not Regulation but Authentic

Not all "odd-looking" caps are necessarily fake, however. The armor officer's parade cap shown here that I acquired in the 1980's represents a non-regulation cap that was probably produced on consignment by a small tailor shop for an officer that wanted a more substantial cap than provided by the standard military uniform store (Voentorg). It is quite well made, with regulation fabric, buttons, emblem & chinstrap. However, it is clearly custom made, using non-regulation visor and lining materials, a slightly non-regulation style, and no markings at all - even though it has a blank leather maker's label sewn onto the inside top. Non-regulation examples such as this are comparatively rare except for the Navy, Aeroflot and Merchant Marine (MORFLOT) - where they are more commonly found.

Another instance of non-regulation but authentic, this time in a soldier's cap, is shown here. Although Soviet conscripts were usually strictly bound by uniform regulations, there was one outlet for their sartorial imagination - that being their so-called "demobilization" uniform. This was a uniform lovingly put together during the final six months of the conscript's service which he wore after leaving his unit and on his way home. Since conscript's uniforms were rather basic, demobilized soldiers would "fancy them up" with all sorts of non-authorized elements, including modified officer emblems and hand-made metal, plastic and cloth items. An example of one such uniform jacket is shown here. Soviet officers "usually" turned a blind eye to these upgrades as long as the conscript only wore it on his last day as he was leaving the unit. Although uniform jacket modifications were relatively common, "de-mob" enhancements of caps were rather rare. The Border Guard cap shown here is the only one I've seen in this category. It is a basic late 80's-early 90's style cap in all respects except for the cockade, which is an imaginative (and impressive) combination of the soldier's parade star superimposed (in order) on a cut-out officer's parade cockade, which was then attached to a cut-out black felt wreath and then to a white plastic backing.

One last thing...

When you look at a cap you suspect for some reason may be a fake, keep in mind that a very large number of factories and private makers produced uniform caps in the USSR. Enlisted troops and junior officers typically wore items manufactured at Government uniform factories that were either issued to the troops or sold at military uniform stores (Voentorg). However, many senior officers and all general officers bought higher-quality caps from special military tailor shops. These did not have the official acceptance and control stamps their poorer cousins "usually" did (some authentic caps are missing these stamps as well, due to sloppy factory practices). But even these higher-grade caps almost always had a leather (or leatherette) maker's label sewn on the inside lining of the cap indicating the manufacturer and the size (and in most cases, its year of manufacture). The numerous sources of manufacture resulted in some natural variance in the appearance of the caps - although adherence to uniform regulations seems to have been generally good. Most differences in authentic caps are limited to the type and position of markings and in the material used for the linings and sweatbands of the caps. More variation existed in Navy and MORFLOT caps than others, where different materials were routinely used for visors and cap bands. Also remember that military caps were made in Eastern Europe for the occupying Soviet forces. These may vary a bit more in fabric composition and crown size (ending up looking a bit more "German" than old Soviet), but even these followed Soviet regulations in most aspects.