NKVD Uniforms M/35 M/37 and earlier

[sovvisor]

Hi I collect state security uniforms and I wonder does anyone have pictures to post on old uniforms and caps, budinovkas and so on. I´ve checked SMC´s homepage. Very nice. I´ve said it before Shawn. Now I want more pics on the old uniforms. Details would be mostly appricated. Leathercoats and insignia is also of interest.
Best wishes

[otlichnik]

Sovvisor,

I just happened to post some (fuzzy) pics of my M35 NKVD "general's" uniform on another thread - the best buys thread.

Here are some of my M24 "general's" tunic with the OGPU era proper hat unlike the shots on my site which show a 1940s NKVD hat.

Shawn

[otlichnik]

Close up of the OGPU hat.

This type of hat was used from late 1924 until around 1927, I don't have the exact end date at hand. You can see the small diameter crown, exaggerated in this shot as it is stuffed with acid-free paper to protect it. There is no cap cord as these were not introduced until 1927 or so. The peak is very small, rounded and is made of now-cracking patent leather. The crown is the usual royal blue and the band is dark (or brick) red. The piping around the band and top is magenta (raspberry).

The cap badge is the very early hammer-and-sickle type. Note the arms of the star are longer and narrower than on the badges introduced later in the 1920s and used till the end of the USSR. I don't know what type of enamel this one once had. It is almost completely gone leaving just a red stain in the metal badge.

Shawn