Soviet dogtags

[jefflgarrison]

Greetings,

We had our yearly market here in Gdansk, Poland and one thing I came across were "dogtags" sold by a guy that digs for metal items. I was told they came from along the Odre river and am wondering about them.

I bought all he had for about 60zl ($22) so I don't know if I got ripped off or was just lucky.

Opinions.

Oh, and if they are real, any information about them would be great!!!

[EricFG]

I posted something similar a few years back. Cannot find the post, though....
They were from Poland or the Baltics if I remember correctly and Alexei speculated that they weren't for people/soldiers and more for equipment. I think.
Not much help, eh?

[desantnik]

Agreed, at least early war the Red Army used rust-colored/black bakelite capsules with information written on a paper insert. They also would use expended small-caliber cartridge shells and seal them with parafin wax for the same purpose.

[Al-muell]

This are lichniye znaki (sg. lichnyi znak) - they are not really dog tags, altough they were a kind of personal identificators (I don't really know what they are, but I know that they are often mistaken for dog tags and that is wrong). Such items existed even in the imperial times, and you may find "nomier lichnogo znaka" position in army service booklet (krasnoarmieyskaya knizhka).
Also note that those are widely faked both in the former SU and in Poland.
I am no expert at them, so I cannot tell about these particular ones.