07-30-2003, 08:48 PM
I have to disagree with SC here. yes, there were very few postwar Marshals in reality. However, lets suppose there are 24 marshals who would have worn the "modern" Marshals uniform (leaving the older stuff out of this discussion).
While I agree that there are lots of "parts" marshals coming out of Ukraine, getting a real postwar Marshal is not that diffiuclt. Back in 2000 a friend and I found a nice service set to Ogarkov right on the old arbat st. for $500. It was real, issued, had correct ribbons, even initials inside the leather. Over here it would be more, but would be available.
Again, this is due to numbers of uniforms and numbers of collectors.
Many of these marshals, like Moskalenko, hled the rank for a long time. he would have multiple uniforms' lets say ( and I am being conservative):
6 service uniforms
2 parade uniforms
2 summer uniforms
1 field uniform
ok, thats 11 uniforms for one marshal. That is also assuming ( wrongly) that he would not get new ones over the years; the old ones would go to small museums, family, etc. They were NEVER thrown out. So, lets say that each marshal would replace 50% of his uniforms over time. That means that our example marshal, Moskalenko, would have about 16-18 uniforms. Now, multiply that by 24 and you get 400-450.
Since I was being conservative, lets round up to 500. There should be 500 M1969 marshals uniforms out there. Some are still with the family, some are still in museums, but the bulk are available.
Now, how many people want them? 100? There really should be 3/1 in uniforms of marshals and those who want them.
Yes, they are real rare compared to other soviet uniforms, but not that rare compared to real rare items like the M1943 marshals parade uniforms, or as the yet seen M1940 marashals parade uniform; each of those we can count on our fingers AND they are in much greater demand.
DD
ps- if we include all postwar marshals, then the number of uniforms jumps to close to 1000.
While I agree that there are lots of "parts" marshals coming out of Ukraine, getting a real postwar Marshal is not that diffiuclt. Back in 2000 a friend and I found a nice service set to Ogarkov right on the old arbat st. for $500. It was real, issued, had correct ribbons, even initials inside the leather. Over here it would be more, but would be available.
Again, this is due to numbers of uniforms and numbers of collectors.
Many of these marshals, like Moskalenko, hled the rank for a long time. he would have multiple uniforms' lets say ( and I am being conservative):
6 service uniforms
2 parade uniforms
2 summer uniforms
1 field uniform
ok, thats 11 uniforms for one marshal. That is also assuming ( wrongly) that he would not get new ones over the years; the old ones would go to small museums, family, etc. They were NEVER thrown out. So, lets say that each marshal would replace 50% of his uniforms over time. That means that our example marshal, Moskalenko, would have about 16-18 uniforms. Now, multiply that by 24 and you get 400-450.
Since I was being conservative, lets round up to 500. There should be 500 M1969 marshals uniforms out there. Some are still with the family, some are still in museums, but the bulk are available.
Now, how many people want them? 100? There really should be 3/1 in uniforms of marshals and those who want them.
Yes, they are real rare compared to other soviet uniforms, but not that rare compared to real rare items like the M1943 marshals parade uniforms, or as the yet seen M1940 marashals parade uniform; each of those we can count on our fingers AND they are in much greater demand.
DD
ps- if we include all postwar marshals, then the number of uniforms jumps to close to 1000.
