A few years ago, a good friend presented me with the primary piece of his "collection"--a late-80s/early-90s officer's dress uniform of the KGB, with captain's epaulets. Now, by and large, everything about it looks correct for an unissued uniform: it has the correct gold thread pogony with royal blue highlights, royal blue collar insignia, blue pipping on the sleeves and breeches, no holes thread holes for badges or medals on either breast. There's a very typical, square maker's cloth sewn lightly on the inside as well, with the usual instructions of how to wash it, size, etc.
After keeping it stored for a while now, I decided to figure out what I was going to do with it. While dusting it off and investigating it, I noticed something odd for the riding breeches that came with it: a factory label (very different from the maker's label on the tunic) tightly sewn in. I recognized immediately the Russian word for Minsk, which didn't really surprise me, but the rest did confuse me: "кбво швейное ателбе".
A quick Google search suggests that "кбво" is the acronym for a military museum in Minsk, while "швейное ателбе" is a tailoring company. Does anyone know what this means? I thought the whole set was just unissued surplus, but might the breeches (and maybe the whole thing) be a reproduction for the Minsk Museum? Or faked to look like that? Or is it something else entirely?
After keeping it stored for a while now, I decided to figure out what I was going to do with it. While dusting it off and investigating it, I noticed something odd for the riding breeches that came with it: a factory label (very different from the maker's label on the tunic) tightly sewn in. I recognized immediately the Russian word for Minsk, which didn't really surprise me, but the rest did confuse me: "кбво швейное ателбе".
A quick Google search suggests that "кбво" is the acronym for a military museum in Minsk, while "швейное ателбе" is a tailoring company. Does anyone know what this means? I thought the whole set was just unissued surplus, but might the breeches (and maybe the whole thing) be a reproduction for the Minsk Museum? Or faked to look like that? Or is it something else entirely?
