VP general uniform

[charlet]

yesterday, a good friend of mine was proposed a pobieda set for a general-mayor, tunic and pants. The source is experimented and reliable, this is the only guy in france who has been able to find pobieda tunics.
We saw it: perfect, some moth bites, but very thick whool cloth, perfect lining, embroidery with thick and nice metal thread, patina, correct buttons nicely and deeply goldened with 11 republics, cord to attach shoulder boards, gold jettons correctly sewn and in correct number between the laurel leaves of embroidery, symetry, etc...all perfect. I've seen one or two other tunics like this, I've ben thinking long time examinating good close-up of DougD, all seems perfect, the tunic shows age, there're all accessories to fix belt, atach the vest, but not the upper left button mounted on spring to leave space for medals.

In fact, only one perturbating detail: the tunic but do not show any trace of medal bars and screwback orders on the right breast...an uniform not used of the late years of the model (1952-53?). .
What do you think of this? thanks by advance, sebastien

(PS the price is in the correct scale, +/- 1500 USD, so it is not a "bargain of the next ten years" at 500 usd....)

[DougD]

Any way you can post photos? I can tell you alot from photots, but not much from description. I'll post some pics of a a Colonel Generals VP for an air general that came in this week to show how a textbook example should look.

DougD

[charlet]

hi Doug, thanks for your quick answer. I understand your position; I think the friend is close to 99% to buy it and he'll post pics. The pobieda is very classic, the embrodery variation (in the drawing) is identical to the technicla general shown on Webster's book p.181, however it is an infantry with gold embrodery and red piping.
my answer was only to know if such a case was technically possible, or if you ever saw a genuine piece with such a curious detail.
photos will come! thanks, sebastien

[DougD]

Look forward to pics.

I have sold over 30 VP generals admirals and marshals and never had any that had NO evidence of orders or medals; I had 2 admirals that had no order holes, but never a general. The pics will help.

DougD

[Lapa]

Hi Doug and Sebastien,

Well, I was there too and saw it. I have seen a few VP general's uniforms (genuine ones, that is) and this one has all the ingredients of the real thing. And the mothing is totally consistent with its age. Again, the only strange thing is: no trace whatsoever of any screwback order or badge, and no evidence either of a medal bar. Last oddity, no button is removable, but I seem to remember reading somewhere (it's very fuzzy) that not all general's VP uniforms had removable buttons.

My theories (please correct me if I am going down the wrong path here) are:
1. this uniform was never issued. When new regulations came in, it simply ended up being stored somewhere
2. it was actually issued to someone, but was "a spare"

Which raises a few questions:
1. Were general's uniforms made on a "ready to wear" basis, or were they tailor made? If the first, then my theories stand their ground, if tailor made, that's the end of it.
2. Is it possible for a 1-star infantry general to have received only a few medals throughout WWII?
3. If this uniform is a fake (and I am about 99.5% certain it isn't), has anybody ever observed fake fabric for VP uniforms? This fabric is quite distinctive, and in my opinion extremely difficult to duplicate.

I am very keen to hear our uniform specialists' input on these points.

Marc

[DougD]

1. No, not all VP generas had the removable button; more of an option rather than standard and was not really an option on the ones made 1947 and later.

2. I doubt it was unissued or a spare; could have been a tailors model, but likely the guy was just a staff officer and got maybe five medals or something that he put on one by one; check McDaniels book on medals, i think there isa VP shot of a guy wearing medals not a bar.

3. Its probably good, i have not yet seen outright fakes of VP generals yet.


4. M1945 VP generals were made to order by the general from each main tailor in the city; in the one i still have in my collection ( used to have 18 of them) there is an Odessa tailor label.

5. Tell your friend to grab it, they are becoming hard to find; just had this nice 3 star air general come in yesterday. Looks nice.

DougD

[Lapa]

Thanks Doug, that really clears the air.
I must confess that I did not think of checking for a tailor's label (overwhelmed by the emotion of playing with a VP uniform perhaps ;) ).
Oh, and by the way, that's a really nice piece you got there. If you care to scare me, please PM me your sticker price :p

Marc