Cold War era Soviet Airborne Badges

[Mike G.]

I primarily collect East German Cold War memorabilia, but also from time to time dabble in Cold War era Soviet memorabilia.

When the Soviet Union collapsed, I was in Europe and acquired much of my Soviet collection at that time. Included in my collection were an assortment of various level Soviet Airborne badges.

A couple of weeks ago, I saw a group of similar badges being auctioned by an American ebay Seller who had both East German and Soviet items for sale. I was dubious because it had already come to the attention of members of the sister DDR site that the East German memorabilia being offered by this seller were all fake or replica items, though they certainly were not represented by the seller to be such.

The price was relatively cheap so I went ahead and acquired the Soviet Airborne badges for the price initially offered.

Upon receipt and subsequent examination of them, it was apparent to me they were fake, or replica - possibly made for reenactment, since that is very popular among many out there interested in the Soviet military - although for the most part to my knowledge, it is primarily WWII and not Cold War era.

I feel reasonably certain the airborne badges I acquired are real, and they do match up to the examples in the East German published book on Soviet awards and decorations authored by Herfurth and Molitar.

The examples I purchased recently off ebay are different. The badges that are in question are of the type that when compared to their U.S. counterpart would be referred to as "Instructor" or "Master" airborne badges.

Following are 2 photo examples of the same two badges, front and reverse.
The badge on the left in each picture is an example of the ones I acquired in Berlin when the wall fell. The example on the right is an example of the ones I believe to be a fake or replica recently acquired from an American ebay seller.

Any additional comments or observations would be very much welcomed.

[Mike G.]

Reverse:

The one on the right is the ebay badge:

[STEBALIN]

Hi Michael,

These badges were overproduced, they´re not that scarce so I doubt they are faked. Earlier types are faked though.

The left badge is original, I´d say 1968-70´s. The right one is certainly a fake, if it´s not very late or post-soviet issue.

[leibermuster]

So do they make fakes or not? You answered two opposite ways???
BTW, there are a LOT of post war reenactors. I think that the airsoft guys probably outnumber WW2 by 10 to 1 or more. I know several guys here in USA that do Spetsnaz.

[Greg Collins]

After a little research I have to say that, in my opinion, both are genuine 1968- type Soviet Airborne insignia. They are, obviously, two different variations: one a 4-piece and one a 2-piece. Both were made.

Yes, they were produced in quantity and yes, they are very reasonably priced at present. They are still nice pieces in any collection, though. The most expensive of the Soviet Airborne insignia are the hundred plus jumps from WW2 (where the jump number is enameled).

[Mike G.]

I know the badge depicted on the left is genuine. That badge was not at issue and was used in this thread as an example for comparison of the one that is suspect.

I have a couple of books that depict Soviet (WWII and Cold War era) military badges, and I can find nothing that is like the badge on the right.

To start with, the transport plane and the numeric number are stamped into the badge. On the real ones, they are separate pieces and are attached. Now lets examine the nuances on the badge itself:

a). Transport Plane: It has no bulbous cockpit as is apparent on the original.
Its left wing extends beyond the tail section. The left wing does not extend beyond the tail section on the original.

3). Parachute: The partially inflated parachute is vastly different. In the original, the chute extends in diameter beyond the static lines. On the suspect badge the chute and static lines are in perfect straight up and down alignment. The chute is noticeably larger on the suspect badge than the one on the original.

If the badge on the right is fake, my interest is in where they are being produced, and are they being produced with the intention of being sold as genuine; or are they produced for use by the reenacting community?

Greg,

Thanks for your interest in this matter. It is much appreciated.

You advised you've research the badge and in your opinion the suspect badge is real. My research arguably is weak, in that it involves looking at examples that appear in two publications. The badge on the right is not in either publication.

Can you further elaborate on the material you have that gives you cause to believe the badge on the right is genuine?

It would be nice if it were real, but I can't find cause to believe so. The military occupation specialty badges, of which there are many, have all been faked. So I don't think it is a far stretch to reproduce the parachute badges. Particularly if it is being done by a firm or company for reenactors.

One other thing - I thought there was only one version for the WWII Jump badge and that it was unnumbered?

[STEBALIN]

So do they make fakes or not? You answered two opposite ways???

Yes, I may have been contradictory, but overproduction does not mean no faking. That was my mistake in not correcting it.
Guards badges were also overproduced, but still there are lots of fakes floating around. The same applies to paratrooper badges.

[Greg Collins]

Michael,

I used two sources: to check out the badges you show, I used the CollectRussia website. Both badges are there and yes, the nuances in the parachute are apparent. I've not known Igor to sell a repro without stating that it is a repro, so I do use his site from time to time to check out things.

With regard to the number of jumps on earlier badges, I used Avers #2, page 194, top. There you can see drawings of the 1934 badges (3 shown) and the colour photos of these badges are on colour plate XXIX.

I know there are a lot of fakes out there, but 1968 Airborne badges are not exactly expensive (CollectRussia is selling 5 for $25!). It would seem that the counterfeiter would spend his time and energy more profitably and make, say, Sevastopol or Odessa medals.

[Mike G.]

Thanks Greg,

I'll check out those sites to which you made reference. I wasn't so much thinking in terms of counterfeit, as I was reenactment. My initial response was that they were produced for reenactors. I know there is supposed to be a company some where that makes Soviet WWII badges and medals for reenactment. I thought perhaps there was a large enough cold war era reenactment community that this same company might be making the badges and medals for that interest group as well. I don't have any information on them. Just that they exist.

It was of concern to me that the seller from whom I acquired the set, also was selling a quantity of DDR NVA memorabilia, every bit of which was fake. He made no mention of this however on the auction site. When I got the Airborne badges and observed they were considerably diffferent from the ones I acquired in 1989 (and in my two sources of reference material), I of course was dubious as to their authenticity.

Thanks for the input.

[desantnik]

Not to worry. Both badges are authentic. The one-piece just looks crappier, but it is still of Soviet, or at least early 1990's, manufacture.

[Mike G.]

Desantnik,

Thank you for the input. Your post is very enlightening.
If the badges are indeed of 1990 era production, then even if they are real, for me that is profound. Russia may have still been in the Cold War business, but the Soviet Union wasn't. So for me, these badges are useless pieces of tin. Crappy is an understatement.

But at least the seller didn't misrepresent these items and I can now give him an okay on ebay.

Thanks.

[desantnik]

Michael, I jumped with the Russians in '92 and '94. I received a Soviet badge in '92 (the CCCP disintegrated DEC 91) and a Russian tri-color, double-headed eagle one in '94.

My point is that Soviet insignia are even worn today by some diehard career senior military officers of Russia and the former Soviet bloc to show either they are "old school" or died-in-the-wool.

[Mike G.]

Desantnik,

Thanks for the additional information. Out of curiosity, who were you with when you jumped with the "Red Bear" in 92 & 94? I've a great deal of respect and awe for anyone that willingly will jump from a perfectly good airplane ..... . I've served in combat and have been under enemy fire, but still cannot fathom bringing myself to actually jump from a plane that is working perfectly fine. You have my absolute highest respect, as do all airborne qualified soldiers of all military organizations.

I originally acquired these additional badges to augment the ones I acquired back in 89. I'm not sure they will serve that purpose, given most of the countries that formed the Soviet Union by 1990 were no longer a part of Russia's Soviet Union. I'll have to think it over.

[leibermuster]

Desantnik,

Thank you for the input. Your post is very enlightening.
If the badges are indeed of 1990 era production, then even if they are real, for me that is profound. Russia may have still been in the Cold War business, but the Soviet Union wasn't. So for me, these badges are useless pieces of tin. Crappy is an understatement.

But at least the seller didn't misrepresent these items and I can now give him an okay on ebay.

Thanks.

This might be a dumb question, but since it has the hammer and sickle and not the post soviet symbols, wouldn't it be considered Communist?
I have one of these, but it has a 400 instead of a 100, what is the difference? It has the same as the righthand badge with the larger parachute, and seems to be typical construction with nice enamel and the 10 reversing to 25.

[Mike G.]

Its communist but not Warsaw Pact, since that Cold War Era counterpart to Nato had broken up. For me, that is the issue.

The difference in number is the number of jumps.