assault veste BVD , fake or not ?

[guilhaume]

Hello everyone ,

I have this rare assault vest BVD new but a lot of existing copy on the market what do you think?
the photo was taken with flash so the color is different in reality











Here's what I found on the net, fake/originals..



Thanks you in advance
Guillaume

[panzerwerk]

As I posted on the other forum , I think its 100% real , based on comparing it to mine that I know is real ,the only difference I see is the button type , please take a couple pictures of the inside of the pocket flaps .

Steve

Mine was acquired by a U.S. soldier in Yugoslavia from a Russian engineer unit , I paid $25 for mine and did not know anything about it when I bought it .





Mine also came with this nifty instruction sheet .



Translation of Instruction (Thanks Markov !)

Note on the use of equipment BVD:

1. Store items (luggage) in pockets of equipment.
2. Adjusting shoulder regulator in the right manner. Put cloth over main uniform and adjust string of the left shoulder.
3. Close side straps of the product. Properly adjusted straps must not restrict movement, should wrap around the body firmly.
4. Undoing the straps results in the opposite dimension (effect/direction?).
5. Cleaning and washing the product is to be done according to the norms for cotton fabric.
6. Per necessity the tent square (plash-palatka) has to lock tight in the fasteners.

[Kozlov]

I would say your BVD is the real thing.

I've seen a few of the copies and the materials used are not like the real thing - your one does conform to what I have seen with real ones (and I've seen a few of them that have been in the hands of collectors long before anyone even knew what they really were and had any value!)

The BVD is an interesting piece, it is rare, it is valuable but its also a bit of an odd thing to have any value as its not particularly associated with any great historical moment or advance in military technology.

[panzerwerk]

Introduced in the mid 80's , it is one of if not the first Russian production made Assault vests , used in Afghanistan up the 90's or later , it has seen action in many countries , its a terrible piece of shoddy construction , but it is a first of its kind .

Associations :

Afghanistan
Chechnya
Yugoslavia

So Don't really agree with your statement Kozlov , but its just my opinion .

The BVD is an interesting piece, it is rare, it is valuable but its also a bit of an odd thing to have any value as its not particularly associated with any great historical moment or advance in military technology.

[Kozlov]

Yes, but to be "significant" I'd want to see large scale (ie successful) usage.

It probably was introduced in the late 70's (my own theory is that it was for the first helicopter assault troops that came along with the Mi-24 for handling border incursions with the Chinese but thats largely conjecture) and it clearly wasn't deemed successful by any means because despite being clearly useless as a piece of field kit (have you ever *tried* to use one?) it wasn't enhanced and improved upon - it was a dead end of *Soviet* military development.

The usage you cite is patchy use in Afganistan, followed by abject failure and then odd usage of items from military storage in conflicts that were to see every piece of outdated junk from the world's arsenals used by a rag tag bunch of paramilitaries. Arguably, the soldier made "assault rigs" are more historically interesting because of their wider adoption and development into State designed items of later widespread usage.

The BVD is an interesting piece only because of its relative rarity, not because it has historical or scientific significance.... to me anyway! Ebay prices clearly dictate otherwise!

A similar piece but more significant would be the earlier designs of Soviet combat body armour (the 6B series) as this did lead to continuous development and by the end of Afganistan, almost universal usage.

[panzerwerk]

More and more pictures of this vest are being posted all the time , sadly I do not have the right to repost them here , its not as insignificant as you make it out to be , I agree and even said in my earlier posts that it is a piece of junk, but that does not mean it has not been issued in enough numbers , I understand you position , but do not agree with it , I have seen too many pictures of this vest in use by a wide variety or Soviet and Russian troops to call it insignificant .

[panzerwerk]

I guess that means Ranger vest in WWII were insignificant ? they were issued in very small numbers and from what I have read were not generally popular with the Rangers , and saw action in only one conflict , although they were probably better made then the BVD LOL .

[Kozlov]

Some of the specialist bits of kit whilst small in number *are* signficant because they were used for special purposes... eg things like (British) D-Day assault vests or Sten bandos... or later "SAS" or "Spetsnaz" items, but the BVD isn't any of those either ;-)

That photo of Russian troops goes along with more modern Russian military use of crap items to equip recruits with cheap stuff for training purposes - you see quite a lot of oddball junk used like that... odd forms of out of date body armour, old types of uniform etc. Basically they are using up stuff that has no (military) value.

[panzerwerk]

Well then I guess we agree to disagree on the subject .

[michelwijnand]

I would like to own one of these sometime, but all I find lately are sh*tloads of 1st pattern lifchiks that used to be unfindable too, so maybe these too will become available somewhere someday

[Kozlov]

Well, old militaria tends to go in cycles - a warehouse somewhere suddenly dumps its stocks and previously "rare" items flood onto the market.

The one I remember clearly was SVT bayonets - they used to be so damned rare and commanded prices maybe as high as $500, then suddenly... whooooosh and you couldn't move for them.

One thing is for sure though, no more will be made of any of this stuff, so supply is finite.

[panzerwerk]

I agree there is a warehouse in Russia full of these vests , and WWII vintage Amoeba suits just waiting to hit the market ,Cant wait !

[michelwijnand]

And SMK, Butan, TTsKO, KKO, old style V95 vests, and all sorts of random shortlived and/or prototype stuff they don't want us to have!

Maybe we just need to raid Russia

[Kozlov]

true, true, but when its so common, do you actually want it as much?

A lot of collectors don't even own the common stuff!

[michelwijnand]

Haha, well I do own pretty much all the common stuff already, Soviet and RusFederation, and I want pretty much everything