Senior Lieutenant Gymnasterka

[Marcel Banziger]

Good evening all,

I just bought myself a lot at Ratisbons latest auction including two gymnasterkas and one pair of trousers. I am not experienced enough with these uniforms and especially with their insignia. I am fairly certain both gymnasterkas are good but I am not certain of the shoulderboards. So I hope I did ok with this lot? Any help will be much appreciated!!

Thanks a lot for your replies! Here's the pics from the Auction,

[llegion]

Both gimnasterkas look good but it would help to see the inner pockets of them.

I like the one with the lend-lease buttons the best. I saw the auction and the trousers look like their reparation made but otherwise it looks like a good war-time set. I'm not an expert on shoulder boards but I have an original pair with the blueberry piping for infantry that look exactly the same.

Is the 1st gimnasterka made from cotton diagonal material?

[Marcel Banziger]

Thanks a lot for your reply, much appreciated! I don't have the set in hands yet, only just won the auction. I will take pics of the inner pockets as soon as the items arrive. I will add some more pics from the auction, hopefully this shows the material from the gymnasterka better?

I agree, the trousers are most likely repaired and even have a few German buttons now.

Here's more pics from the first gymnasterka:

[Marcel Banziger]

The package arrived and made some close-ups from the shoulderboards (under artificial light - it's already evening now). Pics from inner pockets will come when there's daylight again. Couldn't get them good on photo now.
Any feedback on these shoulderboards is welcome since I have no experience with these at all. Thanks in advance!

Edit: have to mention that the stars are nicely 'embedded' in the shoulderboards. They've been there for ages so no recent addition to spice up the shoulderboards.

[Marcel Banziger]

@ llegion: hereby pictures from the pockets from the inside of the tunics (also made under artificial light). From what I can see everything is ok with both gymnasterkas with the little experience I have with these. Shoulderboards I have no clue. My gutfeeling tells me these are 100% good but I prefer to get some opinions from experienced collectors

First up the lendlease button gymnasterka:



Next up the Senior Lieutenant gymnasterka:

[Marcel Banziger]

Nobody has an idea on shoulderboards?

[Marcel Banziger]

Shoulderboards in daylight:

[Marcel Banziger]

By coincidence I discovered that this tunic is the exact one shown in "The Soviet soldier" by Philippe Rio, page 68 on the top. The stain above the Guards badge has the exact shape, the stitching flaws on the cuff and collar are identical, the bigger hole for an order above the left pocket, a stain on the right cuff. A perfect match

[Boycie]

They are nice genuine boards but possibly immediately post war.

The strap is quite narrow, wartime ones typically start off just less than the width of the board then taper. Also they appear to be backed with some quality material - possibly German reparation made?

Congratulations on the Gimnasterka. A very nice example.

[Gabriele]

Hello Marcel,

Nice purchases, congratulations in my opinion the shoulder boards are postwar made, as Boyce also stated. The back "loop" for the strap is the main indicator.

About gymnasterkas lend lease: it could be wartime or early postwar, the pattern is correct for a wartime made. With such tunics, it's just a matter of faith ;D

Best regards
Gabriele