I'm hoping /r/AskHistorians could help me identify what era this Soviet uniform I bought today is from. Pictures inside!

by ShaneD27

So I bought a Soviet uniform today at a flea market. I was hoping you guys could tell me how old it is and if its authentic I guess, or point me to the right subreddit because I wasn't sure where to post this. I'm not worried about how much its worth, unless its really worth something, but I assume it isn't. I am thinking that it is from the WWII era, thought I have nothing to back that up with. All of the tags are in Russian and it is a heavy material so it doesn't seem to be a costume but maybe I'm wrong. That being said, it does appear to be in really good shape for something that would be roughly 70+ years old. So the condition and also one the tags made me doubt how old it is. Please help me guys! Here are the pictures: http://imgur.com/a/lcxHF

backmarkerS_E

What you have there appears to be the parade-walking out uniform of a Officer/Extended Serviceman of the MVD from between 1969 and 1991. The MVD was the Ministerstvo Vnutrennikh Del, the Ministry of Internal Affairs. The MVD controlled the Vnutrenniye Voiska, the Internal Troops of the Soviet Union, a paramilitary/gendarmerie organisation - you can tell that your hat is from this organisation because of the maroon piping and band. I can't tell from the image, but an authentic cap and uniform will have buttons at the side that match the uniform. The epaulettes indicate that it is a warrant officers uniform.

I had wondered whether the laundry symbols would help identify the age of the item, but it seems that all the laundry symbols on your uniform had been adopted by 1958. I can't find any information about when the Soviet Union started using them, so no clues there. You could, however, use the visor to date the hat, at least. Black-lacquered fibreboard would indicate an older hat, as plastic only began to be used in the mid-1980s.

See about the hat here and here.

History of laundry care symbols

I_love_Bunda

Your uniform is definitely not from WWII.

It is a (incomplete) parade uniform for a warrant officer in the Motorized Rifle troops. The uniform is of the style that the Soviet army was still using at its collapse in 1991. The label should have the date of manufacture, and it appears that it is 1985, although I am not positive due to the wear. The hat looked like it got some use, as that diamond (it's faux leather) would have some text on it normally.

The uniform is worth about $30, as it's very common. Only thing remarkable about it, in my opinion, is the size of the tunic. It's 48-5, which means it's a size small tall, not a very common size to see.

Pyrogenesis

This is not a WWII era uniform. It looks to be the standard militia officer's uniform used in the 1980s. I saw plenty of them growing up in a now ex-soviet country. Perhaps others have more detail.

e: militsiya, in that this is not a military uniform, but a police force one.