Viet Cong Battle Flags--Souveniers?

[CNY Militaria]

Does anyone know the story on the VC/NVA Battle Victory Flags with the dates on them and name of the battle? I see these a lot in US collections and sometimes in Vietnam veterans groups--were they made and sold over there as souveniers? Or were they some kind of post-war money making venture? I always wondered.

[gwb123]

My understanding is that while some of these were awarded during the war, most of these are post war. They were created to commemorate the anniversary of various battles and victories.

 

Typically they were created to recognized the efforts and achievement of the units as opposed to decorating individuals.

 

After the celebrations, some of them ended up in the hands of collectors. As they got sold, vendors got the bright idea to make copies.

 

If you look carefully on eBay you can find multiple copies of the same flag. You even find "hero flags" that were never officially sanctioned. The ones with the larger image of various Communist Vietnamese medals are especially suspicious.

 

Shortly after these appeared, there was also a rash of phony ARVN units including RANGERS and AIRBORNE. If that were not enough, the flag makers later branched into US unit flags. Many of these have similar materials, construction, etc.

 

In sum, I wouldn't pay more than $25 for any of them, and that would be with considerable documentation. An actual flag from the wartime period with a unit designation would be a rare item to have ended up in US hands. All of the authentic captured flags I've seen have been without any writing or added designs.

[vintageproductions]

There are a few of these original flags in private hands. But, the vast majority (actually probably 99.99999999999%) are copies made for the tourists.

In all the years I have handled original Vietnam items I have only seen three of these original embroidered flags.

When you see a real one, these others, don't hold a candle to them....

[CNY Militaria]

Thanks for the responses! In the past two months I have been to a few auctions with these and each time they were described as original and both times sold for $40-80 each. I wonder if collectors mostly buy them as display pieces rather than originals.

[Sabrejet]

My daughter and her boyfriend spent some time in VN and Laos when they did a world tour 2010-11. We kept in touch by Skype. When they were in Saigon I got an excited message saying something like, "Dad, you should see all of the old war stuff in the market here! Patches, helmets, flags etc.etc.!" She sent some digital pics to illustrate it. Sure enough, stalls laden with "militaria". Very impressive...but almost certainly mostly made-for-tourist repros. Caveat emptor...big time!! :w00t: