Posted - Jan 12 2008 : 11:04:09 AM Hi Luiz, By the way, thank you for all your additions to the catalog.
I suspect these "red star" lenses may be forgeries. I bought two of them from the seller "sokrat_photo" and they had this red star and the extra numbers on the barrel. They were represented as from a 'miltary officer's collection'. The reason I think they are fake is that I also bought, from this same seller, a Kiev III "TSVVS" with that well-known logo on the meter lid and a small film-negative loupe, also with a similar military engraving. The lenses, camera, and magnifier all had similarities in the engraving although all the pieces were of different ages (camera 1956, lenses 1960s, magnifier no date but 1970s type).
So, although I don't know they are fakes for sure, it is my suspicion. I would like to find out they are not fakes, because maybe then the Kiev III "TSVVS" would not be fake also!
I will take photos of these four pieces later today and post them here. If anyone else has some of these "Red Star" lenses, I would like to know if they also came from the same seller or a different seller (which may point a little in the direction of authenticity).