Keep in mind that most of the Soviet Army General and Marshal hats on the market are fake or later cheaply made souvenirs. As per: under the red star – Army Caps. With the changes announced in 1980, this color combination (red band and piping) became standard for all Army generals except Tank and Artillery. This quest to simplify arm and service colors reached its zenith in the 1989 uniform regulations, when ALL generals (including Airborne but not Air Force) were assigned red as band and piping colors. These final changes were not widely realized, however, before the USSR collapsed in 1991. As you can see, this cap has the embroidered wreath with 8 leaves authorized in 1980, along with the other by now standard generals’ cap accessories. However, this one differs from the previous general’s cap (even though they were both made in 1981) in that this visor is patent leather with black wool underneath. Patent leather visors rapidly gained popularity and eventually superseded the older fiberboard visors on generals’ caps. Of note: following the collapse of the USSR, headgear manufacturers increasingly used these visors on officer-grade and even enlisted caps for those personnel willing to spend a little extra to have the “sharpest” looking cap possible.