Japanese army hats??

[brannow]

Hi All,

I have these 3 WWII Japanese tropical army hats that I am going to sell. What would be a fair price for these hats? They are all mint minus the chin strap.

Thanks in advance,

Bill Rannow
Minneapolis MN

[Der Texaner]

Are they post war? I haven't seen any like them before (but that really doesn't mean anything).

[brannow]

Hi,

I am pretty sure they are late WWII.

Bill

[W.Unland]

Hello,

Just my 2cents worth, but the "inch" size marking would pretty much suggest that these were made for the civilian market during the early occupation. Japan used metric sizes before and during the war and after the occupation. I believe that Inch sizes,ie; "6 7/8" were only used while the US was making the rules.

Regards,
W.Unland

[brannow]

Hi All,

Wow, the guy must have got them very early in the occupation. So what are they worth?

Thanks,

Bill

Hello,

Just my 2cents worth, but the "inch" size marking would pretty much suggest that these were made for the civilian market during the early occupation. Japan used metric sizes before and during the war and after the occupation. I believe that Inch sizes,ie; "6 7/8" were only used while the US was making the rules.

Regards,
W.Unland

[cbuehler]

These caps are not for military use and likely extremely late war or just post war.
Many people think that these flimsy "ersatz" types of caps are military, but they never were. The military issue material was still of a standard that was much better than this. Some very poor quality material was made by the end of the war for military use, but never actually got issued. This applies to most types of last ditch weaponry which explains why most of it is in unissued condition. Probably 95 percent of last ditch stuff was confiscated during the occupation and came from Japan itself, not the Pacific battlefields. Even on Okinawa the vast majority of equipment was of earlier manufacture. Many clothing items that show use were actually worn after the war in a civilian capacity due to the complete destruction of the country (minus of course any insignia).
Value to the knowledgable collector on these would unfortunately be very little. Less than 40.00.

Conrad