Senninbari Value ?

[Grabenkater]

Ok, I went ahead and purchased the Senninbari this morning. Its dirty, and a little faded, but its very interesting. It was captured on Guadalcanal in January 1943. The details are hand written on the cloth of the belt as you can see in the photo. There is also a photo of the Marine who captured it, and sent it home. I have not removed it from the frame even though it is tempting.

Any idea to the value? I am not very interested in Japanese militaria.

[MikeB]

Senninbari value?

It's really hard to make an offer or an estimated value based sight unseen. A general price can't be given unless you have a photo. MikeB

[cbuehler]

As Mike mentioned, too many variables to make an estimate on value without seeing it. Unlike a piece of equipment that was standardized, Senninbari are individual personal items and factors such as style, elaboration, provenance, and condition come into play here.

CB

[Grabenkater]

Here are the photos.

[Grabenkater]

2nd

[Grabenkater]

3rd

[Grabenkater]

4th

[Grabenkater]

More

[Grabenkater]

Any Idea of Worth?

[Grabenkater]

Last One

[MikeB]

Senninbari value?

Thanks for posting the images of your senninbari. Here is how I would evaluate it based on seeing it just as it is and not knowing the history. The characters Buun Chokyu are placed across the front and are fairly typical. The rest of the design offers an unusual combination, however. There is a blue army star in the center above a Japanese hinomaru and battle flag done in stitches- very nice. There are also red wavy lines on either side of those. I cannot tell if there are any tie strings present. They may be folded underneath, cut off, or never had any in the first place. The G.I. 's writing appears to be original to the belt which is also very nice as a historical marker. The included photo is great too.
Now taking a different tack- In evaluating the entire package for value, you have to try and decide if the G.I. writing is vintage as well as the photo. Let's face it, we have all seen "marriages" of items in order to create a "story." My guess is that this veteran lot is completely authentic. That makes for an interesting item and history. Value of this senninbari compared to one lacking the same references is obvious. This one should be priced higher based on historic significance alone. As an aside, that is why Nick's flag research make his flags worth more than your average flag.
As for value here, based on the photos and nothing else- I am a senninbari collector so would tend to buy the more different items over the more common ones. Values for senninbari are bound to go up over the next few months and years as collectors discover just how unique and rare some of these items are... This senninbari should easily be worth $200.00 and could go for as high as $350.00 or more based on its unusual design and history. I hope this helps. MikeB