WWII E-9-A Emergency Sustenance Kit - Rare?

[Quest Master]

Not sure if they high bidder is on this forum, but a WWII E-9-A Emergency Sustenance Kit just sold on eBay for $665. Are they that rare? It did not have any contents. Just curious.

[dustin]

Anyone who has an interest in multi person sustenance kits from WWII will quickly find that these are extremely hard to find and if you require a catagorization I would place them in the scarce column. They are in the realm of D-loop helmets where they do exist but only a few in circulation however there certainly is a desirability difference affecting cost. So for "survival" equipment collectors these kits are our D-loop helmets. Additionally some of the containers were made of fiber board so there chances of survival, no pun intended, are questionable. On scarce or extremely hard to find items there is no past market for price fixing so it looks like a complete container with lid all hardware in tact and the parachute web harness is $665. Only thing missing is the G-8 Sustenance Parachute.....doesnt get much better than this really. I know of two in existence, I have one in my collection and this one and from various networking I haven't heard of another one around. Ration collectors probably wanted it, rescue equipment collectors, parachute collectors.....it has a lot of cross over.

On a side note what do you think the survival rate is for the original harness for the kit?

Pardon the comparison again but to me this is like finding a D-loop helmet with Hawley parachutist liner.

The rations included are typical AN-W-5 water cans, K Rations and Life Raft Rations Type-A....these can be had if one was compelled to complete it.

[Quest Master]

Dustin,

Thanks for getting back to me! Well, add a third "known" one to your list, because I have one as well. I bought it about 2 years ago (for much less than the above price), and didn't now what is was, that's why when I saw the listing eBay, I was watching it - to see what I price it brought. Mine is missing the lid and the harness is a bit tattered. Thanks for the info!

[dustin]

This kind of stuff usually flies under the radar and can be found for reasonable prices, mine I pretty much got for free. That is the way it goes in this hobby screaming deals and sometimes you pay. More are bound to surface I'm sure but sometimes auctions like these may flush other stuff onto the market. There is a questionable forth out there, a friend has the identical container that has been painted gray but with no signs of ever being painted the orange/yellow either so we will (*) that one.

One thing I've learned from the forum is that I don't scoff him'n haw about prices of stuff as I stopped being shocked a long time ago. We see named USMC Class-A jackets sell for over a thousand dollars on a consistent basis, patches, medals, knives, M-1 helmets you name it.

Does yours have legible markings? yours may not be the E-9A, the E-16 used the same container only differing components.

[Quest Master]

I agree, prices have been all over the place for years...and I too have been on both ends of the spectrum with spending a little - and spending A LOT!

 

I'm pretty sure I have the E-9-A. I will dig it out tonight - it's in the B-29 cockpit right now.

[Quest Master]

Here is mine, with harness removed. It missing the lid.

[Quest Master]

Close up of the markings:

[dustin]

Clearly it is! thanks for sharing. looks like its been kicked around a bit....poor thing!

Interesting that it had the para harness but most if not all the four wire hold downs and two side handles are MIA.

Funny thing is is that lids are probably the most valuable thing in the container world, certainly affects salability.