The pictured banjo is not a handmade instrument. It looks like an Asian made banjo, likely Japanese, made in the 1970's. There may have been customizations done to upgrade, but definitely a factory made instrument.

Not a valuable instrument. Top value would be in the $150 to $200 range. It will be a useful banjo to a beginning banjo player that needs a relatively inexpensive 5-string to get started.

Bob Smakula

If you want to sell it, the Hangout is a good place to do so.

First, read all the rules and giuidelines (nobody seems to do that first), then decide on a price. Click on Marketplace on the lefthand side of the page and then on post new ad. Add photos and text and save. Then copy the URL to your ad and make a thread in the Swap Shop about your banjo. Then watch for e-mails from prospective purchasers. Be sure to check your spam folder to see if any show up there.

Good luck!

The pot/rim with the four metal plates clearly identifies the banjo as an Asian entry-level banjo as Bob Smakula states. Not sure about the neck. I suspect that the diamonds in the fingerboard were either added to the Asian neck, or the neck was made by your late brother. Banjo tuners can be cheap or expensive. If the tuners were upgraded, that could add $50+ to the value of the instrument. These entry level banjos make good functional instruments if they are adjusted properly.

The neck isn't original to the pot, and I'm guessing that's the part your brother either made, or bought unfinished and added the inlays, pegs, etc.
Some closeup pictures of the peghead (front, back, and side), the side of the heel where it meets the rim, and how it's attached (from the inside of the rim, with the resonator removed), would tell us more about it.

If that neck is well-made and well-mounted, it would IMO make that banjo a real steal at $200!

Thank you all for your advice. I assumed that he made that banjo because he has made many various types of stringed instruments. I sure that he did the inlays on the neck and probably replaced the neck and finished it. i uploaded a pic with the resonator removed.
thanks again for your help.

Those thin, plain aluminum rims can (with the right setup!) sound a good bit better than the more common and fancier-looking "bottlecap" style cast ones, IMO. And they're real light. Unfortunately for you, that doesn't make it worth any more to most folks.

If you want to sell it, list it here on the BHO.
The first step is to clean the lens on your camera! (and, if that doesn't improve the clarity and resolution of your photos, borrow someone else's, and maybe ask them for some help)
Take clearer full views, and some closeups of the details as I said before.