Love that one....they seem to be a hard find lately...for most of us anyway! LOL!Thanks Dale !
Love that one....they seem to be a hard find lately...for most of us anyway! LOL!Thanks Dale !

My first vintage Stetson Bluegrass and my first narrow ribbon. Actually, I've had other narrow ribbon fedoras but I have changed out the narrow ribbons for wider. This ribbon is growing on me and right now I'm thinking of keeping it as is. The picture of the bash is closest to the real color. I believe it's 50/60s.
I found the business card behind the sweatband. It even had the pinch protector still inside. I had never seen one of those before.
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I like that corded mid ribbon like that.This ribbon is growing on me and right now I'm thinking of keeping it as is.
So do I. It suits the hat, and it's a nice visual indication of it's era.I like that corded mid ribbon like that.
love that linerMy first vintage Stetson Bluegrass and my first narrow ribbon. Actually, I've had other narrow ribbon fedoras but I have changed out the narrow ribbons for wider. This ribbon is growing on me and right now I'm thinking of keeping it as is. The picture of the bash is closest to the real color. I believe it's 50/60s.
I found the business card behind the sweatband. It even had the pinch protector still inside. I had never seen one of those before.
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John Lofgren Monkey Boots Shinki Horsebuttt - $1,136 The classic monkey boot silhouette in an incredibly rich Shinki russet horse leather.
Grant Stone Diesel Boot Dark Olive Chromexcel - $395 Goodyear welted, Horween Chromexcel, classic good looks.
Schott 568 Vandals Jacket - $1,250 The classic Perfecto motorcycle jacket, in a very special limited-edition Schott double rider style. Mike, This is a TONAK Hückel (made in Communist Czechoslovakia) and appears to be from the late 1950s early 1960s. This hat would be considered high end in East Europe. I am not sure about the economic situation in Finland at that time. Here is my original post.View attachment 102936 View attachment 102937 View attachment 102938 View attachment 102939 After spending a couple hours in the dentist chair, I came home just in time to sign for a box from Europe. The first I would like to showcase is a Hückel Special in a nice blue/gray. Firm felt that will need some steam to yield, but very smooth and nicely finished. I'm hoping Steve will chime in, but the "Special" seems to be an entry level hat, fine construction, but not high end. This is one of Stefan's epic finds.
This hat was originally sold at the store of Paavo Nurmi, "the Flying Finn". Nurmi was an olympic runner in the early 20th century winning 12 medals from 1920 to 1928. He opened a hat shop in Helsinki after WWII. He passed away in 1972. Love a hat with a story!
Stefan's reply,One more before the cold drugs kick in...
An interesting little stingy with classic 60s lines. Made under license in England, a Penn-Craft. Moe has one that is much older, Stetson bought them, but we don't see ones of this era. Did Stetson release the Penn-Craft name for this license? The finish is really special, a short hair that is really soft and petable. The name on the manufacture tag is "Dale 63" which kind of matches the year it could be from. View attachment 102940 View attachment 102941 View attachment 102942 View attachment 102943 I think the center dent will stay, seems more British somehow. When I'm in a stingy mood, this one should see some serious head time. Fits like a custom.
+1I like that corded mid ribbon like that.
The paper label is not much help. Nothing else under the sweat, not even a union stamp. It is interesting that they were still old school with a typewriter. Stefan thinks "Dale 63" may be a year of manufacture. Sure feels like a early 60s hat with these lines.Stefan's reply,
Mike, I can't recall if someone here discovered what English Hat company had the Stetson license. Does the hat have a paper label?
Steve, Failsworth, England held the Stetson license since 1949.
http://www.failsworth1903.com/history/
Mike, This is a TONAK Hückel (made in Communist Czechoslovakia) and appears to be from the late 1950s early 1960s. This hat would be considered high end in East Europe. I am not sure about the economic situation in Finland at that time. Here is my original post.
http://www.thefedoralounge.com/threads/german-austrian-hutmachers.32103/page-315#post-2304820
Update:
You can read about Finland's post WWII economy here (scroll to "The Postwar Boom until the 1970s"). They had trade with the Soviet Union so that might have extended to the rest of East Europe.
https://eh.net/encyclopedia/an-economic-history-of-finland/
Mike, That would be my guess. It's great that Stefan found out that Failsworth had the Stetson licence.The paper label is not much help. Nothing else under the sweat, not even a union stamp. It is interesting that they were still old school with a typewriter. Stefan thinks "Dale 63" may be a year of manufacture. Sure feels like a early 60s hat with these lines.
The Failsworth connection is interesting, since Penn-Craft was bought by Stetson before the war, they had the name and probably passed it along in the license.
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Mike, This is an interesting time because you had Hückel Weilheim using the Hückel brand name for the German markets and TONAK using it outside of those markets when needed. My guess is that Hückel was a known brand name in Finland going back to before WWII and TONAK was a good price fit for the market (also there was a trade relationship with the East Block due to WWII reparations). For East European and Soviet markets TONAK used a similar JHS logo but replaced the name Hückel with TONAK (for obvious reasons). To this day TONAK uses JHS logos but doesn't mention Hückel. You can see the J.H.S. initials between the hare and beaver.Thank you Steve. I had not captured Stefan's original post and your reply. I'm starting to create history files on my hats, I'm just that kind of geek, and you are a much cited source!
40s (?) Stetson 3x Beaver. hat has whip stitching (is that the correct term), and the felt is a cream white color. the sweat was replaced, but the hat body is flawless (minus some slight dirty spots). tagged as a 7 1/8 but feels more closer to the 1/4 range on my noggin![]()
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That is too beautiful for words.