Post New Hats Here!

[Judgmentalist]

Meet the new boss.... Stetson Royal Deluxe St. Regis - this time light grey with a black ribbon. The hat is nicer in real life than the pictures suggested. I was anticipating sending it to someone for a professional overhaul (within reason) but I think it's wearable right out of the box. My pictures are nicer to the hat than the ones on eBay were, thank you to the seller. Much nicer to be pleasantly surprised.

Looks like vintage 7 1/2-5/8 is my zone, just depending on how the hats survived the decades. I love this thing.

Anybody really good at dating these things and wanna take a crack at it? I looked all around under the sweatband and that dang sticker seems to missing on this one as well. I just noticed I need to get a better picture of the crest, but it's in color, at least some color.

 

[blewnote]

One guy from that Dating Vintage Stetsons by Liner - a field guide thread says my liner crest is from the late 50s. What potential mismatches are you seeing?

That's what I'm asking you to find out! The dating by size tag is a much faster read I think, as the relevant info seems to be collated mostly in the begining and is in chronological order.

As for the sweatband, if the leather is in good shape you should be able to turn it inside out and look around in there. But obviously if it feels at all like it could crack or tear or if the stitches attaching the reed to the felt or the sweatband to the reed seem like they might (or actually start to) pop then don't mess around with it if you want to keep it intact. Of course if the sweat is toast and you want to keep and wear it and don't want a borked sweatband it doesn't really matter cuz you're gonna want to send it off to someone to replace the sweat (or learn how to do it yourself).

If you don't want to risk turning it inside out (which generally I try and avoid unless the sweatband is in great shape) but are curious I feel like most Stetson re-order tags are right around the seam in the back by the size tag and you generally, even on one with a questionable sweat like this one below, should be able to pull it out a little to peek behind and see what you can find.

 

[blewnote]

Meet the new boss.... Stetson Royal Deluxe St. Regis - this time light grey with a black ribbon. The hat is nicer in real life than the pictures suggested. I was anticipating sending it to someone for a professional overhaul (within reason) but I think it's wearable right out of the box. My pictures are nicer to the hat than the ones on eBay were, thank you to the seller. Much nicer to be pleasantly surprised.

Looks like vintage 7 1/2-5/8 is my zone, just depending on how the hats survived the decades. I love this thing.

Anybody really good at dating these things and wanna take a crack at it? I looked all around under the sweatband and that dang sticker seems to missing on this one as well. I just noticed I need to get a better picture of the crest, but it's in color, at least some color.

I have thoughts about the age of both of those Stetsons, but I'd like to hear what you think (and why) after reading those threads I suggested first. It's part of the fun!

That one suits you better in my opinion, the proportions of the brim and crown seem better to me.

 

[blewnote]

One guy from that Dating Vintage Stetsons by Liner - a field guide thread says my liner crest is from the late 50s. What potential mismatches are you seeing?

I'd agree with that. What mismatches do *you* see?

 

[Judgmentalist]

I'd agree with that. What mismatches do *you* see?

Working on it I’m about 1/3 of the way through that thread. I need to go back and look at the size tag thing again. I think the liner is probably late 50’s early 60’s and the rest I’m not sure yet - I’ll get back to you ASAP. This is much more detective-y than I anticipated lol

Found the tag for the new grey one, thank you.

 

[Judgmentalist]

Working on it I’m about 1/3 of the way through that thread. I need to go back and look at the size tag thing again. I think the liner is probably late 50’s early 60’s and the rest I’m not sure yet - I’ll get back to you ASAP. This is much more detective-y than I anticipated lol

Found the tag for the new grey one, thank you. View attachment 782006

Here is the tag for the black one - I know how to find these now - thank you.

 

[blewnote]

Working on it I’m about 1/3 of the way through that thread. I need to go back and look at the size tag thing again. I think the liner is probably late 50’s early 60’s and the rest I’m not sure yet - I’ll get back to you ASAP. This is much more detective-y than I anticipated lol

Found the tag for the new grey one, thank you.

Well, the detective thing is only if you want to try and learn about what you're buying. If you don't care, obviously it's not worth your time. But you seem interested, which is why I'm encouraging you. For me, part of the fun of finding and buying these old hats is figuring out when they came from and then thinking of all the years of history they experienced before they found their way to me. The other part is knowing what you're buying... a hat from the early 60s, while potentially nice, won't be as nice as one from the mid 50s and is worth less as a result (helps you to not overpay). And although there are certainly nice hats from the 50s, in general the older hats are going to have a nicer felt quality and different profiles than the newer ones (higher, straighter crown, potentially larger brim widths, etc), and won't have a plastic tip liner which I prefer if I had to choose (although some of my favorite hats to wear have the liner, so it really all depends on the hat). The few hats I have from the 30s are just amazing.

Start with the size tag thread, like I said in another post, the first page of it is organized chronologically and the distinguishing characteristics (as long as they're regular ol sizes... long ovals etc. follow a different, and to me undiscovered system) are very obvious. The liner thread will help a bit but I feel like for me if the size tag or the re-order tags are there it in some ways is more helpful. But the liner thread will tell you some things, like what the significance of the plastic tip vs. oilskin vs. untipped mean, and how the logo changed over time.

 

[blewnote]

Ok, as a reward for all this extraneous discussion about the hats our new friend is acquiring I'll post some pics of a lovely brown Royal Stetson Deluxe homburg that a fellow lounger managed to snag out from under my obsessive eBay hunting and flip to me for what seemed like a decent profit. But I've been looking for a brown Stetson homburg for a while and haven't seen one that I liked for a price that was right until this one.

It is from the late 40s (I think people ascertained around 1944-1948), according to the discussions that have been posted around the Royal Stetson Deluxe vs Stetson Royal Deluxe naming scheme. It is not a St. Regis. The block number is a new one to me, and it doesn't have a model name anywhere. I've been looking through the old Stetson ads to see if I could find what it might be but it may remain a mystery. The sweatband is potentially in need of replacement (has some of the flaking/cracking at the top that makes me think it's toast) but I'm going to try some Pecard's on it and see if it will hold up for a while longer. Other than that it's in gorgeous shape. Well, that and the pinch it came with is a little off center, but it adds character.

First pic is in natural light.

 

[Judgmentalist]

Well, the detective thing is only if you want to try and learn about what you're buying. If you don't care, obviously it's not worth your time. But you seem interested, which is why I'm encouraging you. For me, part of the fun of finding and buying these old hats is figuring out when they came from and then thinking of all the years of history they experienced before they found their way to me. The other part is knowing what you're buying... a hat from the early 60s, while potentially nice, won't be as nice as one from the mid 50s and is worth less as a result (helps you to not overpay). And although there are certainly nice hats from the 50s, in general the older hats are going to have a nicer felt quality and different profiles than the newer ones (higher, straighter crown, potentially larger brim widths, etc), and won't have a plastic tip liner which I prefer if I had to choose (although some of my favorite hats to wear have the liner, so it really all depends on the hat). The few hats I have from the 30s are just amazing.

Start with the size tag thread, like I said in another post, the first page of it is organized chronologically and the distinguishing characteristics (as long as they're regular ol sizes... long ovals etc. follow a different, and to me undiscovered system) are very obvious. The liner thread will help a bit but I feel like for me if the size tag or the re-order tags are there it in some ways is more helpful. But the liner thread will tell you some things, like what the significance of the plastic tip vs. oilskin vs. untipped mean, and how the logo changed over time.

Thanks - much appreciated - no I love this kind of stuff

In general I assume that I’m going to be in the mid-50s to late 60s range - unless I mess around and buy something somebody cobbled together from spare parts, which is a good possibility at this stage of the game.

Hard as the devil to find anything that fits me from the 40s on back, (in the short term; everything about this so far is short term for me lol) and any newer than mid sixties or so and I’m not as interested.

It will be nice when get all this figured out.

 

[steur]

Love this one.

Thank you, Jeff.

 

[steur]

I bought this hat from V&D (Vroom & Dreesmann). V&D is a very well-known department store in the Netherlands that went bankrupt a few years ago. Unfortunately, the hat was sold as size 58, but the label clearly says 56. So it’s way too small for me. It's an oldie, maybe made by Mayser or Hückel. But according to the union label i think it's made in England? Really like the form and color combination.This hat is going to @steur Stefan.
View attachment 781611 View attachment 781612 View attachment 781613 View attachment 781614 View attachment 781615 View attachment 781616 View attachment 781617 View attachment 781618 View attachment 781619 View attachment 781620

Thank you, Marcel, for finding this little gem and sending it my way! It had a bit of a brush and a steam and it is ready to go for many more years.
And what better indication of quality than 17000X ?!?!!

 

[jeffgarf]

Well, the detective thing is only if you want to try and learn about what you're buying. If you don't care, obviously it's not worth your time. But you seem interested, which is why I'm encouraging you. For me, part of the fun of finding and buying these old hats is figuring out when they came from and then thinking of all the years of history they experienced before they found their way to me. The other part is knowing what you're buying... a hat from the early 60s, while potentially nice, won't be as nice as one from the mid 50s and is worth less as a result (helps you to not overpay). And although there are certainly nice hats from the 50s, in general the older hats are going to have a nicer felt quality and different profiles than the newer ones (higher, straighter crown, potentially larger brim widths, etc), and won't have a plastic tip liner which I prefer if I had to choose (although some of my favorite hats to wear have the liner, so it really all depends on the hat). The few hats I have from the 30s are just amazing.

Start with the size tag thread, like I said in another post, the first page of it is organized chronologically and the distinguishing characteristics (as long as they're regular ol sizes... long ovals etc. follow a different, and to me undiscovered system) are very obvious. The liner thread will help a bit but I feel like for me if the size tag or the re-order tags are there it in some ways is more helpful. But the liner thread will tell you some things, like what the significance of the plastic tip vs. oilskin vs. untipped mean, and how the logo changed over time.

This is great advice. Should probably be the start of a new thread that could be seen by newbies coming here.

 

[steur]

I bought this hat from V&D (Vroom & Dreesmann). V&D is a very well-known department store in the Netherlands that went bankrupt a few years ago. Unfortunately, the hat was sold as size 58, but the label clearly says 56. So it’s way too small for me. It's an oldie, maybe made by Mayser or Hückel. But according to the union label i think it's made in England? Really like the form and color combination.This hat is going to @steur Stefan.
View attachment 781611 View attachment 781612 View attachment 781613 View attachment 781614 View attachment 781615 View attachment 781616 View attachment 781617 View attachment 781618 View attachment 781619 View attachment 781620

Thank you, Marcel, for finding this little gem and sending it my way! It had a bit of a brush and a steam and it is ready to go for many more years.
And what better indication of quality than 17000X ?!?!!

 

[Pellie]

Thank you, Marcel, for finding this little gem and sending it my way! It had a bit of a brush and a steam and it is ready to go for many more years.
And what better indication of quality than 17000X ?!?!!

17000x beaver ;-)

 

[jeffgarf]

17000x beaver ;-)

It truly is the best beaver.

 

[Pellie]

It truly is the best beaver.

It is lol

 

[Rmccamey]

Anybody really good at dating these things and wanna take a crack at it

Brown sweat, keyhole size tag, clear plastic liner cover - 1950s.

 

[steur]

View attachment 781352

Herbert Johnson - Soft Bowler
Warm Grey Felt
4 1/2 Soft Round Crown
d'Orsay Curl Brim 1 7/8 front/back 1 1/2 Sides
1 inch charcoal grosgrain ribbon

As our friend/lounge alumni Brent has said.. “sometime a hat just speaks to me” That was certainly the case with this Herbert Johnson soft bowler. It caught my attention with its warm toned grey felt and darker charcoal binding on its d'Orsay Curl Brim. Based on its pictures I was kinda envisioning a bit more of a soft homburg kinda crown but in person it is in fact a bowler shaped crown but still soft and shapeable. I imagine at a time when soft felts were becoming more and more popular while stiff felts/bowlers were still a bit of a standard especially in the British market this Soft Bowler made for a bit of a crossover. That said.. I’m quite pleased with it for two reasons… first it finally checks off the box of grey bowler. Second… the Soft Bowler designation makes it quite an interesting piece, an example of which I had not come across previously. And it’s a Herbert Johnson to boot. I’m no expert on dating HJ hats but the 38 New Bond Street puts it squarely in the rather broad range of 1895 and 1975. The notation on the liner By Appointment to Her Royal Majesty The Queen Royal Hatters puts us about 1953 or later. It certainly looks like the quality of hats we often see from the 1950s so that would be my guess. If you’ve ever had the urge to reach up and squeeze a pinch in the front of a bowler… this is the hat for you!

View attachment 781353 View attachment 781354 View attachment 781355 View attachment 781356 View attachment 781357 View attachment 781358 View attachment 781359 View attachment 781360 View attachment 781361

Really cool and unique find, Joe. Never heard of such a style before.

 

[steur]

This one fits.....
An old Brummel's lordshat (no brimbinding) in black. I really like the cool sweatband! Also good proportions!
View attachment 781621 View attachment 781622 View attachment 781623 View attachment 781624 View attachment 781625 View attachment 781626 View attachment 781627 View attachment 781628 View attachment 781629 View attachment 781630

Fantastic lords hat, Marcel.

 

[Pellie]

Fantastic lords hat, Marcel.

Thanks Stefan!