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jeffgarf

One Too Many
Messages
1,156
Location
Jerusalem, Israel
Goodwill Special. Carroll John Cavanaugh Homburg. This hat was listed as a bowler. I didn't find out it was a Homburg until I pulled it out of the box. Love this one. :)

Anybody know what this crumbly orange stuff is? I thought it was confetti or something when I first opened the box. Now I don't know.
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It's usually a crumbled "onionskin" liner that used to be a part of the fabric liner. Many disintegrate over time.
 

wsmontana

Practically Family
Messages
748
Location
Montana
Goodwill Special. Carroll John Cavanaugh Homburg. This hat was listed as a bowler. I didn't find out it was a Homburg until I pulled it out of the box. Love this one. :)

Anybody know what this crumbly orange stuff is? I thought it was confetti or something when I first opened the box. Now I don't know.
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Nice find! That orange stuff could be what’s left of an onion skin liner tip or maybe just dried glue from the hat box?
 

Judgmentalist

A-List Customer
Messages
382
Nice find! That orange stuff could be what’s left of an onion skin liner tip or maybe just dried glue from the hat box?
I went back and looked at the listing photos for this item and a couple things jumped out at me. 1.) I can tell the crown is soft if I’m paying attention and 2.) there are no pictures of the hat box open.

I like reviewing listings after the hat arrives for things to which I can pay better attention going forward. :)

This one came via FedEx. I think my mail lady puts us last on the route whenever she knows we are staring out the window waiting on her.
 

wsmontana

Practically Family
Messages
748
Location
Montana
I went back and looked at the listing photos for this item and a couple things jumped out at me. 1.) I can tell the crown is soft if I’m paying attention and 2.) there are no pictures of the hat box open.

I like reviewing listings after the hat arrives for things to which I can pay better attention going forward. :)

This one came via FedEx. I think my mail lady puts us last on the route whenever she knows we are staring out the window waiting on her.
Thats a good strategy to educate yourself. I once had a buyer return a new soft fur felt Open Road Stetson Royal Deluxe as “damaged“ because it wasn‘t stiff like their 6X Open Road. I had to eat shipping both ways because the buyer returned it as “not as described.“ I learned my lesson as a seller and now when I sell a soft hat to a new buyer I will post a video of me crushing the hat and then reshaping by hand. I think I did that with a soft borso I sold to you — hopefully that one worked out okay with no surprises.
 

Judgmentalist

A-List Customer
Messages
382
Thats a good strategy to educate yourself. I once had a buyer return a new soft fur felt Open Road Stetson Royal Deluxe as “damaged“ because it wasn‘t stiff like their 6X Open Road. I had to eat shipping both ways because the buyer returned it as “not as described.“ I learned my lesson as a seller and now when I sell a soft hat to a new buyer I will post a video of me crushing the hat and then reshaping by hand. I think I did that with a soft borso I sold to you — hopefully that one worked out okay with no surprises.
I love that hat - I was aware of how soft the felt is - smushing it hurt my feelers to be honest lol - but yeah I got what I was expecting to get - every hat I’ve gotten from you has been a solid transaction in every aspect. :)

I need to work on my shaping skills - I have a very limited repertoire.
 

Judgmentalist

A-List Customer
Messages
382
Thats a good strategy to educate yourself. I once had a buyer return a new soft fur felt Open Road Stetson Royal Deluxe as “damaged“ because it wasn‘t stiff like their 6X Open Road. I had to eat shipping both ways because the buyer returned it as “not as described.“ I learned my lesson as a seller and now when I sell a soft hat to a new buyer I will post a video of me crushing the hat and then reshaping by hand. I think I did that with a soft borso I sold to you — hopefully that one worked out okay with no surprises.
Also that’s BS - they just decided they wanted their money more than the hat and didn’t mind screwing you in the process. Nobody is that dumb - I hope
 

Judgmentalist

A-List Customer
Messages
382
I went back and looked at the listing photos for this item and a couple things jumped out at me. 1.) I can tell the crown is soft if I’m paying attention and 2.) there are no pictures of the hat box open.

I like reviewing listings after the hat arrives for things to which I can pay better attention going forward. :)

This one came via FedEx. I think my mail lady puts us last on the route whenever she knows we are staring out the window waiting on her.
Dang it - I’m out of time for show and tell and the mail lady isn’t here yet - guess I’ll have to be patient for up to 24 hours - not sure how I’m going to make it
 

jeffgarf

One Too Many
Messages
1,156
Location
Jerusalem, Israel
I love that hat - I was aware of how soft the felt is - smushing it hurt my feelers to be honest lol - but yeah I got what I was expecting to get - every hat I’ve gotten from you has been a solid transaction in every aspect. :)

I need to work on my shaping skills - I have a very limited repertoire.
Many videos on YouTube to watch, if you haven't yet.
 

Judgmentalist

A-List Customer
Messages
382
Newt at the Royal Montecristi
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Judgmentalist

A-List Customer
Messages
382
Couple new pics of this one
Newt Montecristi (1).jpg
Newt Montecristi (2).jpg

I measured the WPI in two places and, as expected, got slightly different numbers in different sections of the weave. This is not an especially high-WPI Montecristi, but it is a very consistently woven hat for its grade, with good overall uniformity and clean execution across the body.

This is more of an entry-level “tourist luxury” Montecristi — the kind of hat historically marketed on the romance of the location as much as anything. Newt sells very high-WPI hats, but this example sits in the practical, wearable category rather than the ultra-fine collector tier.

That said, I bought it because I genuinely like it. It fits me well, has great character, and I love the provenance. “Newt at the Royal – Honolulu, Hawaii” has a interesting (to me) place in the market.

Newt Montecristi - 323-360 WPI
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Judgmentalist

A-List Customer
Messages
382
This one came in yesterday - very interesting to me, at least.

This is a Brent Black Safari Edition hat. It is all original in a Western style he no longer offers on his site. At the time this hat was sold Mr. Black offered the horse hair band as an option on some of these hats. "Safari Edition" is what Mr. Black calls his Cuenca hats. At the bottom of this post I have included a shot of the (exhaustive :)) marketing blurb from the 2022 Wayback Machine archive for this hat.

This is not a Montecristi hat. It is, however, a very nice Panama hat. Mr. Black claims that these Safari Edition hats are woven as finely as some of his Montecristi hats. For this reason, I counted the weave the same way I would for a Montecristi. If anyone sees a problem with this methodology that is not obvious to me, please let me know.

I will say that visually, this weave looks to be about the same "grade" as my tier 1 BBB hats, and it, of course, is woven very evenly and blocked and finished with the obsessiveness Mr. Black is universally known for.

I bought this hat because I wanted to touch one before I decided if I wanted to add one of these to my Panama roster. I have nothing but positive things to say about it.

This hat doesn't fit me. I'm going to check in with my girls and see if one of them will wear it - otherwise this is likely to be a temporary resident. I think I got a pretty solid deal on this hat - if anyone on this forum is interested, let me know, and if I decide to let it go I will let you know first. :) This is not marketing; this hat is not for sale; I've never sold a hat before, just FYI.
BBB West Panama SE (6).jpg
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BBB West Panama SE (5).jpg
BBB West Panama SE (7).jpg
BBB West Panama SE (1).jpg
BBB West Panama SE (9).jpg
BBB West Panama SE (10).jpg
BBB West Panama SE (8).jpg


Brent Black "West Panama" SE
 
Messages
13,373
Good day loungers! I’ve had difficulty posting to the lounge over the past few months but I always enjoy seeing all your new hats when I can get on. Here are a few that I have picked up over the year that are now in rotation :).
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Nice additions Bill.
 
Messages
13,373
Goodwill Special. Carroll John Cavanaugh Homburg. This hat was listed as a bowler. I didn't find out it was a Homburg until I pulled it out of the box. Love this one. :)

Anybody know what this crumbly orange stuff is? I thought it was confetti or something when I first opened the box. Now I don't know.
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This is a tremendous find. Looks like a pretty early John Cavanagh

As others have said the orange crumbles are likely remnants of onion/oil skin lining. If it’s not from this hat…. Maybe it was from a hat that was in this Lee box previously.
 

The Hatted Professor

Familiar Face
Messages
86
Nice find. The Carroll John line was a lower-priced line started in 1936 aimed at young men and named for Carroll John, one of John Cavanagh’s sons. Carroll John joined the Navy in 1943 and the line was discontinued shortly thereafter, around 1945. The line didn’t use onion skin so it’s from a different hat.
 

Rmccamey

I'll Lock Up
Messages
6,352
Location
Central Texas
I've found a good rule of thumb when reading Ebay listings is to assume when the seller has any doubts at all, they will list it as a bowler. Also, every open crown hat is also listed as a bowler.

It is usually not difficult to spot a D'Orsay curl in Ebay photos. After a while it gets easier to tell a vintage bowler from a homburg based on the pictures.

The hat was listed as a bowler. I didn't find out it was a Homburg until I pulled it out of the box.
 

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