Is The Hype Warranted ???

[Judgmentalist]

I really enjoyed the video. Presenting the full line-up, Royal through 100x, was fun to see. Worth the Hype - worth the watch!

You rock that superb example of a 100X.

Anthony my personal experience is based on the sample size of 1 100x and 2 7X's. The 60's 100X version I have is a disappointment. The felt is not super special in hand feel or finish. Granted my has some staining that needs attention, stained liner and worn leather sweat. This does not affect my evaluation of the felt. It does not come close to a 7X that is on my hat rack. FYI: Hands down the best felt on my hat rack is a Stetson Royal Deluxe Stratoliner. This early version of the Stratoliner has a unique thin ribbon treatment. The felt and workmanship is tops of the vintage hats and above all my customs. I did post a comparision in the vintage Strat thread a while back (https://www.thefedoralounge.com/threads/the-stratoliner-society-vintage.8329/post-2745938).

I continue to be alert to acquire an excellent example of the hat like yours.

Thanks for the effort and the dynamite resulting video.



Jack; I am glad that you added your experiences with handling the hats. More hand work is logical. Anthony pointed out that the preparation of the hoods, chemicals used, have changed dramatically over the years. I have listened to the sage knowledge on TFL and understand that those chemicals produced many of the most desirable hats on my hat rack. I have watched and appreciated your versions over the years. Both you and Bama share your versions often and they are appreciated.


I hope my post adds to the conversation.

Cheers, Eric -

I just had a crazy thought. The brim binding on this Stratoliner appears identical to the binding on my “fedoralized” One Hundred—and the binding on mine does not look new.

A 2-inch brim is still unusually short for a Stratoliner, but the shape, proportions and binding make more sense for a Stratoliner than for any original One Hundred configuration I’ve seen.

We already know my hat has been altered. It was downsized slightly, and the sweatband was modified—presumably as part of that work. It is also currently shaped as a fedora rather than in the configuration normally associated with a One Hundred.

Is it possible that someone had a One Hundred with ruined felt, transplanted its sweatband and liner into a less valuable Stratoliner and then sold the resulting hat as a One Hundred? This would have occurred before it reached the person from whom I bought it. @Hurricane Jack

Sorry to co-opt the thread. If this discussion should be moved, please let me know how. I’m posting here only because the thought arose from the Stratoliner shown above and its apparently identical brim binding.

Pics of my hat

 

[Frunobulax]

This video had over a thousand views since I went to bed last night and is averaging about 100 views an hour currently.
what in the world?
... kinda crazy

Anthony, I finally got a chance to sit and watch this one last night. Excellent piece. I echo that you have a natural presentation style that makes it seem as if you're conversing on a one-to-one basis. It's very "comfortable" to watch your presentation.

Very good presentation, information, and production. I look forward to more.

 

[Hurricane Jack]

Is it possible that someone had a One Hundred with ruined felt, transplanted its sweatband and liner into a less valuable Stratoliner and then sold the resulting hat as a One Hundred? This would have occurred before it reached the person from whom I bought it. @Hurricane Jack

Just to be clear, you did not buy that hat from me, & the only one who could answer your question would be the Seller you bought it from.

 

[Hurricane Jack]

I find the posts enjoyable. Hats getting worn is what I appreciate. Your hats, like many others get worn. I do understand hats being a hat rack queen. A prized item, or wearable art to look at. I take the tactic to wear my hats.

Your Resistol is another example of the huge variety of felt quality amongst all the manufacturers. I can get pretty wound up when we take quality of trimmings and overall quality. I use the example of early Adam hats. While this, like other brands, take a second seat in hat discussions, I find them of quality. Many of my vintage felts have been stiffened, but pounced and finished really well. I find many examples of excellent ribbon work. I believe they made an excellent hat that met their customers pocketbook and needs. My example is just one that highlights the brands/models meeting the client needs in price and quality.

The Stetson 100X has been marketed to a more narrow clientele. What a lovely example that Anthony shared. I saw a Churchill 100 posted today - another lovely example.

Cheers.

I would put the early Dunlap hats in the category with your Adams.

PS: Creased consecutively for pics; dry, no steam:

https://www.thefedoralounge.com/threads/dunlap-drive-in.39645/page-6#post-2444274

 

[moontheloon]

Anthony, I finally got a chance to sit and watch this one last night. Excellent piece. I echo that you have a natural presentation style that makes it seem as if you're conversing on a one-to-one basis. It's very "comfortable" to watch your presentation.

Very good presentation, information, and production. I look forward to more.

Uncle Jim thank you !
So glad you dig it... takes a lot of time and effort to put together as a one man operation.
It's always nice to get good feedback from people I know and trust.

 

[Judgmentalist]

Just to be clear, you did not buy that hat from me, & the only one who could answer your question would be the Seller you bought it from.

My apologies - it did not occur to me that someone might make that assumption.

For the record, of course I didn’t buy the hat from you. : )

I’m asking you if you think this is possible or likely since you know about 1000 times more than I do about these hats.

And I’m also assuming that if such an alteration occurred it was done by someone before it was bought by the person that sold it to me, and possibly without negative intent. I’m not looking to solve a problem - at this point I just find it interesting.

So anyway the dude that I bought it from might not know either is what I mean.

 

[hambone71]

Great video, Anthony! I watched it a couple nights ago and found it easy to follow, enjoyable, and very educational! Brilliant presentation!

 

[moontheloon]

IMO, You have an easy understood frankness that works in the YouTube medium. As you mentioned only one vid about 100X. What! Really I found that surprising in today's media culture of "showing your stuff."

I did sic an acquaintance (20-40's blues acoustic guitar musician friend) on the vid. We have exchanged a couple of texts and will speak up about his hat needs at an upcoming meet-up. He was hyped about the different vintage models of OR's.

An aside: I shared the vid with my wife. She watched only a short bit. She did comment she "would listen to that guy talk about hats." I am not sure what that means exactly and I replied with a head nod. I reflect this morning that it is a compliment to you.

Worth the hype - worth the watch. Eric -

Thanks so much Eric!
I hope I didn't scare your wife with my mug made for radio

 

[moontheloon]

Great video, Anthony! I watched it a couple nights ago and found it easy to follow, enjoyable, and very educational! Brilliant presentation!

Thank you for the kind words brother.
Glad yo enjoyed it!

 

[Hurricane Jack]

My apologies - it did not occur to me that someone might make that assumption.

For the record, of course I didn’t buy the hat from you. : )

I’m asking you if you think this is possible or likely since you know about 1000 times more than I do about these hats.

And I’m also assuming that if such an alteration occurred it was done by someone before it was bought by the person that sold it to me, and possibly without negative intent. I’m not looking to solve a problem - at this point I just find it interesting.

So anyway the dude that I bought it from might not know either is what I mean.

Anyone can see that it has been chopped. It needs to be put out of its misery. Anything more is pure speculation.

 

[Judgmentalist]

Anyone can see that it has been chopped. It needs to be put out of its misery. Anything more is pure speculation.

You know Jack, the speculation is the part that is interesting to me. I didn’t ask what you think I should do with my hat, but that seems about par for the course. They say it’s a fool that keeps doing the same thing and expecting different results; and apparently I’m that fool.

Thank you for helping me figure this out. I apologize that it took longer than it should have but I’m pretty persistent and don’t mind a challenge. You have a good day.

Moon, these videos are cool and I apologize for hijacking your thread. Maybe you should do one about all the acts of vandalism and heresy people committed against their hats in the old days. lol.

 

[steur]

The Stetson One Hundred... is the hype warranted?
Take a look and see if you agree with my assessment.
In this video we discuss felt grade quality, the meaning of X's and of course The One Hundred.
I hope you enjoy

Wonderful piece, Anthony. Expertly done and informative. Deserves way more views than it's likely to get.

 

[moontheloon]

Wonderful piece, Anthony. Expertly done and informative. Deserves way more views than it's likely to get.

Thank you for the kind words sir.
So glad you enjoyed it.
also nice to see you old friend

 

[jlee562]

I don't really have a whole lot to add. I also enjoyed the video and thought it was well edited. Too many Youtubers get stuck on just talking to the camera with no b-roll and this was not that!



I also have a sample size of one and one, and my 100 is a 60's iteration. My 7xCB also has an asterisk, given that it was already a Shudde renovated hat when I got it. I pulled them both out after reading this thread. My 100 doesn't so much have the "clay like" felt like some of the prewar hats I have, but it still has a super soft feeling hand. It might just be that it's stone fruit season now, but peach fuzz was really the first thing that came to mind.



Have we seen a lot of 100's with embossed model names though? I am normally in the "has to say Open Road" camp, but my 100 has OR dimensions, and came with a $100 OR reorder tag in the case. Technically, I can't prove the provenance of the hat, it was just an ebay purchase. It's not out of the realm of possibility that someone had one or the other and put them together. But on the other hand, Occam's razor and all, maybe the 100 ORs only had 100 branding?

 

[Hurricane Jack]

It's not out of the realm of possibility that someone had one or the other and put them together.

I have 3 cases; 2 came with the hats & 1 I bought complete to marry up with a hat. I also have a hat with no case at this point in time.

Some cases have white liners with the Stetson 100 script instead of red. Haven’t figured that out yet but I usually think of the quilted Ermine case & certificate when I see one.

 

[Gilded Age Guy]

Terrific video sir--really enjoyed it! I love Stetson 100s and own three of them. Two in the cases and one not. FWIW I've noticed that lots of almost unworn vintage felts develop a kind of chalky hand, which if you compare to other old natural materials (I have as part of my work a large collection of Gilded Age apparel and accessories) isn't too unusual. I have reasoned that even when stored in very sound trunks or boxes, old things are still exposed to a degree of atmospheric pollution and very fine particulate matter as these containers are not truly airtight.

This has led me to experiment. In the case of the Stetson 100 I like as a daily wearer, one of the two I have in their cases, I proceeded as follows. To the eye it was pristine and possibly unworn (ribbons, sweat, liner, etc), but the felt possessed a strangely chalky or 'dusty' hand, even though presumably (only a presumption) it had been kept in its case for 60+ years. This I found hard to fathom as an artifact of manufacturing, because a hat purchaser of the 1950s/60s would have likely been disappointed with a $100 hat with a texture like mine.

So I dunked it overnight in gasoline. I use Aspen 4 to clean/service my old hats as it has no modern additives, colorants, ethanol, etc and is as close to early white gasoline as is (to my knowledge) available today. (Even Coleman and Crown lantern fuels contain a variety of additives--notably in the case of Coleman fuel a blue-green colorant, which would not do any favors to a light-colored hat!). Aspen 4 is a highly refined gasoline for four-stroke engines and has a storage life of many years compared to modern gasolines, which will go gummy in as little as six months. (There is an Aspen 2 for two-stroke engines, but for heaven's sake don't use that as it is premixed with oil!)

Anyhow, I soaked the 100 overnight in the Aspen 4, gave it a good agitation in the morning, and hung it up to dry. Then I poured the used Aspen into a glass jug and was amazed/gobsmacked at how much fine particulate matter had come off and was drifting about in the fluid. (No hat powder, thankfully, which is sometimes the case with light hats.) I then strained the Aspen through coffee filters and cheesecloth and collected almost a teaspoon of fine grey dust that had come out of this pristine-looking hat. (Under magnification this contained almost no fur particles of any size.)

Bottom line is that when the formerly chalky-but-clean-looking 100 dried and was given a light brushing, that felt was as soft as the hair on the back of an angel. It had the feel of a brand-new, high quality 100% beaver felt again. It was like stepping into a kind of tactile time machine.

Point of this screed is that I think sometimes it is possible to judge the hand of an old felt--even an apparently very clean one--'unfairly' because of its large load of very fine atmospheric dust acquired over many years of even very careful storage. And, of course, the ambient atmospheric conditions/pollution and storage conditions will vary widely from hat to hat.

My working hypothesis is that over time, very fine airborne dust, smoke, etc. clogs and smooths over the surface pores of the felt, and mats down the very fine surface nap. (With nappier felts, velours, satins, and melusines this is negligible to the hand, but to the very fine nap of a Stetson 100 it is much more noticeable.) I say 'hypothesis' because that's exactly what it is--something to test experimentally and to revise and replace as new observations accumulate. And it is 'my' hypothesis only because I've never discussed it with anyone else, so it's highly possible that some or many of you have evolved a similar one. I make no pretensions to originality (other than in my books, ha ha).

In short, I believe that the gasoline bath not only opens up the pores again, but also gently raises the nap to what I have to think was something closer to the feel of a $100 hat when new.

I've had similar experiences to this one with other hats, too, but in truth it took a little courage to dunk one of my 100s in gasoline. So I wanted to share my experience and results here for your interest and/or amusement, and also without exposing any of you to risk of damage, either to the hat from the gasoline bath or to yourself from the attendant hazards of gasoline. Which I would enjoin you to avoid--this is part of my profession and I've been at it long enough to evolve rather elaborate (baroque?) precautions to avoid either immolating myself or burning down the house. Neither of which would endear me to my wife, even if I survived them.

 

[Judgmentalist]

Terrific video sir--really enjoyed it! I love Stetson 100s and own three of them. Two in the cases and one not. FWIW I've noticed that lots of almost unworn vintage felts develop a kind of chalky hand, which if you compare to other old natural materials (I have as part of my work a large collection of Gilded Age apparel and accessories) isn't too unusual. I have reasoned that even when stored in very sound trunks or boxes, old things are still exposed to a degree of atmospheric pollution and very fine particulate matter as these containers are not truly airtight.

This has led me to experiment. In the case of the Stetson 100 I like as a daily wearer, one of the two I have in their cases, I proceeded as follows. To the eye it was pristine and possibly unworn (ribbons, sweat, liner, etc), but the felt possessed a strangely chalky or 'dusty' hand, even though presumably (only a presumption) it had been kept in its case for 60+ years. This I found hard to fathom as an artifact of manufacturing, because a hat purchaser of the 1950s/60s would have likely been disappointed with a $100 hat with a texture like mine.

So I dunked it overnight in gasoline. I use Aspen 4 to clean/service my old hats as it has no modern additives, colorants, ethanol, etc and is as close to early white gasoline as is (to my knowledge) available today. (Even Coleman and Crown lantern fuels contain a variety of additives--notably in the case of Coleman fuel a blue-green colorant, which would not do any favors to a light-colored hat!). Aspen 4 is a highly refined gasoline for four-stroke engines and has a storage life of many years compared to modern gasolines, which will go gummy in as little as six months. (There is an Aspen 2 for two-stroke engines, but for heaven's sake don't use that as it is premixed with oil!)

Anyhow, I soaked the 100 overnight in the Aspen 4, gave it a good agitation in the morning, and hung it up to dry. Then I poured the used Aspen into a glass jug and was amazed/gobsmacked at how much fine particulate matter had come off and was drifting about in the fluid. (No hat powder, thankfully, which is sometimes the case with light hats.) I then strained the Aspen through coffee filters and cheesecloth and collected almost a teaspoon of fine grey dust that had come out of this pristine-looking hat. (Under magnification this contained almost no fur particles of any size.)

Bottom line is that when the formerly chalky-but-clean-looking 100 dried and was given a light brushing, that felt was as soft as the hair on the back of an angel. It had the feel of a brand-new, high quality 100% beaver felt again. It was like stepping into a kind of tactile time machine.

Point of this screed is that I think sometimes it is possible to judge the hand of an old felt--even an apparently very clean one--'unfairly' because of its large load of very fine atmospheric dust acquired over many years of even very careful storage. And, of course, the ambient atmospheric conditions/pollution and storage conditions will vary widely from hat to hat.

My working hypothesis is that over time, very fine airborne dust, smoke, etc. clogs and smooths over the surface pores of the felt, and mats down the very fine surface nap. (With nappier felts, velours, satins, and melusines this is negligible to the hand, but to the very fine nap of a Stetson 100 it is much more noticeable.) I say 'hypothesis' because that's exactly what it is--something to test experimentally and to revise and replace as new observations accumulate. And it is 'my' hypothesis only because I've never discussed it with anyone else, so it's highly possible that some or many of you have evolved a similar one. I make no pretensions to originality (other than in my books, ha ha).

In short, I believe that the gasoline bath not only opens up the pores again, but also gently raises the nap to what I have to think was something closer to the feel of a $100 hat when new.

I've had similar experiences to this one with other hats, too, but in truth it took a little courage to dunk one of my 100s in gasoline. So I wanted to share my experience and results here for your interest and/or amusement, and also without exposing any of you to risk of damage, either to the hat from the gasoline bath or to yourself from the attendant hazards of gasoline. Which I would enjoin you to avoid--this is part of my profession and I've been at it long enough to evolve rather elaborate (baroque?) precautions to avoid either immolating myself or burning down the house. Neither of which would endear me to my wife, even if I survived them.

Thank you for sharing. This kind of experience is invaluable and very difficult to replicate. I am stunned that you were able to make yourself dunk a pristine 100 in a bucket of gas regardless of how you expected it to turn out. But I’m grateful that you shared the experience.

 

[Gilded Age Guy]

I'm a tinkerer by nature, an engineer by original profession, and nowadays for my book research I am keen to resurrect old/lost Gilded Age technologies. On the hat front--and hats were mighty important both as headwear and as symbology in the Gilded Age--among other things I've come up with a new/improved Cravenette finishing process (original was introduced on raincoats/outerwear circa 1881, and by the nineteen-teens or so, maybe earlier, Mallory had secured an exclusive for its use on hats), recreated/tested 'modern' Russia leather sweats (used in the very best hats prior to the Russian Revolution in 1917), distilled organic dyes used in hatting in the pre-aniline days (good for touching up faded hats or spotting on very old ones), and devised a process for aging toquilla hats at the molecular level without adversely affecting their feel or flexibility. I don't know if there's a Hat Engineering/Technology thread anywhere on here, so all of this is likely misplaced here, and I will beg forgiveness if so. In due course if anyone is interested I'll find a better place to share some of my experience, or welcome suggestion as to where that might be.

 

[jba972]

I'm a tinkerer by nature, an engineer by original profession, and nowadays for my book research I am keen to resurrect old/lost Gilded Age technologies. On the hat front--and hats were mighty important both as headwear and as symbology in the Gilded Age--among other things I've come up with a new/improved Cravenette finishing process (original was introduced on raincoats/outerwear circa 1881, and by the nineteen-teens or so, maybe earlier, Mallory had secured an exclusive for its use on hats), recreated/tested 'modern' Russia leather sweats (used in the very best hats prior to the Russian Revolution in 1917), distilled organic dyes used in hatting in the pre-aniline days (good for touching up faded hats or spotting on very old ones), and devised a process for aging toquilla hats at the molecular level without adversely affecting their feel or flexibility. I don't know if there's a Hat Engineering/Technology thread anywhere on here, so all of this is likely misplaced here, and I will beg forgiveness if so. In due course if anyone is interested I'll find a better place to share some of my experience, or welcome suggestion as to where that might be.

Did the Aspen 4 have any effect on the leather sweatband?

 

[Judgmentalist]

I'm a tinkerer by nature, an engineer by original profession, and nowadays for my book research I am keen to resurrect old/lost Gilded Age technologies. On the hat front--and hats were mighty important both as headwear and as symbology in the Gilded Age--among other things I've come up with a new/improved Cravenette finishing process (original was introduced on raincoats/outerwear circa 1881, and by the nineteen-teens or so, maybe earlier, Mallory had secured an exclusive for its use on hats), recreated/tested 'modern' Russia leather sweats (used in the very best hats prior to the Russian Revolution in 1917), distilled organic dyes used in hatting in the pre-aniline days (good for touching up faded hats or spotting on very old ones), and devised a process for aging toquilla hats at the molecular level without adversely affecting their feel or flexibility. I don't know if there's a Hat Engineering/Technology thread anywhere on here, so all of this is likely misplaced here, and I will beg forgiveness if so. In due course if anyone is interested I'll find a better place to share some of my experience, or welcome suggestion as to where that might be.

No idea where it belongs but I want to read about all of it. I would also be particularly interested in you opinion on how the quality of your finest Optimos compares to the best hats produced at the peak of the quality production era.