1930s Stetson 5X Clear Beaver Quality western

[alanfgag]

Thanks very much for the replies and congrats, guys.

Zetwal has so many treasures, doesn't he?

He certainly does. It's been our good fortune (literally 8^) to wear the same size!

Alan you should invest in a ranch somewhere to wear these incredible cowboy hats. At least move to west Buffalo!

Perry, I do live on Buffalo's wild West Side.

 

[carouselvic]

I'd...you know....

 

[feltfan]

Fantastic hat! Congrats. Fascinating to see another one.

First, let me say to Lefty that if Zetwal is parting with hats he is probably more
okay than most of us horders.

I have not been as fastidious as some with the clues for dating Stetsons. But this one appears more
1950s than 1930s to me. I thought that faux draw string on the sweatband came in with the 50s.
The typefaces look more 50s than 30s, too. But I dunno. Just glad mine has a date stamped on it
or I'd always wonder.

[edit: I have to agree with Alan that his hat shares many parts and style details with carouselvic's
hat in this post: this post . ]

That said, it's outstanding regardless of the decade of manufacture. Glad to see those photos.
Alan, be careful- JtL tried his best to drink me under the table to get ahold of my 5X.

 

[Chepstow]

Breathtaking hat, Alan

 

[carouselvic]

Feltfan I must respectfully disagree with any 50's date.

 

[alanfgag]

Fantastic hat! Congrats. Fascinating to see another one.

Thanks for your post. Your 5X with its presentation date is a fantastic Rosetta stone as well as a superb hat.

The gold printing on the size tag in my hat and the "Paris London" medallion design are pretty good clues to the vintage being early 1940s at latest. The XXXXX designation imprint on the front of the sweat is intriguing, as the imprint format on your hat continued pretty much unchanged on Stetson westerns for a couple of decades after. I've only seen this variant on my Imperial, but I believe it to be an earlier design... posed with a grain of salt, of course!

My small head has provided some good fortune in collecting... my hats would make nasty headlines on many of the full figured members here. But thanks for the heads up about JTL. I'll be sure to bring a hat I'm willing to lose to Fedorafest!

 

[Dinerman]

I have not been as fastidious as some with the clues for dating Stetsons. But this one appears more
1950s than 1930s to me. I thought that faux draw string on the sweatband came in with the 50s.
The typefaces look more 50s than 30s, too. But I dunno. Just glad mine has a date stamped on it
or I'd always wonder.

The style of liner logo, quality of liner embossing and liner material, style and clarity of sweatband embossing, sweatband stitching, size tag font, printing on the reverse of the sweatband all are consistent with what Stetson was doing in the '30s through early '40s.

I know these higher quality hats did sometimes have a tendency to run-over in time frame the detailing that their standard production hats had. That is to say, I've seen mid-late '60s 7X and Stetson 100s that have brown sweatbands and detailing more consistent with mid '50s regular-production Stetsons. But usually they have some kind of "tell", a later style size tag with earlier style liner, a later style liner with an earlier sweatband- that sort of thing.

 

[Joshbru3]

Holly smokes!!! I don't know if I can add anything better than what everybody has already said, but this hat is just phenomenal. You have collected some VERY impressive early Stetson westerns. I love the deep creases that you put into crown. They really add something to the western look. I also love that there was a stamp on the back of the sweatband that read "2 1/4," which I would assume is the sweatband width. I have never seen a stamp on the back of a stetson that made mention of the sweatband width.

If I may add my opinion on the dating of the hat...I believe it dates to the late 30's/very early 40's as well. The tighter "I" stitching on the sweatband, sweatband/liner logo, sweatband quality, and raw silk quality of the liner all say late 30's/very early 40's to me. Also, I have never seen a Stetson that dated any later than the mid 40's which still had the "soft" stamp on the back of the sweatband.

 

[hatophile]

Thanks very much for the replies and congrats, guys.



He certainly does. It's been our good fortune (literally 8^) to wear the same size!



Perry, I do live on Buffalo's wild West Side.

Shall we dub you "Buffalo Alan"?

 

[alanfgag]

Shall we dub you "Buffalo Alan"?

That would be good. Anything would be better than what I chose when I registered for the FL. I used my old AOL email name that I created when the internet was in its infancy. Well, sort of infancy. Every variation of my name had already been taken. I've always hated Alanfgag... but my swiss cheese of a mind can remember it. It never occurred to me that it would become my handle. It makes me a little queasy everytime I see it.

Josh, thanks very much for your comments!

 

[Rodkins]

My small head has provided some good fortune in collecting... my hats would make nasty headlines on many of the full figured members here.

Did I just get called full-figured? That would be a first. At what head size is that line drawn?

I'm just kidding around so please don't read into this post or take offense at all.

 

[Hoyt Clagwell]

That would be good. Anything would be better than what I chose when I registered for the FL. I used my old AOL email name that I created when the internet was in its infancy. Well, sort of infancy. Every variation of my name had already been taken. I've always hated Alanfgag... but my swiss cheese of a mind can remember it. It never occurred to me that it would become my handle. It makes me a little queasy everytime I see it.

I have often wondered what the story was behind that name. Not to worry, you have so many nice hats, and the ability to wear them.You could put a tomato basket on your head and it would be classy looking.

 

[feltfan]

My small head has provided some good fortune in collecting... my hats would make nasty headlines on many of the full figured members here. But thanks for the heads up about JTL. I'll be sure to bring a hat I'm willing to lose to Fedorafest!

I defer to others, as I said- just opening the dating question.

However, I'd like to point out, Alan, that the other option at Fedorafest is just not to drink with Jim.
Okay, I guess that's not realistic.

Again, great hat.

 

[triple-d]

WOOOOT!!!!....I had not seen this hat Alan.........such a beauty!!!! Congrats!!!!!

 

[Flick]

Beautiful hat, Alan. Truly a tribute to your class and style.

Thank you for the report and excellent pics. :eusa_clap

 

[RossRYoung]

A cousin to Feltfan's fantastic 5X dated 1942, I think this is perhaps a little earlier - late 1930s to 1940. I've taken quite a few photos - I hope you enjoy them.

The hat came to me from Zetwal with a tight telescoped crown. I thought I would open it up and apply a different crease. The felt is as wonderful as any of the clear beaver Stetsons I have handled. With a little steam and the Garvé I was able to remove all traces of the ridge from the original crease. The crown stands 6" tall. A subtle horizontal mark remained so I decided to soften the folds and add a diamond point to the rear, keeping the crown height about where it was.

Sorry to bump this ol thread with nothing to contribute, but curious to see if Alan has an easy way to reload the photos of this dream lid?

 

[alanfgag]

Sorry to bump this ol thread with nothing to contribute, but curious to see if Alan has an easy way to reload the photos of this dream lid?

Thank you for the heads up... I don't know what happened to that folder of images, but I've reloaded it to my web server. The images seem to be loading now.

 

[RossRYoung]

Thank you for the heads up... I don't know what happened to that folder of images, but I've reloaded it to my web server. The images seem to be loading now.

Yep! That beauty is visible again, thank you.

 

[RossRYoung]

A couple 5x’s from N. Porter Saddle & Harness Co. I thought I had found Alan’s hat in the 1928-29 catalog, but the ribbon is a 6-cord band vs. Alan’s 2-cord. This is a few years earlier though, so maybe they changed the ribbon in the 30’s on their, appropriately titled, “Porter” western?

My N. Porter 1936-37 catalog unfortunately does not list the “Porter” in a 5x quality, and it still has the 6-cord ribbon at this point. It does however list a ‘Laloo’ in 5x Clear Beaver.

I found it very interesting to see the drop in price for the 5x (albeit, smaller dimensions on the Laloo). Also, no mention of Clear in the 28-29 listing, yet it is mentioned twice in the 36-37 ‘Laloo’.

 

[RossRYoung]

I believe I found the year Stetson had dropped their prices, 1932. Below are 2 more N. Porter scans, from 1930 and 1932. The higher end hats appear to have the biggest discount, two more examples of 5x CB “Porter” included.

1930

Vs. 1932