Darwins Hat

[Dinerman]

If that monkey had done so to a hat with a differently blocked crown and with a differently shaped brim two or more years after Darwin's death, than maybe they would have called it a fedora.

 

[HarpPlayerGene]

If that monkey had done so to a hat with a differently blocked crown and with a differently shaped brim two or more years after Darwin's death, than maybe they would have called it a fedora.

Oh, whaddyou you know? You're just a rookie at this. lol

 

[Dinerman]

Oh, whaddyou you know? You're just a rookie at this. lol

lol

 

[danofarlington]

http://www.clearwaterhats.com/Civil War/civil_war Four.htm

You might try clearwater hats. They have one they're calling a derby (it's not), that might fit the bill. Looks like it may be a wool felt though.

Amazing they've been in business all these years! It must be a record of some kind.

 

[Dinerman]

22 years?

 

[danofarlington]

22 years?

No, since 1831 or whenever that was! Of course it raises the question of how Darwin would have found the shop in the U.S. in the first place.

 

[rlk]

If that monkey had done so to a hat with a differently blocked crown and with a differently shaped brim two or more years after Darwin's death, than maybe they would have called it a fedora.

lol lol True, but if they were Italian they would have called a dented Bowler a Lobbia at the time of the Photos.

 

[Richard Warren]

I should have known that my theory that Darwin's hat is the missing link between the fedora and its suspected but never proven ancestors would be rejected by the fedorationists.

 

[scotrace]

Darwin's hat looks like the "Derby" you find in Halloween costume shops.

 

[danofarlington]

I should have known that my theory that Darwin's hat is the missing link between the fedora and its suspected but never proven ancestors would be rejected by the fedorationists.

lol lol lol

 

[Woodfluter]

Picture taken by Elliot and Fry in 1881?

Not sure exactly when hats like this became "old hat" but you see gobs of them in pictures taken around the American Civil War era. Probably later too.

I think it falls under the "slouch hat" portmanteau, a very liberal term in those days. They could be narrow or broader brimmed, often had edge trimming, usually were worn open crowned or with accidental creases (as were most hats then, it seems). Not always of the best materials I suspect. Maybe a common, workingman's kind of hat? While some were better made?

Here's pictures of Atzerodt and Herold, two of the Lincoln assassination conspirators, wearing this kind of thing. Think I'd rather remember Darwin's however.

 

[hatophile]

I agree with Dinerman and Woodfluter, given the time of the photo, it looks to be a slouch hat, similar to those worn at the time of the American Civil War. I have also seen those at the Clearwater hat company, never ordered one from them, so I don't know what they're like to deal with. I do believe they are fur felt, though.