Dating a Dobbs Homburg

[XPLSV]

Below are some pics of a recent arrival that my wife actually snatched off OFAS for me--I must be making some great headway if she is now finding and buying hats rather than telling me not to spend money on them! I have included pics of the box in which it arrived (perhaps the original?), the hat, liner, sweat, etc. From what I have been able to find on Roger Peet Company, I believe that they opened their first Boston area location in the late 1920's or early 1930's...I don't have a definitive date on that, but that should be the oldest this hat could be. I also found some info that they later opened locations in Washington DC, Detroit and elsewhere, but haven't found dates to put with those locations opening...so I don't have a most recent type date that would have been indicated by additional cities on the liner logo. I've seen some 1940's Dobbs Homburgs with the logo in Gold, but I don't think they had the hat store location imprinted...so I don't know what to make of the black logo on the liner. Found nothing on the Kenwood model name...I assume this may have been something just for Rogers Peet. Appreciate any info you experts can provide!

 

[mingoslim]

Well . . . first you take it to dinner . . .

Seriously, a very nice hat . . . and I love the box as well. Not sure of the age, though I would guess older (late 30s) based on the details . . .

Are you sure the box is original to the hat?

 

[Feraud]

Is that a homburge? It looks like a bowler..

 

[Dinerman]

1930s. Could we get a shot of that brim- the brim looks like no homburg I've seen before.

 

[tonyb]

The only thing giving me pause as to the 1930s estimate is that slightly askew "Dobbs" logo embossed on the sweatband. And that's only because of all the vintage Dobbs hats I've handled (a few of which remain in my custody, and one of which once belonged to you, dinerman), the only ones with that crooked logo seemed to be of more recent manufacture -- 1950s, I'd guess. But, you know, that's just my limited experience weighing in here. Dobbs may have been doing that logo-on-the-slant thing on some hats during an earlier period, and I just haven't yet come across 'em yet.

 

[XPLSV]

I have no way to know if this was the actual original box...but there is handwriting on the outside of the box that reads "black homburg" on both sides. As there is no other way to identify what is inside the box, I assume it was for identification purposes within the store.

I'm no homburg expert...my original thoughts were homburg because of the upturned lid and I assumed it was still in the original open crown shape, as it appears to have never been worn. I'll try and get some better pics of the brim when I get home tonight. My wife took the pics that are posted and I got what she edited, rather than the original images. Some of the background caused some contrast issues.

It's a pretty neat hat...I'm hoping she finds me more surprises down the road...

 

[Brad Bowers]

That's a fedora, just going by the flange on the brim. It's got a normal amount of curl for a fedora, and not near enough of a pencil curl to be a homburg. That overwelt and decorative stitching could prevent much of a curl, but those were the kind of details you'd see on fedoras. Homburgs and Derbies stayed fairly traditional and conservative.

The box says Filene's on the lid, not Rogers Peet, so looks like boxes got switched at some point.

This could very well be 1930s, but my gut keeps telling me 1950s.

Brad

 

[SPRFINO]

Not a bowler which would have a ribbon trimmed brim and also be hard, nor a homburg as well stated by Brad. Shape the crown and it will take on a very different look, however it looks to have been worn some. It could have belonged to an orthodox jew and was worn open crown, just a thought. My guess would be post-war in any case.