Ebay Hats: Victories, Defeats, Gripes & Items of Interest

[Lefty]

Wil, I think that Danbury hat will look great on you.

This Stetson 100 case went pretty high, even without the insert. I wonder if the cross listing helped:
Clothing, Shoes & Accessories > Women's Clothing > Juniors > Outerwear

 

[Dreispitz]

swell anonymous Danbury-made hat

the slightly slanted sewing on the edwards loocks very well done! :eusa_clap :eusa_clap

 

[Ande1964]

I got the Royal Deluxe today. Lovely hat- light, supple felt, beautiful light tan sweat, and perfect condition. Oh, and... a 1 3/4 inch brim, despite the seller's assurance that it was 2 inches.

Sigh.

It's still plenty nice enough to keep, but damn... the bay is frustrating sometimes!

Anj

I popped for the pricier one. I'm not sure the Sovereign isn't a 1 3/4 brim, and I like the color on the Royal Deluxe. I hope it's as nice as my other Royal Deluxe from that era.

I'll have to purge a few to make room!

Anj

 

[Golden Earache]

Yep, this one is mine.

teeny tiny Disney for $16

also scored this Medalist for 13.49

 

[kiltie]

Lefty

I was gonna go that green western. Far too small, but I thought it would make for an excellent first conversion, what with the unusual color and all. It really is a neat looking hat.

 

[Lefty]

I was thinking about that too. For $10 on the hat , a $100 conversion wouldn't be too bad. I think that even sizing it to a 7 1/2 would leave a pretty decent brim.

 

[jec]

I was thinking about that too. For $10 on the hat , a $100 conversion wouldn't be too bad. I think that even sizing it to a 7 1/2 would leave a pretty decent brim.

Lefty,
As long as you bring this up, how well does it work ,in general, to purchase a vintage hat deliberately small and then have it professionally resized one or two sizes up? And do you know about how much brim you'd lose per size of upsizing?

as one of the big-headed crowd here, I've been thinking about buying small and enlarging a nice hat. I realize the cost would include the resizing, new sweat and new ribbon; anything else?

 

[Lefty]

I have no idea what the formula for size gain to loss of brim width conversion would be. As to how it would be done, however, that's an easy one. Send it to Optimo. For around $100, they'll rebuild the hat. This means that they'll take out the old sweat, liner, and ribbon (unfortunately, they can't be reinstalled), block the hat to your size and style preference, install a new sweat, liner, and ribbon (you choose the style of the bow and the ribbon width/color/etc.) and send it back to you as a brand new hat.
This one is still my favorite conversion, ever. I see that Rick got to keep his liner, so maybe he didn't have the size altered.

 

[carter]

My experience has been ...

Lefty,
As long as you bring this up, how well does it work ,in general, to purchase a vintage hat deliberately small and then have it professionally resized one or two sizes up? And do you know about how much brim you'd lose per size of upsizing?

as one of the big-headed crowd here, I've been thinking about buying small and enlarging a nice hat. I realize the cost would include the resizing, new sweat and new ribbon; anything else?

Having done this several times:
One size up should be no problem.
Two sizes up and it gets a bit tight. You're likely to lose some crown height and the proportions will be a bit off.
I wouldn't try to go up more than two sizes and would recommend stopping at one.

 

[jec]

Lefty and Carter,

Thank you both for your thoughts on this. I had seen that terrific thread on the Optimo conversion, but that one - if I remember right - did not include a change in size. I've had Optimo convert one of mine, too - but again, I had not thought about starting small and having a larger hat after the restoration.

I will keep your one size and maybe two as a guideline, Carter. THanks.

 

[Lefty]

Two Strats just sold7 3/8 for 223.50 with the fantastic sweat and crown markings that I've only seen on Tony in wherever's Strat

7 1/4 for 140.50

 

[jimmy the lid]

Wow -- that first Strat is really something.

Love the color on the second...

Cheers,
JtL

 

[carter]

:arated: Watched that dark Strat for days. Should be a real beauty once restored.

 

[RBH]

The Chief is correct!!!!
Those Stratoliners are great!!!

 

[Tango Yankee]

Wow -- that first Strat is really something.

It was, ummm, irresistable.

Cheers,
Tom

 

[jimmy the lid]

It was, ummm, irresistable.

Cheers,
Tom

Oh, man -- good for you, Tom!!! :eusa_clap :eusa_clap :eusa_clap

Cheers,
JtL

 

[kiltie]

I put a bill and a half on the dark Strat early on, but just walking down the street I could hear people whispering behind my back about how silly I was.

 

[Wil Tam]

anyone watch this?

Lot of 14

 

[jamespowers]

Lot of 14

If the size was right, I would have been on it. 7 1/8 doesn't work for me. [huh]

 

[carouselvic]

That's the way they market bananas....and now hats!!