Fed up with E Bay

[Adman256]

I have been looking for a used Open Road size 7 1/4. Either 6X or Royal Deluxe. The prices on the Bay are way out of line and quite laughable. I don’t want to buy a brand new hat from Stetson. Should I look for a custom made hat? I just don’t know. Anyone care to point me in the right direction?

 

[jlee562]

I have been looking for a used Open Road size 7 1/4. Either 6X or Royal Deluxe. The prices on the Bay are way out of line and quite laughable. I don’t want to buy a brand new hat from Stetson. Should I look for a custom made hat? I just don’t know. Anyone care to point me in the right direction?

If you're going to buy a second hand OR, don't buy a modern hat. I have more affinity for Hatco Stetsons than most here, but it would have to be a really good deal for me to jump at a second hand 6x. Personally I would rather just have a new hat, or an older vintage hat. YMMV. It might just be a me thing where I'd rather buy new over a modern used hat. I just figure if I'm buying a Hatco Stetson, I'd prefer to buy from a store with a reasonable exchange policy rather than betting on Joe Q. Ebay's eye for spotting defects.

Look for a 3x, preferably with the embroidered last drop liner, and ideally with the onion skin tip liner. The keyhole tag is preferable to the square black tag. If you hit all of these marks, you've found a 50's hat, or 60's with the square tag. This will be a much nicer hat than anything you can buy new. They also made them in Royal and Royal Deluxe back then, but I like the 3x hats. If you weren't already aware, the X system is nonsense, so an older 3x is not 'half as good' as a modern 6x. It's far superior.

There are a bunch of 4xs floating around from the 70's and 80's. These are not like the quality of earlier hats, but perfectly acceptable if you're looking to avoid new hat prices. You might also try looking for a Resistol San Antonio. For all intents and purposes, it's basically the same as an OR. I also think Resistol kept up a higher quality longer into the late 60's/70's as Stetson transitioned away from manufacturing. Of course the Akubra Campdraft is another popular choice. I don't personally prefer Akubra because of their sweatbands and less refined finishing, but you can find the threads on the forum here of many satisfied Akubra wearers. You can also try giving the Garland outlet a call. They're outlet hats, so not first quality, but more than one of us here have something from the outlet.

For online retailers, always look for coupon codes and sales. You'd be surprised how often "welcome10" will knock 10% off. Village Hat Shop is currently running a sale which would make the 6x $320, and the RD $265. However, since I don't imagine them running out of stock of ORs, I'd probably wait it out for Black Friday, you might save a bit more.

If you want to invest in a custom hat, I'd advise to do some research on different hatters and not just pick the first one that comes along. Some have blocking machines and hydraulic brim presses, while some others are a person in their garage with a commercial steam iron. There are different levels in other words. I have customs, I wear and enjoy my customs (as well as my own hobbyist builds), but I still choose vintage more often than not.

 

[Bamaboots]

Not sure what your expectations are or what your budget is but RD ORs in your size are not that common but they’re around. I’m not big on posting active sale links because somebody here is probably watching it. To me, this is not an unreasonable price. YMMV but sometimes you just have to get off your hip to get what you want.

https://ebay.io/m/hSYYXt