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German & Austrian Hutmachers

Wangenheim

Familiar Face
Messages
95
[/URL]

Tremel was located in Herford, Germany. I am not sure when they went out of business but I will do some more research. There are some great photos from this book (see below).

"Herford zwischen 1900 und 1960" By Eris Valentowicz.

"After the death of the founder August Tremel in 1924, his sons Adolf and August took over the hat factory and built a new building in 1927 at the same location. Above the hat shop, here around 1930, was the hat maker's workshop."

46435068044_b2b6edd9ee_b.jpg


"For the production of a folding cylinder "Chapeau claque", a basic form, the galette, was first made.This photo from the 1950s shows a Tremel hatter holding two Galettes in his hands.The plush was mounted on the godet during the next step."

40193774503_8b9c4794e8_b.jpg


One of the pages is missing from the preview but you can see the rest of entry here. Some really great photos!

https://books.google.com/books?id=m...Nd8KHS0ZDegQ6AEwC3oECAMQAQ#v=onepage&q&f=true

Oh, that's great! They are making my hat : )
 
Messages
17,518
Location
Maryland
Can't see the mechanism that collapses it. Is it under the sweat?

I don't quite understand: The mechanism can never be seen. You can feel it behind the liner, yes.


"Altenburger Hut & Putz GmbH" have a new name "Altenburger Hut und Kostüm GmbH" after insolvency. Their website doesn't work anymore. Matt lives nearby so maybe he will post.

"Today the hat factory in Lödla is the only hat workshop still producing in central Germany. In 2001 Harald Etzold took over the company. After the theaters were often closed during the corona pandemic and many orders were lost as a result, insolvency came last year - and at the turn of the year the saving takeover by "Matamorph GmbH". The company is now called Altenburger Hut und Costume GmbH. Etzold continues to work as operations manager."

 
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Messages
17,518
Location
Maryland
A few years ago I found this company aleisa (Albert Eisele Achern) that makes Klappzylinder. I checked and they are still in business but they don't have a retail business.

ALEISA Albert Eisele Hutfabrik Achern e.K., Meinrad Jülg
Landsiedlungstr. 8
79336 Herbolzheim
Germany
Get directions
+49 7643 9378423
+49 7643 9378424
mjuelg@aleisa.de



This article is from 2013

 
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Messages
17,518
Location
Maryland
Max Förster "Marke Förster", Wool, 57 cm, 144 grams possibly 1930s. Max Förster Altenburg (Thüringen) was a major hat factory up to WWII. (Altenburg was a hat making center.) I only have one other Max Förster and it's a Wool Soft Felt so happy to have found this Stiff Felt. The seller of this Stiff Felt is located in Altenburg.

52538297563_7fa940cab1_h.jpg


52538043599_db31404e32_h.jpg


52537753771_a2cec484f7_h.jpg


52538050579_a05c4490c1_h.jpg


52538310773_25148076b9_h.jpg


52534627110_3ff7e5f3e2_h.jpg
 
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Wangenheim

Familiar Face
Messages
95
By reading this thread for the last month I fell in love with velour hats. So I decided to look for one. Maybe I am a lucky guy, but after one week I found a very nice example. It's a Mayser "Orion" in black. The crown measures 10,5cm, the brim 5,7-5,8cm. The hat band and the sweat band are 4,5cm each. The grey sweatband is unreeded. The liner is a nice grey-greenish silk.

Size 56. Most hats are too wide and to short for me, which results in the need for a 57 at least, where I feel the hat on my forehead only. This one has exactly my headshape, so it's some kind of long oval and therefore fits perfectly.

Further down the thread I saw an invoice from Mayser, where a hat dealer bought 6 Orions in 1931 for 6,65M each. So is this a hat from around 1931? Or did they sell the "Orion" for a longer period of time?

IMG_0366.JPG IMG_0367.JPG IMG_0368.JPG IMG_0369.JPG IMG_0370.JPG
 
Messages
17,518
Location
Maryland
By reading this thread for the last month I fell in love with velour hats. So I decided to look for one. Maybe I am a lucky guy, but after one week I found a very nice example. It's a Mayser "Orion" in black. The crown measures 10,5cm, the brim 5,7-5,8cm. The hat band and the sweat band are 4,5cm each. The grey sweatband is unreeded. The liner is a nice grey-greenish silk.

Size 56. Most hats are too wide and to short for me, which results in the need for a 57 at least, where I feel the hat on my forehead only. This one has exactly my headshape, so it's some kind of long oval and therefore fits perfectly.

Further down the thread I saw an invoice from Mayser, where a hat dealer bought 6 Orions in 1931 for 6,65M each. So is this a hat from around 1931? Or did they sell the "Orion" for a longer period of time?

View attachment 469860 View attachment 469861 View attachment 469862 View attachment 469863 View attachment 469864
It's really fantastic! You were very lucky to find it. There aren't many examples of early Mayser Ulm Velours. The "Orion" mark was around for a while but your hat could be from around 1931. My guess would be from around that time period. Would it be possible to take a photo of the Bow side?
 
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PanosChris

Practically Family
Messages
977
By reading this thread for the last month I fell in love with velour hats. So I decided to look for one. Maybe I am a lucky guy, but after one week I found a very nice example. It's a Mayser "Orion" in black. The crown measures 10,5cm, the brim 5,7-5,8cm. The hat band and the sweat band are 4,5cm each. The grey sweatband is unreeded. The liner is a nice grey-greenish silk.

Size 56. Most hats are too wide and to short for me, which results in the need for a 57 at least, where I feel the hat on my forehead only. This one has exactly my headshape, so it's some kind of long oval and therefore fits perfectly.

Further down the thread I saw an invoice from Mayser, where a hat dealer bought 6 Orions in 1931 for 6,65M each. So is this a hat from around 1931? Or did they sell the "Orion" for a longer period of time?

View attachment 469860 View attachment 469861 View attachment 469862 View attachment 469863 View attachment 469864
A great start to old velours and a rare find for sure, congrats!
 
Messages
18,466
Location
Nederland
Max Förster "Marke Förster", Wool, 57 cm, 144 grams possibly 1930s. Max Förster Altenburg (Thüringen) was a major hat factory up to WWII. (Altenburg was a hat making center.) I only have one other Max Förster and it's a Wool Soft Felt so happy to have found this Stiff Felt. The seller of this Stiff Felt is located in Altenburg.

52538297563_7fa940cab1_h.jpg


52538043599_db31404e32_h.jpg


52537753771_a2cec484f7_h.jpg


52538050579_a05c4490c1_h.jpg


52538310773_25148076b9_h.jpg


52534627110_3ff7e5f3e2_h.jpg
Very cool hat, Steve. You just never see these, so a welcome find.

By reading this thread for the last month I fell in love with velour hats. So I decided to look for one. Maybe I am a lucky guy, but after one week I found a very nice example. It's a Mayser "Orion" in black. The crown measures 10,5cm, the brim 5,7-5,8cm. The hat band and the sweat band are 4,5cm each. The grey sweatband is unreeded. The liner is a nice grey-greenish silk.

Size 56. Most hats are too wide and to short for me, which results in the need for a 57 at least, where I feel the hat on my forehead only. This one has exactly my headshape, so it's some kind of long oval and therefore fits perfectly.

Further down the thread I saw an invoice from Mayser, where a hat dealer bought 6 Orions in 1931 for 6,65M each. So is this a hat from around 1931? Or did they sell the "Orion" for a longer period of time?

View attachment 469860 View attachment 469861 View attachment 469862 View attachment 469863 View attachment 469864
O wow. That's a find and a half I'd say. DIfficult enough finding these old Mayser hats, let alone a pre-war velour. Super hat.
 

Wangenheim

Familiar Face
Messages
95
It's really fantastic! You were very lucky to find it. There aren't many examples of early Mayser Ulm Velours. The "Orion" mark was around for a while but your hat could be from around 1931. My guess would be from around that time period. Would it be possible to take a photo of the Bow side?
Ah sorry, I forgot the bow!

I did take a look at the invoice again and recognized, that there are some interesting things about it. Beside the size-lineup: There's another model called "Castello". Do you know what kind of hat that is? Secondly I was surprised that the other hat is much more expensive. But then I tried to read the handwritten line below: The Castello is the Velour hat here. So maybe this explains the price (I guess the Velour hats were more expensive). That in return would mean, that "Orion" has nothing to do with the felt finish, but is just the shape of the hat block. Do you know of any Orion that is not Velour?

I struggle with one handwritten word in the line for the Orion: "dunkel **** farb. Haarhut, flachrund". The **** seems to be "m" (?) and "rd", maybe a point afterwards, so this could also be an abbreviation (a colour name?). What could this be?


IMG_0475.JPG Rechnung Mayser Orion.jpg
 

Wangenheim

Familiar Face
Messages
95
Yes, indeed.

But sometimes, some of the mechanism can be seen. For example, like in your photos of the "Stadion".

That's right, the "Stadion" has a little hole in its liner. And also at other points the mechanism pushes through. But I think this is not meant to be so, just a symptom of age. Because the better preserved "Tremel" doesn't show anything of that, even after folding out the sweat band. It's post war, I grant, so maybe the construction is not the same. I don't have an absolutely great preserved top hat to check this.
 

Wangenheim

Familiar Face
Messages
95
A great start to old velours and a rare find for sure, congrats!
Thank you! I'm not a collector, just try to find some nice hats to wear, so the start may be the end : ) But I really like the fact, that it's black. Because I don't like black soft hats so much. The black felt sucks away all the light, which could show the shape. But with the shiny finish of the velour the shape comes back. So this is now my only black hat, I really like to wear.
 
Messages
17,518
Location
Maryland
Ah sorry, I forgot the bow!

I did take a look at the invoice again and recognized, that there are some interesting things about it. Beside the size-lineup: There's another model called "Castello". Do you know what kind of hat that is? Secondly I was surprised that the other hat is much more expensive. But then I tried to read the handwritten line below: The Castello is the Velour hat here. So maybe this explains the price (I guess the Velour hats were more expensive). That in return would mean, that "Orion" has nothing to do with the felt finish, but is just the shape of the hat block. Do you know of any Orion that is not Velour?

I struggle with one handwritten word in the line for the Orion: "dunkel **** farb. Haarhut, flachrund". The **** seems to be "m" (?) and "rd", maybe a point afterwards, so this could also be an abbreviation (a colour name?). What could this be?


View attachment 469945 View attachment 469946
Thank you for the photo!

>
I did take a look at the invoice again and recognized, that there are some interesting things about it. Beside the size-lineup: There's another model called "Castello". Do you know what kind of hat that is?
>
"Castello" is a Quality type not a model.

>
Secondly I was surprised that the other hat is much more expensive. But then I tried to read the handwritten line below: The Castello is the Velour hat here. So maybe this explains the price (I guess the Velour hats were more expensive).
>
Velour finish required many extra processes so higher labor cost and also the use of more expensive fur (Wild Hare). In the time period of your hat Echter / Real Velour was moving from a manual to machine brushing. You can read about it here.


I have a lot of information on Velour production on my website and offline library.

>
That in return would mean, that "Orion" has nothing to do with the felt finish, but is just the shape of the hat block. Do you know of any Orion that is not Velour?
>
"Orion" is a Quality type. Here is one.

https://germanaustrianhats.invisionzone.com/topic/3-mayser-hutfabrik/?do=findComment&comment=1482

>
I struggle with one handwritten word in the line for the Orion: "dunkel **** farb. Haarhut, flachrund". The **** seems to be "m" (?) and "rd", maybe a point afterwards, so this could also be an abbreviation (a colour name?). What could this be?
>
I can't make it out. If it starts with an "m" it might be melange.
 
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Wangenheim

Familiar Face
Messages
95
Thank you for the photo!

>
I did take a look at the invoice again and recognized, that there are some interesting things about it. Beside the size-lineup: There's another model called "Castello". Do you know what kind of hat that is?
>
"Castello" is a Quality type not a model.

>
Secondly I was surprised that the other hat is much more expensive. But then I tried to read the handwritten line below: The Castello is the Velour hat here. So maybe this explains the price (I guess the Velour hats were more expensive).
>
Velour finish required many extra processes so higher labor cost and also the use of more expensive fur (Wild Hare). In the time period of your hat Echter / Real Velour was moving from a manual to machine brushing. You can read about it here.

[/URL][/URL]

I have a lot of information on Velour production on my website and offline library.

>
That in return would mean, that "Orion" has nothing to do with the felt finish, but is just the shape of the hat block. Do you know of any Orion that is not Velour?
>
"Orion" is a Quality type. Here is one.

[URL][URL]https://germanaustrianhat...mayser-hutfabrik/?do=findComment&comment=1482[/URL][/URL]

>
I struggle with one handwritten word in the line for the Orion: "dunkel **** farb. Haarhut, flachrund". The **** seems to be "m" (?) and "rd", maybe a point afterwards, so this could also be an abbreviation (a colour name?). What could this be?
>
I can't make it out. If it starts with an "m" it might be melange.
Thank you! That's a very interesting description of the Velour-process. It seems to be really hard to get a good velour-shine into the felt. And that these hats still look great today (after 90 years) is - according to the author - the final sentence of high quality.

The other Orion that you showed has no liner (and is obviously made on a different hat block). So the "Quality Orion" can only refer to the felt quality, right? But as the invoice seems to say, that the "Orion" is not a Velour hat here (only the "Castello") - what kind of hat quality is described with this term "Orion"? Is this investigateable? And it rises the interesting question: What makes a "Castello"? (And of course: Where do I get one? :)
 
Messages
17,518
Location
Maryland
Thank you! That's a very interesting description of the Velour-process. It seems to be really hard to get a good velour-shine into the felt. And that these hats still look great today (after 90 years) is - according to the author - the final sentence of high quality.

The other Orion that you showed has no liner (and is obviously made on a different hat block). So the "Quality Orion" can only refer to the felt quality, right? But as the invoice seems to say, that the "Orion" is not a Velour hat here (only the "Castello") - what kind of hat quality is described with this term "Orion"? Is this investigateable? And it rises the interesting question: What makes a "Castello"? (And of course: Where do I get one? :)
Velour of that quality will never be again.

I don't have any information on what the Mayser quality types mean. My guess is the meaning changed over time and names were dropped and some resurfaced later. I don't believe I haven't encountered a "Castello" quality type. I do have a "Stella" quality type which is listed on a Mayser Ulm invoice of mine.


https://germanaustrianhats.invisionzone.com/topic/3-mayser-hutfabrik/?do=findComment&comment=2159

There is some writing in the middle of the paper label. Can you make any of it out? Also there is writing on the Sweatband tape. Can you take a photo of that?
 

Wangenheim

Familiar Face
Messages
95
Velour of that quality will never be again.

I don't have any information on what the Mayser quality types mean. My guess is the meaning changed over time and names were dropped and some resurfaced later. I don't believe I haven't encountered a "Castello" quality type. I do have a "Stella" quality type which is listed on a Mayser Ulm invoice of mine.

[/URL]

https://germanaustrianhats.invisionzone.com/topic/3-mayser-hutfabrik/?do=findComment&comment=2159

There is some writing in the middle of the paper label. Can you make any of it out? Also there is writing on the Sweatband tape. Can you take a photo of that?

Behind the sweat band someone wrote: "Horen" or "Hosem"? Doesn't make sense.

The handwriting on the label just says "Christian" as far as I can see. But as I looked closer on your very good Website-thread about Maysers, I saw that there must be a stamp in the middle. It definitely doesn't say "Orion" in my opinion. It's really hard to make out as the colour faded and the handwriting on top makes it even more difficult. I tried to photograph it and gave an example what I would read: a capital "D", then about 3 other letters, then "ra", and then oddly enough two "mm" with a slight offest downwards.

If I should make a guess about the missing letters, there would be "f" (the top seems to be there) right after the "D" (or is is a P maybe) and then "a" and "o" (or the top of it, so could be "n" also). Would make Pfaora(mm) - which makes no sense.

Does that tell you anything?

IMG_0486.JPG



Label Mayser Orion.JPG
 

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