German & Austrian Hutmachers

[Mario]

A stingy, tapered 7" in grey from Hut-Seidl, Munich, bought for 1,50 €. Very stiff felt. Again, I couldn't find any useful information on Seidl, except that one J. A. Seidl bought J. Zehme's hat shop (http://www.zehme-huete.de) in 1912.

 

[Mario]

Another stingy 7" Mayser, scored for 11 €. I had to replace the sweatband, as the old one was so brittle that it came apart when I tried to look for the label, which, by the way, is illegible.

 

[mayserwegener]

Mayserwegener asked me to post some of my recent ebay purchases here.
I'll start off with a Peschel 7" I won for 23,83 €. It's a very soft felt quality in carcoal grey. Came with a trolley attached to it. A few stains on the liner. I tried to find some information on Peschel, but couldn't come up with any results.

[/CENTER]

Thank you posting the hats!

I did find some info on Peschel as did Dreispitz (see above).

There is some German in the label so it might be pre WII. It looks pretty old to me.

 

[mayserwegener]

The reference on the radio.cz page mentions Peschel as one of the two other industrial scale producers of Novy Jicin next to Hückel. It is said, they all catered hats throughout the Austrian Empire and internationally. Due to the tough competititors the quality must have been good. Yes, what remained after the war in the Czech part was collectivated into TONAK.

Peschel also had a production site in Dinkelsbühl near Augsburg, Germany. The place had been turned into an air-force school after hat production stopped (no
record found on the exact year) and was demolished in the 1980ies.

Dreispitz, Thank you for additional information.

The third manufacturer was Brüder Böhm out of Vienna. They were jewish owned so of course had issues in Austria prior to WII and ended up being pushed out (absorbed by Hückel) of Nový Jičín (Neutitschein) once the Germans took over. They got back into business after WII in Vienna (closed around 1965) but everything became state controlled in Czech-Slovak.

Here are some links regarding a claim for Austrian Reparations. Lot of interesting historical information provided.

http://digital.cjh.org/R/?func=dbin-jump-full&object_id=249990&local_base=GEN01

http://digital.cjh.org:1801/view/action/singleViewer.do?dvs=1241361909780~846&locale=en_US&search_terms=000005956&adjacency=N&application=DIGITOOL-3&frameId=1&usePid1=true&usePid2=true

The archives are located in NYC.

Here is some more info regarding the Czech side.

http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~prohel/stories/bohmfac.html#st

 

[Mario]

Ah! I can finally see some light at the end of the tunnel! Thanks for the interesting information.

 

[mayserwegener]

By the way found it interesting that this post card mentions Wien as Hückel location.

 

[Mario]

Peschel also had a production site in Dinkelsbühl near Augsburg, Germany. The place had been turned into an air-force school after hat production stopped (no record found on the exact year) and was demolished in the 1980ies.

I just found out that there still seems to be at least a shop in Dinkelsbühl by the name of Anton E. Peschel, complete with address and phone number but no website. Seems to be selling (making?) hats, caps and men's fashion.

One of the hat-making Peschels of Novy Jicin was obviously one Günther Peschel (1921-1995).

 

[Dreispitz]

I just found out that there still seems to be at least a shop in Dinkelsbühl by the name of Anton E. Peschel, complete with address and phone number but no website. Seems to be selling (making?) hats, caps and men's fashion.

One of the hat-making Peschels of Novy Jicin was obviously one Günther Peschel (1921-1995).

Yes, the family must have gone to Dinkelsbühl after the war. Interesting, how one can trace people over the net

The present shop obviously has got no web presence. Would be interesting to find out, if they still make hats.

 

[Dreispitz]

By the way found it interesting that this post card mentions Wien as Hückel location.

Hückel was a large scale, international producer. They also had a site in Ratibor, Silesia.

 

[Mario]

Well, now. I just phoned up the Dinkelsbühl number I found - only to learn that there is no longer a shop by the name of Peschel... But - lo and behold! - I happend to talk with Anton Ernst Peschel's widow, and she told me that the production site in Dinkelsbühl closed it's doors in 1971. Her husband died seven years later, in 1978.

Günther Peschel from Novy Jicin/Neutitschein was on of their relatives, but I failed to ask for details here. She told me that, after the sixties and the general demise of the hat industry, it just didn't make sense anymore to produce hats at such a large scale, and they thus decided to end their business.

I told her that I just bought an old Peschel hat and that I was keen to find some information about the company, even more so because it's so hard to find any information at all. She said that it makes her very happy to learn that there are still people out there who love to wear Peschel hats. She seemed so very proud of the lids they made - and so pretty sad that they had to abandon the business.

Well, that's not really a whole lot of information, I know, but for my part, I feel a little bit moved, really...

BTW: I stumbled over one more interesting info on A. E. Peschel: It seems that, starting in 1923, he put in a stint in the USA. Don't know how long he stayed, but there is a passenger record I found in the Ellis Island Foundation archives:

 

[mayserwegener]

Here is a really nice black J. Heinr. ITA Homburg. Seller said 1940 but I couldn't find any date info on the paper label.

 

[mayserwegener]

I just posted this one on the Homburg Nation thread. I received my restored 1940* Habig Homburg from Optimo. They replaced the sweat and ribbon and upped the size from 56cm to 59cm. Optimo did a really great job as did Habig from the start.

By the way this is the hat I confirmed the production date based on the paper label number sequence.

Original sweat with date.

 

[mayserwegener]

This is a new vintage Habig Homburg. I am thinking it is from 1951 based on the paper label number sequence. To me this one is about as good as it gets regarding Homburgs. The felt is of super quality.

 

[mayserwegener]

This Wegener Homburg was probably made about 10 years ago. Nicely made for a modern production hat.

 

[Dreispitz]

Interesting hat. You also have got another Homburg, that is rather similar to the Wegener. It had a broader ribbon, but the stitching on the rim binding is very similar. I also have one that showes some similarities. Maybe, Wegener did the OEMmanufacturing for some private labels. I will post some pictures, the next days.

 

[mayserwegener]

Interesting hat. You also have got another Homburg, that is rather similar to the Wegener. It had a broader ribbon, but the stitching on the rim binding is very similar. I also have one that showes some similarities. Maybe, Wegener did the OEMmanufacturing for some private labels. I will post some pictures, the next days.

Yes that one was made by Lembert (Augsburg). They are still making hats. I wanted to stop by but couldn't fit it in. Might be an interesting visit just for historical info.

http://www.hutfabrik-lembert.de/start.html

 

[Mario]

Just won this 1960s Mayser on the UK ebay site. It's a 6 3/4. Crown height is 4 3/4, brim width 1 7/8. It's a very dark navy, so dark that it appears to be almost black; the photos are not really accurate. Note the style of the bow.

 

[mayserwegener]

Mario, Very unique bow on that Mayser. Very small size though.

 

[Mario]

Yes, rather smallish melon on my shoulders. But it doesn't show...
I'm usually somewhere between 7 and 6 3/4"".

And yes, that bow is somewhat special. This was one of the reasons I bought it.

 

[mayserwegener]

You should be able to pickup some real gems with that hat size! Mayser made some really great felt.