German & Austrian Hutmachers

[PanosChris]

Time to say hi! Some great finds in these parts.

JHS Jota Velour in Brown. Sold by a very famous store back in the day. Style says '30s but label might suggest earlier. Mint condition

 

[PanosChris]

Today I have a black wool (?) fedora in size 56 from Apia. There definitely was a clip on the inside of the crown, and I just left the shape as it is from this tool. There was a brand label at the top inside of the crown, but only some glue remains are left. The felt is not as rough as with a cheap wool hat and considerably thinner. So I guess a rather fine wool or a rough fur felt.

It has a very wide brim of 6,8 cm and a crown height of 10,5 cm at the back (which would be the same with a regular shape I guess) and 9,5 cm at the front, because of the deep crease in the crown. The hat band is 5 cm.

It's not only my first hat with a back ribbon, but also the only fedora with a lace around the crown - to tie it down when windy? I only have a boater with this feature.

I don't know what the trademark Apia is, but to me it seems this makes it a mid-prize mall hat: not a real hatmaker, but some kind of brand name put on a Guben hat maybe, but expensive enough, to have something embossed into the sweat band.

I'm not sure about the decade. I always had the feeling, that these back ribbons were not very fashionable in the 30s anymore - is that right? Also the deep crease with the clip says 20s to me.

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Franz Richter & Söhne, Dresden,"Küssnacht" "Tell", 57cm, Wool possibly 1930s. I very much like finding old German Wool Soft Felt Hats this one. This Soft Felt could have been made by one of the German Hat Factories (located in what became East Germany post WWII) that produced Wool Soft and Stiff Felt hats up to WWII. It could have also been made by FRS from sourced Wool stumps from the same sources. The wide 7 cm Curled Brim is mildly flanged. The Liner is extremally light weight so very delicate. This is possibly the reason the two other FRS Soft Felts are missing their Liners. Matt also has FRS "Küssnacht" "Tell" so here is his explanation of "Küssnacht" "Tell".

"The overprint on the sweatband shows a top hat and says: "Küßnacht" and under it probably "Tell", so that I assume from a Swiss salesman. In Küssnacht, the legend of William Tell, the Swiss national hero, has its localization..."

Open Crown

Back in 2019 I found the Franz Richter & Söhne, Dresden "Tell" mark.

Deutsche Hutmacher-Zeitung (German Hat Maker News), December 15, 1936

Franz Richter & Söhne, Dresden

Franz Richter & Söhne, Dresden

Franz Richter & Söhne, Dresden I found the Franz Richter & Söhne, Dresden "Tell" mark. Deutsche Hutmacher-Zeitung (German Hat Maker News), December 15, 1936

germanaustrianhats.invisionzone.com

Steve, fantastic!

Just got a new German pre-war Fedora. It's a black felt hat with an overwelt brim edge. The brim is 6.2 cm. The hat band 5 cm and the crown hight at the front 11 cm. The bow has an interesting center design.

It's unligned and has a 4.5 cm sweatband with a non functional strap. It's directly sewed to the felt (with no damage). The Name of the first and only owner is punched in: K[arl] Maegerlein. I asked the seller about the man (which I will always do from now on). He was born 1904 in middle Frankonia and died early in 1946. He was a Farmer and a Shoemaker. Behind the sweatband a label says: "Form 3469, Qual. [n/a], Farbe schwarz". There's also a label with a "42" on it right at the back behind the swaetband and a hand written price tag of "4,-" Mark obvioulsy with what appears to be the letters "Npr", maybe "Neupreis"?

Although I never liked the overwelt brims, I love the stance of the hat very much: brim not too wide, not too small, very high crown and enough felt to have a really classic curvature. All this considered (sweatband, height, price, birthdate of the owner) I guess this is a (late) 20's hat. What do you think?

Has anybody an idea, which maker the label could be? Because there are no logos etc. I guess it's a middle-priced mall-hat. Still the felt is fine and it fits perfectly.

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Great finds. Perfect fit for the wool thread

 

[Mean Eyed Matt]

Time to say hi! Some great finds in these parts.

JHS Jota Velour in Brown. Sold by a very famous store back in the day. Style says '30s but label might suggest earlier. Mint condition
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Nice to see you posting here again! What a comeback: the Hückel looks so wonderful that I want to stroke it right away! Simply great!

 

[mayserwegener]

Steve, fantastic!

Great finds. Perfect fit for the wool thread

Panos, Thank you!

 

[mayserwegener]

Time to say hi! Some great finds in these parts.

JHS Jota Velour in Brown. Sold by a very famous store back in the day. Style says '30s but label might suggest earlier. Mint condition
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Panos, Super find! Thank you posting it! This paper label is a combination of older and later. The Liner Logo is later same with "Jota" and "Seal Velour". The sweatband is very similar to this Jota which might have had a liner and was restored later.

https://germanaustrianhats.invision...tfabrik-weilheim/?do=findComment&comment=2798

This is a WWI era or older paper label. They all have just handwritten French Point sizing and JHS is not the same script and a different format.

Old Paper Label Example:

Vs. (this is similar to later paper labels)

Old Soft Felts (Paper Labels which are all similar to above Old Paper Label example.)

https://flic.kr/s/aHsmVqCQST

https://flic.kr/s/aHsmVr9Nca

Old Stiff Felts (Paper Labels which are all similar to above Old Paper Label example.)

https://flic.kr/s/aHsmVvPX38

https://flic.kr/s/aHsmVs59iT

 

[Steve1857]

Time to say hi! Some great finds in these parts.

JHS Jota Velour in Brown. Sold by a very famous store back in the day. Style says '30s but label might suggest earlier. Mint condition
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Wow, Panos! Super find. Love it.

So good to see you here again.
Keep typing now

 

[steur]

Time to say hi! Some great finds in these parts.

JHS Jota Velour in Brown. Sold by a very famous store back in the day. Style says '30s but label might suggest earlier. Mint condition
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O my! That's a find and a half, Panos. Wonderful hat in a great colour. Good to see you posting again.

 

[PanosChris]

Nice to see you posting here again! What a comeback: the Hückel looks so wonderful that I want to stroke it right away! Simply great!

Matt, thank you for your kind words and for your help with receiving and sending this beauty my way

 

[PanosChris]

Steve, thank you

Panos, Super find! Thank you posting it! This paper label is a combination of older and later. The Liner Logo is later same with "Jota" and "Seal Velour". The sweatband is very similar to this Jota which might have had a liner and was restored later.

https://germanaustrianhats.invisionzone.com/topic/6-johann-hückel´s-söhne-hückel-hutfabrik-weilheim/?do=findComment&comment=2798

This is a WWI era or older paper label. They all have just handwritten French Point sizing and JHS is not the same script and a different format.

Old Paper Label Example:

Vs. (this is similar to later paper labels)

Old Soft Felts (Paper Labels which are all similar to above Old Paper Label example.)

https://flic.kr/s/aHsmVqCQST

https://flic.kr/s/aHsmVr9Nca

Old Stiff Felts (Paper Labels which are all similar to above Old Paper Label example.)

https://flic.kr/s/aHsmVvPX38

https://flic.kr/s/aHsmVs59iT

Steve, thank you for the info! I figured something was off but couldn't put my finger on. I noticed there was a cell less than the type 1a and 1b labels, but didn't really pay attention to the script and handwriting (lack of). It all makes sense

 

[PanosChris]

O my! That's a find and a half, Panos. Wonderful hat in a great colour. Good to see you posting again.

Wow, Panos! Super find. Love it.

So good to see you here again.
Keep typing now

Stefan, Steve, thank you so much! It always feels like among good friends with guys like you around these parts

 

[mayserwegener]

Steve, thank you

Steve, thank you for the info! I figured something was off but couldn't put my finger on. I noticed there was a cell less than the type 1a and 1b labels, but didn't really pay attention to the script and handwriting (lack of). It all makes sense

Panos, Just another interwar mystery. Thank you again for posting it!

 

[Mean Eyed Matt]

Matt, thank you for your kind words and for your help with receiving and sending this beauty my way

Hah, and again: Didn't even remember I already had my hands on this jewel. I should be ashamed of myself.

 

[deadlyhandsome]

Richard Schwarz Wien mystery hat. It feels wonderful and it shapes very easily. It’s also much greener than the evening light shows it.

 

[Trenchfriend]

@deadlyhandsome
No disrespect, but could you please scale down your pics to maximum wide 900 pixel, next time?

 

[deadlyhandsome]

@Trenchfriend

Why? I’ve never had anyone ask for this before or mention it in any way. I also have no idea how to do it or why someone might want it done. I’m not a big social media user, but I post A LOT here and it’s never been an issue….and to be honest I don’t understand really what you’re asking. Is it lower resolution? Is it a speed to download photos thing?

 

[Trenchfriend]

@Trenchfriend

Why? I’ve never had anyone ask for this before or mention it in any way. I also have no idea how to do it or why someone might want it done. I’m not a big social media user, but I post A LOT here and it’s never been an issue….and to be honest I don’t understand really what you’re asking. Is it lower resolution? Is it a speed to download photos thing?

Yeah, I meaned just smallering ("scaling down") your pics with a simple software like GIMP or anything other. You know, it would be much more enjoyable, if your numerous pics could "load" here much faster/"efficient" and could be watched much more overseeable. Otherwise, I don't like to follow such "photo-series" from my notebook here.
Imagine, someone comes in your room and just pours out a box of photos and says: "Here you got.".

 

[deadlyhandsome]

Yeah, I meaned just smallering ("scaling down") your pics with a simple software like GIMP or anything other. You know, it would be much more enjoyable, if your numerous pics could "load" here much faster/"efficient" and could be watched much more overseeable. Otherwise, I don't like to follow such "photo-series" from my notebook here.
Imagine, someone comes in your room and just pours out a box of photos and says: "Here you got.".

I mean no offense, but I’m probably not going to be able to help you. I do all my posting from my phone and I’m not going to get an app or otherwise edit my photos for you. I don’t mean to cause you problems, and I know this site can be slow without this issue, and I don’t want to make it worse. I can’t help but to think that the problem is more on your side with slow download speeds? I don’t want to be rude and I might try to see how to scale my photos down, but technology and I aren’t always on speaking terms.

 

[steur]

Richard Schwarz Wien mystery hat. It feels wonderful and it shapes very easily. It’s also much greener than the evening light shows it.

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That's a great find, Brent (I'll skip over the part that it's green). Looks like a nice early example of the Austrian skills in velour hatmaking. Timeless in its shape and proportions.

 

[Wangenheim]

Richard Schwarz Wien mystery hat. It feels wonderful and it shapes very easily. It’s also much greener than the evening light shows it.

Very nice hat! It looks like the brim was wider originally? But it's still enough. It would really be nice, if you could make another photo where you would judge the color more accurate. Anyway: The color seen here is great!

 

[deadlyhandsome]

Very nice hat! It looks like the brim was wider originally? But it's still enough. It would really be nice, if you could make another photo where you would judge the color more accurate. Anyway: The color seen here is great!

I really don’t think the brim was cut down. It looks original to me.