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Goodwill surprise!

NewMexExpat

One of the Regulars
A Natural...

Man, some guys were born to wear a hat, and you are one of them! Every picture of you I've seen in a Fedora looks great, and this is no exception. Wonderful. Congratulations.

(I've always thought I didn't really want to collect hats, just have one or two for different seasons. but your luck with second-hand shops gives me dangerous pause...)

- Mark
 

Serial Hero

A-List Customer
Messages
450
Location
Phoenix, AZ
Congratulations, great looking hats.:eusa_clap

I never do have any luck at those kinds of places. They must ship all the good stuff out of state the minute it comes in.

The same with yard/estate sales; never find anything good.
 

PutALidOnIt

One of the Regulars
Messages
182
Location
Sunny Florida
Good Hunting to All!!

That is one sweet lid, and such a steal!

I have had mixed fortunes with thrifting, but never give up! I was spoiled from the start since my first day thrifting for hats turned up a batch of 3 in a charity-based thrift about a year ago. How about 3 vintage Borsalinos at $25 for the lot!!!! :eek:

<a href="http://photobucket.com" target="_blank"><img src="http://i14.photobucket.com/albums/a327/surfnjoe/Fedoras/Borso1sm.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket - Video and Image Hosting"></a>

<a href="http://photobucket.com" target="_blank"><img src="http://i14.photobucket.com/albums/a327/surfnjoe/Fedoras/Borso2sm.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket - Video and Image Hosting"></a>

<a href="http://photobucket.com" target="_blank"><img src="http://i14.photobucket.com/albums/a327/surfnjoe/Fedoras/Boso3sm.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket - Video and Image Hosting"></a>

The first one is one of my favorite hats and is in worn-enough condition that I ain't skeered to wear it whenever - super-soft and lightweight.:D

The nice green one with the bound edge was too small, so I eBayed it.:mad:

The gray jazzer was a good fit, but at the time I thought it was a bit unusual looking for my melon. I eBayed that one, too.:rage:

Aahhh, if I knew then what I know now I would have kept all of them; judiciously stretching the green one, and keeping the gray one for the jazzy-bluesy gigs!

Live and learn![huh]
 

PutALidOnIt

One of the Regulars
Messages
182
Location
Sunny Florida
Magus said:
Yep.... Because I would have been CLAMORING for that Jazz lid!

ah well...

Well, Magus, I am truly sorry about that!:eusa_doh:

Had I been more hip rather than "New In Town" on FL last August, and over time becoming familiar with many of the FL members' tastes, I would surely have posted in the FL classifieds, or PM'ed an interested member such as yourself first. In fact, I joined FL to find out what I had, and I think I may have decided to keep the jazzer for the moment, and offered the green-bound one to Johnnysan...!

***retrospective senior moment*** Wow, was that only 10 months ago...it sure is easy to accumulate a number of hats in a relatively short amount of time...:rolleyes:
 
Messages
10,930
Location
My mother's basement
PutALidOnIt said:
Well, Magus, I am truly sorry about that!:eusa_doh:

Had I been more hip rather than "New In Town" on FL last August, and over time becoming familiar with many of the FL members' tastes, I would surely have posted in the FL classifieds, or PM'ed an interested member such as yourself first. In fact, I joined FL to find out what I had, and I think I may have decided to keep the jazzer for the moment, and offered the green-bound one to Johnnysan...!

***retrospectuve senior moment*** Wow, was that only 10 months ago...it sure is easy to accumulate a number of hats in a relatively short amount of time...:rolleyes:

Ain't it the truth, Lid. Something like three decades of everyday hat-wearing under my belt and it wasn't until I stumbled upon this joint last winter that I actively pursued vintage hats. Sure, I had a few that I found in thrift shops and such, but when I was itching for another hat I went to Byrnie Utz, the local hats-only store. Oh, the money I squandered.
The FL classifieds got me a quite reasonable deal on a very nice hat. Seeing how eBay is such a crapshoot, for buyers and sellers, and often a pain in the rump, to boot, the classifieds here is the way to go, especially for those of us who are less interested in maximizing our profit than in seeing those old hats go to someone who knows enough to appreciate what he has.
 

PutALidOnIt

One of the Regulars
Messages
182
Location
Sunny Florida
Agreed, tonyb!

I have received trash and treasure from eBay sellers, and I still have many more bargains than BS. I recently went for 3 hats from one seller, all with BIN at a ridiculously low price, so I hit all 3 when the auction was newly listed. Only one hat is in reasonably acceptable condition, but the other 2 (moth assault targets) are not what I would deem to be FL level material, unless someone really wants a couple of fixer-uppers in the moth nibble department or for parts. Otherwise, they will make good barter for that Stratoliner at the local theatrical costume shop.

It's a shame - all 3 were custom made, classically tall and brimmy, pretty clean liners, and must have been beautiful when they were new - 3 different weights and colors, and really plush felt - but damn those moths!!!
 

fedoralover

Call Me a Cab
Messages
2,006
Location
Great Northwest
Nice finds Putalidonit, going to thrift stores is kinda like panning for gold, you probably never really expect to find much and you do it for the fun of it and then every once and a while you find a nugget worth keeping. Over a period of time your finds add up to a nice collection. My finds at Goodwill range from the hats already mentioned to $1200 Zegna sports jackets and $150. Pancaldi ties. But I've looked at thousands to obtain a few dozen, still it has paid off.

fedoralover
 

PutALidOnIt

One of the Regulars
Messages
182
Location
Sunny Florida
fedoralover said:
Nice finds Putalidonit, going to thrift stores is kinda like panning for gold, you probably never really expect to find much and you do it for the fun of it and then every once and a while you find a nugget worth keeping. Over a period of time your finds add up to a nice collection. My finds at Goodwill range from the hats already mentioned to $1200 Zegna sports jackets and $150. Pancaldi ties. But I've looked at thousands to obtain a few dozen, still it has paid off.

fedoralover

I like the gold prospecting analogy Fedoralover!

As with guitar hunting, I believe one must enjoy the hunt as much as bagging the quarry.

Note: No animals (except old beavers) were harmed in the making of this post.;)

...BTW I don't shoot or engage in hunting any four-legged animals...
 
Messages
10,930
Location
My mother's basement
Oh yeah. I'll still buy hats off eBay, but, in keeping with my cheapskate ways, only when I can get 'em for a song. That usually means searching and searching until I find one that is listed by someone who doesn't know what he or she has. (The stories I could tell! One hat came from a seller who played up the box more than the hat, and another was in a two-lot that featured the beater and mentioned the good one almost as an aside. And there's more.)
I spent more (50 bucks) for the hat I bought off the FL classifieds than I'm inclined to pay for an eBay purchase, but the price included shipping and it certainly wasn't at all excessive, especially in comparison to the prices I see some clearly inferior lids fetch on eBay.
Only wish my thrift store karma were as good as yours and fedoralover's. It's been years since I've found a good hat at such an establishment, although I have scored a few almost reasonable deals in out-of-the-way "antique" shops, where an offer of half the asking price will usually get me out the door for something like three-fourths.
 

funneman

Practically Family
Messages
851
Location
South Florida
Oh to be so lucky...

...I too have succumbed to the lure of the thrift store in search of the vintage fedora at a bargain price. Just one problem, here in Florida there are no hats to be had.

As near as I can figure, the folks up north clear out all of that stuff before retiring down here:

WIFE: "Dear what about this beautiful, hardly worn, light brown, size seven Borsalino of yours wih no rips, tears, holes, stains or odors that you've never worn and kept in the box for over thirty years?"

HUSBAND "Ah give it to Goodwill, we're retiring to Florida, I'll never need it down there."

FUNNEMAN: "Doh!"
 

RedPop4

One Too Many
Messages
1,353
Location
Metropolitan New Orleans
lol lol lol lol I haven't tried this route.
Many of our thrift stores are still closed as there's either no one to work them, or no money to operate the trucks for pick-ups.

And then the ones open are overflowing. We have bags and bags of donations to make, and no one in the area is collecting due to overflowing collections right post-Katrina.
 

Clyde R.

One of the Regulars
Messages
164
Location
USA
Beautiful score, Fedora Lover.

I haven't checked the goodwills lately, hmmm. Worth a try.

I also like the prospecting for gold analogy. The luckiest I ever got was about fifteen years ago in an antique store. I used to go antiquing quite often, especially looking for watches. One day in a favorite haunt I saw a lot of hats come in that had not been priced. Most were in really poor shape but one- my avatar, by the way- was in beautiful shape and just the right size:)

I asked the shop how much and the lady said they hadn't been priced yet...how 'bout $3 ?? SOLD. That was the best three bucks I ever spent on a hat. My old Stetson Strat is my favorite, partly I guess for how lucky I was to get it so cheap ;)
 

Joseph Ciotti

New in Town
Messages
37
Location
Roanoke, VA
You're quite lucky if I have my say so in this. I've yet to find any good hats at my local Goodwill so I just ask my mother to help me buy them online. I do find nice suits at the local thrift stores though, there is this nice pinstripe suit I'm looking forward to get, more than likely I will at the beginning of the next school year. And I dare say, that fedora does look very nice on you. I just wish I was lucky as you finding nice hats in such nice places. lol
 

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