Highest price paid, lowest price paid for your fedora.

[retro50]

The most I've spent on a vintage hat is roughly $140 after shipping and exchange for a mint 1940's Whippet I found on e-bay in Chicago. The most I've spent on a hat is my VS custom. After shipping, exchange, returning the conformer, it ended up costing me close to $400CDN. But that was money well spent, although I won't be buying anymore hats for a while. My other hats ranged from just under to just over $200.

 

[Widebrim]

I might also add that the highest quality hat I paid the least for was this vintage Borsalino in mint condition I found at Goodwill for $4.45.

fedoralover

I have a very similar Near Mint Borsalino, orginally sold in Genova, that I bought from my local Goodwill: $2.99 . Otherwise, the most I've paid is $60 for a slate gray Bailey straw, which I love (Hollywood Hatters, over on Melrose).

 

[tinmanzzz]

The STETSON "100"

My Stetson "100"( Thanks to Carter for that last min $140 Bump ) that went $302.

http://www.thefedoralounge.com/showthread.php?t=35385

As Carter & I both realized, the odds of finding a "One-Hundred" in PUMPKIN HEAD size 7 5/8 is like being struck by lighting.
Before that, $125 for the STETSONIAN Royal DeLuxe

http://www.thefedoralounge.com/showthread.php?t=29279&highlight=stetsonian

 

[HungaryTom]

Montecristi Superfino

.... involve a chain of 5-6 master craftsmen and 3-4 months of handiwork.
These labour and know-how intense hats cost even EXW Ecuador/Montecristi 500-600 USD -shipped back and forth to Italy blocked there for Italian wages and kept on stock in the US, topped up by the overhead -how much overhead it is a good question...but I firmly believe that those hats can/should NOT cost less. The Borsalino retail prices in Milano are similar - my friend watching their showcase in June 2008 told me it was some 580 EUR. Mr. Belinsky is right and realistic about pricing his Borsalino Montecristi superfino at 950 USD.

Here is mine coming from Panama Hatworks of Montecristi - similar price range

Tom

 

[randooch]

HungaryTom

That's a beauty! It looks so lightweight that except for the shade it provides you might forget it's there.

 

[carldelo]

Vintage - I wish

The only vintage I ever found was a Cavanagh for 75 cents (in 1976) - nothing since then in 7-3/4 - you guys with small (OK, normal) heads make me bats.

So over the counter, the most I've paid is about $112 for a Stetson Chatham (on sale).

But my most expensive hat is this one - it took five years in grad school and who knows how much money, but it's velvet and has a nice metallic tassle:

http://i97.photobucket.com/albums/l234/carldelo/Misc hats/Hatshow027.jpg

 

[kaosharper1]

At the moment, my Camptown Metro for which I paid $175, but I have an Art Fawcett on order. After that, I'll probably take a break. A year ago I didn't have any hats, now I have 5 felts and one more on the way and 2 panamas. I think that'll keep me for a while.

 

[HungaryTom]

Thanks

That's a beauty! It looks so lightweight that except for the shade it provides you might forget it's there.

Randooch,

The merit of this hat goes to several people:

1. Robert Weber and his crew as they were able to get this hat body finished out of an environment that has business ethics and practices of the Klondike Gold Rush - for an extremely fair price.

2. The art of sculpting straw to this hat was performed by Art Fawcett.

The hat is comparable with nothing - it amazes me again and again.

The price - I could have spent it for other things that would have been long forgotten by now. Unlike this one.

 

[animator]

I'm in the VS club... so my most expensive was my first Art Fawcett at about $350 including shipping the hat and conformer. As everyone else has said, it was money well spent.

Fall is here and it's time to pull that hat out of the closet.

 

[Lefty]

For new hats, it's my Optimo milan at 400.
In vintage, it's either my Stetson 25 or 7x Clear Beaver, both at around 175.

 

[carter]

My Stetson "100"( Thanks to Carter for that last min $140 Bump ) that went $302.

http://www.thefedoralounge.com/showthread.php?t=35385

As Carter & I both realized, the odds of finding a "One-Hundred" in PUMPKIN HEAD size 7 5/8 is like being struck by lighting.
Before that, $125 for the STETSONIAN Royal DeLuxe

http://www.thefedoralounge.com/showthread.php?t=29279&highlight=stetsonian

Tinman, Always glad to be of assistance. I like that Stetsonian too! Carter

 

[duggap]

I have six of Art's hats and two Panama hats that he blocked. My most expensive hat would be my last Monticriste Panama at about 400. The hats made by Art are in a class above anything else I have.

 

[dhermann1]

Well, I have an old Marine Corps p**s cutter that cost me three years of my life, but that's a different matter.
Most I've actually paid myself was about $130 for a new Stetson at Bencraft Hatters. The most expensive hat I own was a gift, my PanamaBob Montecristi. It's got about 500 wpi, so I'm sure it was over $250, but that's just a guess.
Most I've paid for a vintage hat is about $50. I'm one of those lucky guys with a size 7 noggin.
I still think the best deal I ever got on headgear was $5 at a stoop sale in Brooklyn for my WW II vintage Civil Defense helmet.

 

[HarpPlayerGene]

The only vintage I ever found was a Cavanagh for 75 cents (in 1976) - nothing since then in 7-3/4 - you guys with small (OK, normal) heads make me bats.

So over the counter, the most I've paid is about $112 for a Stetson Chatham (on sale).
]

Oooooh; 7-3/4. Man, they didn't make many noggins like that 'back in the day'.

Pretty good price on the Chatham. I got one of those at the same time I got the Temple. I'm not that impressed with the Temple (especially after a light shower deformed it) but the Chatham is a pretty nice modern hat, IMO. Wearin' it today.
http://www.thefedoralounge.com/showthread.php?t=20565&page=296

 

[Baron Kurtz]

Most expensive was ...

£40 for a mint late 1800s beaver finish French top hat in box. The vast majority of my hats (i only have vintage) have been in the $15-30 range. Size 7, of course.

bk

 

[PabloElFlamenco]

My most expensive hat, purchase price, is a 1930's nutria which OFAS brought me from Montana (initially from LA or Hollywood). I paid $300 US. Add to that around $50 in new sweatband (done locally).
I also have a Stetson 100, which I won on the English (UK) OFAS, say $100. But that hat was too small, so I spent something like $200 (including shipping cost) for Optimo in Chicago to resize, clean, and fit a necessary new sweatband onto it. So we're looking at two hats $350 each. That's Art Fawcett territory (or slightly less).
Expensive?
How's a new felt Borsalino at roughly the same price level hit you?
I'll take my Stetsons, thank you.
Please do not forget that, in my opinion, we in Europe are NOT in hat-privileged territory. The Euro is (was?) expensive, and America is rather more hat-oriented, in my opinion. What are other European members' views on this?
Paul

 

[HungaryTom]

Please do not forget that, in my opinion, we in Europe are NOT in hat-privileged territory. The Euro is (was?) expensive, and America is rather more hat-oriented, in my opinion. What are other European members' views on this?
Paul

Paul,

Since the http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/European_beaver survives in scattered, artificially reintroduced and guarded populations and the http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/European_Mink is about to die out plus there is no Carludovica palmata to make Panama hats...alone in terms of hat raw materials Europe is much less privileged than the New Wold.

Hats are coming back in the fashionista circles - I see a lot of youth in wool hats. But that is not the thing what fine hats are about. There are fine hats in Europe too - but at overrated prices and in most cases made of the locally available wheat straw or rabbit/hare felt.

Tom

 

[kaosharper1]

We seem to be lucky to have so many good custom hatters in the US. Are there many in Europe?

 

[HungaryTom]

Well,

Reading the Lounge for a few years I see a dozen or maybe somewhat more hatter sole proprietors or SMEs and a few factory brands mentioned over and over again.
That is nothing compared to the size of the country. Unfortunately.
Similar thing in Europe.

 

[dog20]

fftopic: I exchanged the broken camera and bought a new one. I had to buy it in silver cause they didn't have the black one that I wanted. Oh well lol . I tested the new camera and it works so I may post some pics of me on here.