I've done a little work to the 30's or 40's "Mystery Stetson"....

[Joshbru3]

Some of you guys may remember that I bought a "mystery" Stetson off ebay a couple of months back. The hat had an old replacement sweatband from the 40's or 50's and no model designation other than a Stetson Re-order tag. The hat was bashed up and in pretty bad shape. I had no way of knowing what kind of Stetson that hat actually was, but I was pretty confident it was old due to the style of the re-order tag.

Here's the original auction photos:

When I first received the hat, I gave it a good steaming, stiff brushing, and hard brushing. The felt is SO LIGHTWEIGHT and pliable, it needed a good amount of steam to get whatever was left of the original stiffener to stiffen up.

Here's a couple pics after the first steaming & brushing:

The brim binding didn't look original to the hat and looks like it was added later. It was still old brim binding, maybe from the 50's. It was stitched kind of poorly and the quality of ribbon used was not that of any other Stetson that I've seen. The ribbon was sweat stained and extremely faded. So I have been collection some vintage spools of vintage ribbon for a bit and decided to use some of it for a "new" ribbon. The ribbon dates to the late 30's or early 40's. I have to say that this stuff is just a pleasure to work with. Its not like the ribbon that is made today. The vintage ribbon is much easier to work with. I de-constructed the old ribbon and copied it exactly. I measured every piece just to make sure I got the right look.

Here's the finished product. It still needs a new sweatband, but that's another project.

 

[Joshbru3]

I've done a little work to the 30's or 40's "Mystery Stetson".... (cont...)

 

[TCMfan25]

Looks great Joshbru!
:eusa_clap

 

[Marc Chevalier]

Some of you guys may remember that I bought a "mystery" Stetson off ebay a couple of months back.

Josh, I strongly believe that your fedora is a Stetson "BANTAM" from the 1930s. (I've got one that's identical to yours, and mine also has that brim binding -- which is original, btw.) What does Douglas think?

 

[Baron Kurtz]

Could be a Playboy, too. My Playboy looks just like this one. Raw edge, no edge stitching, and the same width of ribbon as was originally on yours.

That said, I also have an "un-named" Royal Stetson with all those features … everything here is going to be speculation, I'm afraid. As the Whippet and "Whippet-like" hats prove, Stetson put out "named" and un-named" models that were identical except for the sweatband/liner naming.

bk

 

[Marc Chevalier]

Could be a Playboy, too. My Playboy looks just like this one. Raw edge, no edge stitching, and the same width of ribbon as was originally on yours.

But Josh's hat came with a bound brim (which he then removed) -- and even though Josh thinks that the binding was not original, it looked identical to the original brim binding on my 1930s Bantam.

 

[HatsEnough]

Whatever it is, you did a fantastic job of making it look like a hat again! Great work.

 

[Baron Kurtz]

I know it sounds like I'm being argumentative - but I'm really not.

BUT … I also have an "un-named" Royal Stetson with exactly the features of Josh's hat WITH a brim bound with thin grosgrain. Interestingly enough mine was also in very bad shape when i got it. And the felt is garbage; very low quality indeed.

Though I'd love it for Josh's hat to be a Bantam - and I'm sure he would too - I think it's unprovable (obviously).

bk

 

[Marc Chevalier]

Whatever it is, you did a fantastic job of making it look like a hat again! Great work.

Agreed!

Just for fun, here's Dinerman's 1930s Bantam:

And then there's this one on eBay:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=330547329703+&clk_rvr_id=253954134131

 

[Alex]

Great job Josh!

 

[delectans]

Great work, Josh! It has that quintessential '30s look and you wear it very, very well.

 

[Iyor]

Great job! Would love to see the sweat.

 

[Joshbru3]

Looks great Joshbru!
:eusa_clap

Whatever it is, you did a fantastic job of making it look like a hat again! Great work.

Great job Josh!

Great work, Josh! It has that quintessential '30s look and you wear it very, very well.

Great job! Would love to see the sweat.

Thanks very much everyone!! I really appreciate it! These are by far my favorite dimensions for a hat. If the crown was a bit taller and the brim a bit shorter, that would be okay too. I have it creased so the crown stands just over 5 inches tall. If the crown was 6 inches open, I might not have it creased too much higher, but the center dent would be deeper, which I love.

 

[Joshbru3]

Josh, I strongly believe that your fedora is a Stetson "BANTAM" from the 1930s. (I've got one that's identical to yours, and mine also has that brim binding -- which is original, btw.) What does Douglas think?

Could be a Playboy, too. My Playboy looks just like this one. Raw edge, no edge stitching, and the same width of ribbon as was originally on yours.
That said, I also have an "un-named" Royal Stetson with all those features … everything here is going to be speculation, I'm afraid. As the Whippet and "Whippet-like" hats prove, Stetson put out "named" and un-named" models that were identical except for the sweatband/liner naming.
bk

Thank you very much for both of your inputs!!

Marc, when I got the hat, I thought it might have been a Bantam or Playboy. I still believe its possible because of how light the felt is. Its not only light weight, but it has just enough stiffener to stop the hat from falling in on itself, but not enough to hold shape if its bumped against something. The felt reacts much like other playboys that I have felt. I have however, never actually had a Bantam in my hand. The brim measures 2 3/8 inches wide and the open crown is 5 1/2 inches tall with a really nice straight sided, flat topped block. It is most definately a very lightweight felt. I have found no residue from a tip sticker, so I would tend to believe that it had a liner at one time. This is obviously speculation, but the inside of the hat is pretty clean, which only leads me to believe that something was there at one time.

Baron, I did remove the brim binding to make the hat a raw edge, but here's why I think the brim binding wasn't original. When I removed the "goldish" colored crown ribbon, the underside showed the original color which was like a light green color. When I reloved the brim binding, it was gold all the way through. When I compared the ribbon from the brim and from the crown, they were similar in color but two different "types" of ribbon. The brim binding was very low quality and I have never seen this type on any stetson before. What also makes me belive that the binding was added later is that fact that the felt color at the edge of the brim isnt darker or lighter than the rest of the hat. In my experiences redoing hats, any time that I have ever removed what I believed to be original brim binding, the felt color was always slightly diffferent due to fading and such. Obviously this is just an observation, and really doesn't prove much, but it was interesting to me.

 

[Joshbru3]

Great job! Would love to see the sweat.

Here's a picture of the replacement sweatband. I have also cleaned the felt up quite a bit since this picture was taken.

 

[fmw]

Quite an improvement. Nice work.

 

[Joshbru3]

Quite an improvement. Nice work.

Thanks fmw.

 

[Baron Kurtz]

I'd be interested in seeing the reorder labels. Maybe the numbers can be compared to other people's Bantams to see if they match?

bk

 

[The Wiser Hatter]

Great to see what a little hard brushing and steaming can do. Love the block on that hat one of my favorites. Great job Josh.

 

[RBH]

Great work Josh!
That is a sweet hat!!!