Matching Stratoliner tie clip

[Absinthe_1900]

Does anyone have an original from Stetson, Stratoliner pin?
Would an original pin look like the artwork from the box? (Which is a Boeing 307 Stratoliner, not a DC-3)

 

[Baron Kurtz]

That's what i've always assumed . . . I've never bought a Stratoliner that came with a pin, so i have no data. It always seemed absurd to me that a Stratoliner hat, in a box with a drawing of a Stratoliner, and many of which had a Stratoliner featured on the small sticker in the upper crown, would come with a DC-3 pin. I just don't believe it.

bk

(not, of course, that this really matters at all. I like my DC-3 pin.)

 

[Absinthe_1900]

I wonder if the modern incarnation of Stetson would have a Stratoliner pin in their archives?

 

[fatwoul]

I'm not so sure. On one hand, it does look like perhaps the plane isn't positioned so perfectly on the clip, but at the same time, I can't see the tie clip looking like something people would want without it. Only time travel will tell, I suppose...

What I meant was that the tie-clip itself is the sort of thing our jeweller (the one our family goes to for anything like that) will make up for you if you want.

Alternatively, the tie clip could have had something else on the panel originally, which may have rubbed away over time, been removed to replace with the plane, or perhaps is still there, hidden by the plane.

 

[RBH]

The bottom line...

The Stetson Stratoliner fedora did not have a Stratoliner airplane pin on it, as close as my research can come it is a DC-3 [type] pin.
I believe that the pins that have TWA on them are TWA service pins, the plain pin with no markings are the pins that were on the Stetson Straoliner fedora.
Here is a scan from one of the ads,
<a href="http://imageshack.us"><img src="http://img134.imageshack.us/img134/8012/stetadsvg3.jpg" border="0" alt="Image Hosted by ImageShack.us" /></a>
I have never seen an ad that had a plane flying towards the back of the hat as a Stratoliner pin would be. All ads [and I have a few and have looked at even more] have the plane flying forward. Also in this ad the lady speaks of a ''smart little airplane pin'' and does not mention a Stratoliner pin. you can also see in the B\W photo of the hat she is holding the plane is toward the front of the hat.

Here is a newspaper ad from 1940 it is not real clear but you can make out the pin is pointed toward the front.
<a href="http://imageshack.us"><img src="http://img133.imageshack.us/img133/3617/1940pe2.jpg" border="0" alt="Image Hosted by ImageShack.us" /></a>

 

[J. M. Stovall]

It's possible that the tie clip is a one-off. The plane looks almost as if it was taken from a pin and placed on the tie clip, perhaps by a jeweller or something.

Looks good either way, but it's cool to think it might be unique.

I think you are right, the plane is awfully close to the edges of the rectangle. I think most designers would have made it smaller and centered.

 

[Absinthe_1900]

The TWA Stratoliner & DC-3 pins were produced for the airline, and seem to have been adopted by modern hat wearers, there was likely never a connection to the hat back in the day.

If Stetson based their own Stratoliner pin on the artwork from the hat box, it would seem that a authentic Stetson pin would be similar to the stylized Stratoliner on the box. Which looks different from a DC-3

 

[Baron Kurtz]

Either it was an amazing oversight on the part of Stetson, and they did indeed use a DC-3 pin, or noone here has seen the original Stratoliner pin. I fear that this is one of the mysteries we'll never unravel.

(one would have thought that the pin would look like the B&W plane drawing)

bk

 

[Baron Kurtz]

I have never seen an ad that had a plane flying towards the back of the hat as a Stratoliner pin would be. All ads [and I have a few and have looked at even more] have the plane flying forward.

Are there any ads that you know of where the pin is clearly disernible? (to be able to tell the number of engines and the tail treatment.) I've suddenly become very interested in tracking down this mystery.

bk

 

[fatwoul]

Stetson Stratoliners always remind me of my grandfather, not because he had one, but because he liked hats, and because of his history. He was on the team that designed the Gloster Meteor.

I have a pair of his cufflinks that he made from aviation aluminium. I need to post a picture of them.

 

[deanglen]

Are there any ads that you know of where the pin is clearly disernible? (to be able to tell the number of engines and the tail treatment.) I've suddenly become very interested in tracking down this mystery.

bk

Me, too.

dean

 

[RBH]

Now of course I made this up, but the fedora is taken from the actual Stratoliner ad.


<a href="http://imageshack.us"><img src="http://img174.imageshack.us/img174/9908/stratclubbh6.jpg" border="0" alt="Stratoliner Club" /></a>

 

[fedoralover]

I'm bumping this up to show the clip on a vintage handpainted tie that I wore today.

fedoralover

 

[RBH]

I'm bumping this up to show the clip on a vintage handpainted tie that I wore today.

fedoralover

WOW fedoralover !!!!
Love the looks with that tie! you did great!

 

[Tony in Tarzana]

My brown Stratoliner came with a TWA DC-3 pin, and since the hat appeared to be in unworn condition, I assumed the pin was original. I don't know for sure, though.

 

[RBH]

My brown Stratoliner came with a TWA DC-3 pin, and since the hat appeared to be in unworn condition, I assumed the pin was original. I don't know for sure, though.

Tony that is what I have concluded, everything I have seen suggest a pin in the shape of the DC-3.
Did your pin have TWA imprinted on it?
I have two pins, one with TWA and one without.

 

[RBH]

here is part of the ad I made reference to.

<a href="http://imageshack.us"><img src="http://img227.imageshack.us/img227/6933/strri4.jpg" border="0" alt="Image Hosted by ImageShack.us"/></a>

 

[fedoralover]

RBH, do you know what year that ad was made? I love those old ads, I have some that date back to 1937.

fedoralover

 

[RBH]

RBH, do you know what year that ad was made? I love those old ads, I have some that date back to 1937.

fedoralover

I have this ad framed, but I believe it was 1946.

 

[Tony in Tarzana]

Tony that is what I have concluded, everything I have seen suggest a pin in the shape of the DC-3.
Did your pin have TWA imprinted on it?
I have two pins, one with TWA and one without.

Mine does have TWA on it.