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Most unusual felt

Fedora

Vendor
Messages
828
Location
Mississippi
I went to see my old friend and western outfitter today to pick up some more felt stiffener. A gallon.:D It is cheaper by the gallon. While there of course the talk turned to hats, as this was the fellow who got me my first fedora years ago, and tried to help in sourcing a proper Indy fedora. It never panned out since his suppliers did not offer one that I thought to be suitable. The conversation turned to beaver hats, vintage felt, etc. He excused himself for a moment, went to his house next door(his shop is in the country), and brought back this dark brown cowboy hat. You won't find felt like this anymore he says, and hands it to me. 100 per cent beaver, he says. Look at the felt. Well, I had already picked up on the fact that this was not your ordinary felt. My fingers joined my eyes in the examination. It was a fine felt like you see on the Optimo hats, but slicker, for lack of a better word. This was not a stiff cowboy hat, far from it. The density was unbelievable!! While the hat was not stiff from stiffener, the density of the felt added stiffness to it, but not the same way that stiffener would. The hat was not hard, very, very pliable, and if you pushed in on the crown, it would not spring back out. I never saw a western hat with a ribbon and bow, but his one had one!! A silk ribbon. Another surprise came when I looked inside the hat. The sweatband was made of flat woven sheepskin. Woven like a basket. I did not know they even made em' like this. I am still salivating over that hat. This felt was much more dense than even the Optimo felt. It felt like it would be hard to sew a sweatband on, and Walt said you had to have a thimble to do so. The hat brand? None. The only word inside the entire hat was Montana. No stickers, solid yellow silk liner, stitched in. No other identification. Has anyone ever heard of the Montana brand? Walt is originally from Texas and says the hat came from there. It was his grandfather's!!! That would put it solid in the 30's he said. The style was open crown, no bashes. And it was 7 inches tall!!!! I asked him right off to put me in his will, since he has only daughters. :D The look in his eye told me his response.;) Has anyone ever seen vintage beaver hats on ebay? Fedora
 

fedoralover

Call Me a Cab
Messages
2,006
Location
Great Northwest
In view of its age, the felt was undoubtedly a mercury processed felt. I've never seen that brand advertised before, it sounds like a rarity.

fedoralover
 

Sergei

Gone Home
Messages
400
Location
Southern Belarus
Yeah, fedoralover turned me onto a very rare Stetson 100 "Open Road" hat in my size. The 100 stands for 100% beaver. It was at least 50 years old and it was pristine in it's own box. It went for close to $400, unfortunately. But I was prepared, but I missed it by $20. However, the winning buyer could have had a much higher bid.
 

besdor

Vendor/Sponsor
Messages
1,727
Location
up north
This hat could have been made by an old custom hatter from years ago . Remeber , felt hats made back then using beaver bodies were of incredible quality . I have old Stetson catalogs from the 1920's listing hats from clear nutria that must have been incredible hats . All the money in the world could not duplicate these hats today .


Steven
 

feltfan

My Mail is Forwarded Here
Messages
3,190
Location
Oakland, CA, USA
besdor said:
This hat could have been made by an old custom hatter from years ago . Remeber , felt hats made back then using beaver bodies were of incredible quality . I have old Stetson catalogs from the 1920's listing hats from clear nutria that must have been incredible hats . All the money in the world could not duplicate these hats today .

I don't suppose you have Stetson catalogs that might
be helpful in dating the clear nutria hat I posted here?

http://www.thefedoralounge.com/showthread.php?t=12167
 

Marc

Vendor
Messages
124
Location
Germany
Reminds me of the new rawbodies I just got in. I'm serious and objective as I can be: this felt is just soooooo nice and I can't thank my felter enough for going VARIOUS extra miles.

Regards,

Marc

P.S.: I'm well aware, that this sounds like the biggest self promotion ever. I swear that it's not. I'm just so freakin' amazed by my felter's craftmanship, that I can't put it in words.
 

Brad Bowers

I'll Lock Up
Messages
4,187
Marc said:
I'm serious and objective as I can be: this felt is just soooooo nice and I can't thank my felter enough for going VARIOUS extra miles....I'm just so freakin' amazed by my felter's craftmanship, that I can't put it in words.

Yeah, but can you talk them into doing Cavanagh Edges?lol

Brad
 

Marc

Vendor
Messages
124
Location
Germany
[huh] I don't know! That's never been my interest and before I don't have 50 people willing to buy one, it'll stay that way...

Regards,

Marc
 

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