One of Bogie's hats for auction...

[Snrbfshn]

And in typical auction fashion, the size is not given
http://cgi.liveauctions.ebay.com/04...ewItemQQcategoryZ28272QQitemZ6569545406QQrdZ1

 

[The Wingnut]

Huh...not quite related, but looking at the tie auction, Bogie had a toupee maker? Must've been good toupees, I never realized he'd lost his hair.

...and that hat needs help. Looks like a '60s stingy brim, almost.

 

[DanielJones]

Yep, the man kept it covered in his films, but in his daily life the thinning hair wasn't a problem for him. Heck, even Sean Connery was wearing a toupee when he was playing James Bond. Go figure. The hat though, looks like it has seen better days. A little reblocking and it should be as right as the mail.

Cheers!

Dan

 

[feltfan]

Selco?

Never heard of Selco hats. Anyone?

 

[jamespowers]

I have a hard time believing this auction. It might be genuine but I just can't picture him wearing it.
The pipe is a different story. There is a picture of him with it. Might be a good present for me. Hint, hint.

Regards to all,

J

 

[K.D. Lightner]

I can't imagine him wearing that, either, but maybe he wore stingier brimmed hats off camera than he did in his movies. That looks more like a Cagney brim.

Maybe it was also a later hat. He died in 1957, I believe.

Wonder how it got so beat up? Maybe he threw it in the trash and the collector retrieved it?

karol

 

[jamespowers]

Wonder how it got so beat up? Maybe he threw it in the trash and the collector retrieved it?

karol

Or maybe it was just trash from the beginning.

Regards to all,

J

 

[Daniel Riser]

It was probably a gift from a friend...

A Merry Christmas to the Bogarts:

hey there Bogester,

Thought ya' might like this here' selco hat... I bet they sold lots of them... get it? get it? Seriously Hump I should be a movie writer... you gonna put in a good word for me to that thare' German man that made the Morroco movie?"

End quote

Ok. I've got to get back to work. This forum is obviously doing negative things to my brain

P.S. Shouldn't this be in classifieds?

 

[besdor]

Selco Hats

Selco Hats was a hat store that was in Brooklyn NY years ago . They are still in business, but today are more of a distributor of hats from the Chezk Republic . You may have seen a hats with the name Selentino inside . It's from them .

:cool2:

 

[jamespowers]

Ah! Now that makes sense. I should have known that was it.
Still doesn't look like a Bogart hat though. Looks like the janitor's hat.

Regards to all,

J

 

[Sefton]

I agree that it doesn't look much like his typical style. Perhaps it was a gift,and Bogart being a gentleman accepted it graciously. Then he gave it to a member of the crew.

 

[Sefton]

It was probably a gift from a friend...

A Merry Christmas to the Bogarts:

hey there Bogester,

Thought ya' might like this here' selco hat...

I can't imagine that anyone calling Bogart "Bogester" would be able to walk away let alone finish the rest of that sentence...

 

[Fletch]

Never heard of Selco hats. Anyone?

Yeah. Old-line Brooklyn shop (est. 1898), apparently of Italian origin (the family name is Selentino).

I own four Selcos (dove gray, banker's gray, taupe, cocoa brown), all purchased in NYC vintage shops in the early-to-mid 1990s. All look to be circa 1945-55, brims in the 2 1/4–2 5/8" range, and all were unworn and unshaped when I got them. I've "teardropped" them all by hand over the years.

Not sure of the original quality of the hats. One deteriorated pretty heavily due to my high-volume perspiration habits, and when I took it to a blocking shop, they refused to clean it because "that's not the kind of hat you can clean." ??? All are beaver felt, with two marked "Silver Beaver Selco Ten," which I presume was a $10 hat. (Was that a premium or popular price then?)

There still is a hat website called http://www.selentino.com , but it's pretty badly broken (lot of that MySQL error crap), so I don't know what they're doing these days.

If Bogart wore a Selco, I'll wear mine even more proudly. If not - no skin off my scalp.

 

[Dinerman]

not the kind of hat you can clean? are they out of their minds?

 

[jamespowers]

not the kind of hat you can clean? are they out of their minds?

In a word: Yes! Unless the felt was just full of moth holes or holes in general.

Regards,

J

 

[Fletch]

Wasn't any such thing. Probably just wanted to sell me a new hat!

I'm looking around the web for Selco info and not finding much, other than the raggedy@ss web site that claims they were making hats in Czech as far back as 1799. Another source says they're an Italian firm, as I suspected.

Is it possible my hats were Italian or Czech made in the 1940s, then exported to B'klyn? They're not marked with any country of origin (and I'm reluctant to start ripping 'em apart to find one).

 

[MattC]

Selco "SilverBeaver"

I bought one in a second hand shop before I was smart enough to realize that what I thought was dust was the powder they used to even out the color. Its junk.

 

[Dinerman]

still have it? have pics?

 

[Canadave]

I bought one in a second hand shop before I was smart enough to realize that what I thought was dust was the powder they used to even out the color. Its junk.

Is THAT what the gray powder is that comes off my 80's Stetson O.R.? Any way of getting rid of it? I've brushed and brushed.

David

 

[jamespowers]

Is THAT what the gray powder is that comes off my 80's Stetson O.R.? Any way of getting rid of it? I've brushed and brushed.

David

Vacuum cleaner with the brush attachment. There probably won't be any hat left but.....

Regards,

J