Open Road questions ??

[ingineer]

Alan;
you made me laugh
i do the same thing with values
100 dollar hat today , OK that was about 22 bucks in 75
900 dollar radio today , Cool that was about 200 bucks in 75, a bargain.
i bought so much equipment in my career by using the future value of money computation.
interesting what a "25" computes to today. Makes custom seem cheap sometimes

 

[LuvMyMan]

Alan;
you made me laugh
i do the same thing with values
100 dollar hat today , OK that was about 22 bucks in 75
900 dollar radio today , Cool that was about 200 bucks in 75, a bargain.
i bought so much equipment in my career by using the future value of money computation.
interesting what a "25" computes to today. Makes custom seem cheap sometimes

A bit of humor goes into vintage around our place. If it feels and looks older then we are, it is for certain true vintage, ha!

 

[LuvMyMan]

The reason I asked in the first place is because I have
to cowboy-worn Open Roads from New Mexico, each I
would say from at least the 60's, and each has a 2.5"
brim and a 5" open crown.
Then I picked up a dead ringer for an Open Road
recently up in Ventura for 60-bucks. It is in
beautiful shape and really does look identical
to an OP, yet the only labels around the band
read: Libertyville Saddle Shop, Illinois. The
brim is 2.75", the crown height 5".

Well now, sounds like you have a few gems at a super nice price! Nothing better than to obtain a hat for a bargain!

 

[LuvMyMan]

I recently obtained a Stetson and had to ask Alan for some pointers on it, as it has no model designation any where on it. I fairly much knew from the inside of the hat having the plastic "tip" on the crown and the gold stamp on the leather sweatband, that the age of the hat was in the zone of 1960-1970's. However, the hat does not measure to anything we have had before to an exact size of crown or brim width. The felt has a decent feel to it, but not like some vintage that is that nice melted butter. It shaped nicely and I did use some steam to freshen up the felt and hat sponge the surface dirt the hat had acquired from sitting on a store back room shelf under a stack of black colored stetsons. This hat is very light weight. In fact it is the lightest weight hat we have ever had. Puzzled is the best way to view this hat, no designation on the felt either, you would think it should say Feather Weight someplace on the sweatband? NO XXX on the hat anywhere, just Royal Stetson and that is it!
You could put a Strat Pin on it, and viewing the hat would fit right in on that hat group as the hat is zero taper and has that "look" to it, and then again the way I bash hats for my Husband I tend to go with a simple center dent and light not very tight small pinch which is more the O.R. look to it. Nice ribbon attachment and the brim is bound super thin ribbon. It does not make any difference to us, if the hat is one model or another or if not either a Strat or O.R, it is a super clean looks new never been worn hat that is fairly much spotless. It was another wonderful find, and we are happy to have it here.

 

[tantoo]

hi all,
newbie here and still learning. i managed to snag this beauty yesterday (it's on the way), and have tried to figure approximate age from reading previous threads re liner, crest, etc . . . but havent found anything definitive; note the liner has no diamond pattern, the crest is retangular with beaver on left, black rectangular size tag (no metric), and white bow. interestingly, there are numbers stamped on the liner - 2 & 59. i've not seen this before and am wondering if this is a date stamp . . . anyone have experience/knowledge with this? thanks in advance for any help.

 

[belfastboy]

hi all,
newbie here and still learning. i managed to snag this beauty yesterday (it's on the way), and have tried to figure approximate age from reading previous threads re liner, crest, etc . . . but havent found anything definitive; note the liner has no diamond pattern, the crest is retangular with beaver on left, black rectangular size tag (no metric), and white bow. interestingly, there are numbers stamped on the liner - 2 & 59. i've not seen this before and am wondering if this is a date stamp . . . anyone have experience/knowledge with this? thanks in advance for any help.


View attachment 501232

How definitive do you want? The black sweat band brings it into the modern era.

 

[tantoo]

ahhhh, ok. so sometime between '70 and '84 - based on no metric size?

 

[belfastboy]

ahhhh, ok. so sometime between '70 and '84 - based on no metric size?

Probably a good estimation. It is a very modern Stetson hat box. If you you use the Google search...."Fedora Lounge, dating a stetson". It will bring up a bunch of threads in the Lounge to narrow it down.

 

[tantoo]

hey belfast boy and deadlyhandsome,+

i have another dating question for you. i have three ORs, and this one is my favorite . . . ive figured it was a 60s vintage, but am now unsure (mostly because of the black sweatband).

got thoughts?

youll see i have original receipt (old school) from denver dry goods, with date of sale but no year.

ive searched threads re twenty five’s, liners, logos, sweatbands, etc . . . but cant find satisfactory info. and when were twenty five's discontinued?

wind trolley has crest on it . . .

so now i turn to you.

speak to me, please, oh oracles of OR knowledge . . .

g View attachment 507507

 

[BobHufford]

Nice hat! I wonder if the "- 8 " in the receipt number was the year ('68).

 

[deadlyhandsome]

hey belfast boy and deadlyhandsome,+

i have another dating question for you. i have three ORs, and this one is my favorite . . . ive figured it was a 60s vintage, but am now unsure (mostly because of the black sweatband).

got thoughts?

youll see i have original receipt (old school) from denver dry goods, with date of sale but no year.

ive searched threads re twenty five’s, liners, logos, sweatbands, etc . . . but cant find satisfactory info. and when were twenty five's discontinued?

wind trolley has crest on it . . .

so now i turn to you.

speak to me, please, oh oracles of OR knowledge . . .

g View attachment 507507 View attachment 507504 View attachment 507502 View attachment 507508 View attachment 507509 View attachment 507510

That particular version of the Last Drop (LD) liner came after they stopped embroidering them and before the “orange” LD liner that is so common. For my own use, I call the version of the LD liner in your hat the “pale liner” because it usually looks washed out. The black rectangular (non-keyhole) size tag with just the US sizing (no metric sizing) also helps to date it. It could well be 1970s, but I don’t see anything that is inconsistent with a late 1960s hat either. The hand written factory label is interesting.

There are several others here who know a lot more about dating Stetsons than I do and maybe one of them will chime in?

 

[Rmccamey]

hey belfast boy and deadlyhandsome,+

i have another dating question for you. i have three ORs, and this one is my favorite . . . ive figured it was a 60s vintage, but am now unsure (mostly because of the black sweatband).

got thoughts?

youll see i have original receipt (old school) from denver dry goods, with date of sale but no year.

ive searched threads re twenty five’s, liners, logos, sweatbands, etc . . . but cant find satisfactory info. and when were twenty five's discontinued?

wind trolley has crest on it . . .

so now i turn to you.

speak to me, please, oh oracles of OR knowledge . . .

g View attachment 507507 View attachment 507504 View attachment 507502 View attachment 507508 View attachment 507509 View attachment 507510

A very nice hat, indeed!

 

[deadlyhandsome]

A very nice hat, indeed!

Just noticed the new avatar, Randy: I like it. No one wears bowlers better than you.

 

[Rmccamey]

Thank you, Brent. I have an interesting build coming from Northwest in a few months.

Just noticed the new avatar, Randy: I like it. No one wears bowlers better than you.