5-5/8" x 2-1/8".
Incredible shape holding--I believe it has a high Nutria content. No moth damage-no sweat but a line of glue where a sweat once was.
It's been out of the box for under a half hour, so better photos are forthcoming. For now, I'll say that I've never handled any hat as light as this. The felt is extremely thin, and the sweat weighs next to nothing. Held against my very light vita-felt, the one in my avatar, the vita-felt is a brick. This is, by leaps and bounds, the lightest felt I own.
The sweat needs some sewing, as it's about 1/4 loose, but the leather is still soft and supple. Fortunately, the 7 3/4 that's normally big on me seems to have shrunk a bit, right on down to a perfect fit.
While the weight and the size make me happy enough, the color is incredible. My wife immediately thought of peacock feathers when she saw it, in the way that the slightest turn or change of light will make you see deep green, teal, royal blue, or even black. I'll work on getting more photos to show that variation another day.
I haven't done any brushing, steaming, etc. at this point. These are just the preliminary excitement shots.
OK, Lefty -- truth or dare?
The Vita-Felt arrived this afternoon and is a work in progress. The felt is in absolutely beautiful shape (more on this later) -- but the lid needs to be "freshened up" a bit after collecting some dust over the years. No way I'm sending this to Optimo, as I want to keep all of it intact. The sweat is amazingly pliable and supple given its age, and I don't want to risk losing it. So, the liner is currently soaking in Woolite. I have taken a photo of the inside of the hat with the liner removed, which shows the color of the hat with no intervening dirt layer. The second photo shows the hat, resting comfortably and drying out after its session with Scout hat cleaner.
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It's been out of the box for under a half hour, so better photos are forthcoming. For now, I'll say that I've never handled any hat as light as this. The felt is extremely thin, and the sweat weighs next to nothing. Held against my very light vita-felt, the one in my avatar, the vita-felt is a brick. This is, by leaps and bounds, the lightest felt I own.
The sweat needs some sewing, as it's about 1/4 loose, but the leather is still soft and supple. Fortunately, the 7 3/4 that's normally big on me seems to have shrunk a bit, right on down to a perfect fit.
While the weight and the size make me happy enough, the color is incredible. My wife immediately thought of peacock feathers when she saw it, in the way that the slightest turn or change of light will make you see deep green, teal, royal blue, or even black. I'll work on getting more photos to show that variation another day.
I haven't done any brushing, steaming, etc. at this point. These are just the preliminary excitement shots.
!
