Post New Hats Here!

[Hurricane Jack]

I think he's making a distinction between PA and Pa. Since the Direct Hat imprint is all caps, it would look kind of funny to have the last letter lowercase. I doubt it was that uncommon to use all caps before the USPS decided to.

That’s why I try my damndest to stay out of these things.

I found a couple more examples among my hats.

1940’s - 1950’s Stetson No.1Q

1960’s screenprint LD

 

[deadlyhandsome]

Stetson seemed to be consistently inconsistent. From the Pre-1940 Stetson Dress Hats thread:

https://www.thefedoralounge.com/threads/pre-1940s-stetson-dress-hats.42859/page-45

 

[deadlyhandsome]

My last (for now) Wolfbrae:

 

[deadlyhandsome]

Great find! I’ve heard York is a beautiful town—might have to take the hat on a visit one of these years.

Dating hats is not an exact science. We are often lucky to be able to narrow it down to decades. There are some really knowledgeable folks here who might chime in if asked. If you really want to know the age you can post your photos here:

https://www.thefedoralounge.com/threads/dating-your-hat-a-place-to-discuss-the-age-of-your-vintage-hat.30350/

As to fonts, styles, capitalization, abbreviations, etc., the retail shop would send Stetson what they wanted stamped on the leather sweatband, often including art work, and Stetson would make the die to the customers specifications. Whatever the store wanted Stetson would do. Some of the store stamps were quite intricate.

As for the age of your hat, I personally believe that the size tag reliably puts it later 1950s through mid 1960s.

Geeking out over the details and learning from each other is part of the fun. Thanks for posting your hat.

 

[steur]

I've been somewhat critical of Lock&Co hats over the years. I've haven't handled very many of them, but the overall impression I got from them that they were decent enough hats, but not of a quality to warrant the price asked for them. Having a shop for a few hundred years in one of London's most expensive neighbourhoods does come at a premium of course and that's reflected in their prices. They do seem to put emphasis on being the oldest hat shop in the world and not about the quality of the hats, we know what we're doing, don't we? It also may have to do with them outsourcing their hats, I believe mainly from Christy's, who are certainly not the best English manufacturer.
Enter this hat and I need to reconsider my opinion of Lock&Co hats. First the hat.
Lock&Co fedora in grey, called French Grey on the label with a contrasting thin ribbon in black, which is unusual for English hats, which are more commonly adorned with mid-ribbon or wide ribbons. Size 7 (57) with the raw edge brim at 5,7cm and the crown at 11 cm at the center dent. Wonderful hand to the felt and very lightweight at just 84 grams. The crown patch has a plastic covering, so probably post-war.

I'm thinking late forties or early fifties. By the mid-fifties the English hat-industry was already in trouble, mainly due to supply problems (cuased by myxomatosis) and by the mid-sixties it was all but gone. In the years between they struggled to maintain quality. This however is an excellent hat and by far the best Lock&Co I've handled. This one is certainly on par with what I consider the better English manufacturers: Woodrow, Battersby, T&W Lees, Scott&Co and Failsworth. I photographed it brim snapped down, but it works equally well brim up and may have been designed that way actually. A nice bonus, because I bought it for the Borsalino hat box it came in.
Rose&van Geluwe in Brussels is a high end retailer and tailor and still exists today.

 

[1967Cougar390]

I received a hat gift yesterday. My Fire Chief gave me a custom traditional leather fire helmet. It has hand tooled embellishments around the brim, coupled with my name on the brim back. It is topped off with a custom gold leaf badge front plate and a sculpted brass eagle holding everything in place. It is a thoughtful gift and much nicer than my old composite helmet.

Have a safe and blessed day.
Steven

 

[Mean Eyed Matt]

"Echter Mayser" in black - size 59 (slightly smaller but fits perfectly) - possibly early/mid 50s (?)
sold at "Joh.(an) Zehme" in Munich - reorder tag with "Hut Seidl" in Munich too
almost unused/perfect condition - very soft and malleable felt - medium wide crown band (3 cm).
super wide (for my hats) brim binding (1,1 cm!) on top and bottom with triple stitching
open, almost straight crown at 14.5 cm; brim at a great 7.0 cm
offered as "Homburg" - for me "Camber style" - also good to wear brim down as "Fedora".

 

[Blare]

I've been somewhat critical of Lock&Co hats over the years. I've haven't handled very many of them, but the overall impression I got from them that they were decent enough hats, but not of a quality to warrant the price asked for them. Having a shop for a few hundred years in one of London's most expensive neighbourhoods does come at a premium of course and that's reflected in their prices. They do seem to put emphasis on being the oldest hat shop in the world and not about the quality of the hats, we know what we're doing, don't we? It also may have to do with them outsourcing their hats, I believe mainly from Christy's, who are certainly not the best English manufacturer.
Enter this hat and I need to reconsider my opinion of Lock&Co hats. First the hat.
Lock&Co fedora in grey, called French Grey on the label with a contrasting thin ribbon in black, which is unusual for English hats, which are more commonly adorned with mid-ribbon or wide ribbons. Size 7 (57) with the raw edge brim at 5,7cm and the crown at 11 cm at the center dent. Wonderful hand to the felt and very lightweight at just 84 grams. The crown patch has a plastic covering, so probably post-war.

I'm thinking late forties or early fifties. By the mid-fifties the English hat-industry was already in trouble, mainly due to supply problems (cuased by myxomatosis) and by the mid-sixties it was all but gone. In the years between they struggled to maintain quality. This however is an excellent hat and by far the best Lock&Co I've handled. This one is certainly on par with what I consider the better English manufacturers: Woodrow, Battersby, T&W Lees, Scott&Co and Failsworth. I photographed it brim snapped down, but it works equally well brim up and may have been designed that way actually. A nice bonus, because I bought it for the Borsalino hat box it came in.
Rose&van Geluwe in Brussels is a high end retailer and tailor and still exists today.

Great hat

 

[Blare]

I received a hat gift yesterday. My Fire Chief gave me a custom traditional leather fire helmet. It has hand tooled embellishments around the brim, coupled with my name on the brim back. It is topped off with a custom gold leaf badge front plate and a sculpted brass eagle holding everything in place. It is a thoughtful gift and much nicer than my old composite helmet.

View attachment 353720
View attachment 353721
View attachment 353722

Have a safe and blessed day.
Steven

Fantastic. What a great gift from the chief.

 

[Blare]

"Echter Mayser" in black - size 59 (slightly smaller but fits perfectly) - possibly early/mid 50s (?)
sold at "Joh.(an) Zehme" in Munich - reorder tag with "Hut Seidl" in Munich too
almost unused/perfect condition - very soft and malleable felt - medium wide crown band (3 cm).
super wide (for my hats) brim binding (1,1 cm!) on top and bottom with triple stitching
open, almost straight crown at 14.5 cm; brim at a great 7.0 cm
offered as "Homburg" - for me "Camber style" - also good to wear brim down as "Fedora".

That is one sharp Mayser, Matt

 

[Frunobulax]

I received a hat gift yesterday. My Fire Chief gave me a custom traditional leather fire helmet. It has hand tooled embellishments around the brim, coupled with my name on the brim back. It is topped off with a custom gold leaf badge front plate and a sculpted brass eagle holding everything in place. It is a thoughtful gift and much nicer than my old composite helmet.

View attachment 353720
View attachment 353721
View attachment 353722

Have a safe and blessed day.
Steven

That's gorgeous; the leather ones are pretty cool. Who manufactured it?

 

[deadlyhandsome]

"Echter Mayser" in black - size 59 (slightly smaller but fits perfectly) - possibly early/mid 50s (?)
sold at "Joh.(an) Zehme" in Munich - reorder tag with "Hut Seidl" in Munich too
almost unused/perfect condition - very soft and malleable felt - medium wide crown band (3 cm).
super wide (for my hats) brim binding (1,1 cm!) on top and bottom with triple stitching
open, almost straight crown at 14.5 cm; brim at a great 7.0 cm
offered as "Homburg" - for me "Camber style" - also good to wear brim down as "Fedora".

I love how it looks brim up. For a black hat to grab my attention it has to be perfect; this Mayser grabbed my attention! Congrats!

 

[Rmccamey]

Excellent find, Stefan.

Found this recently. I'm not collecting bowlers, but the price for this one went down so fast that the seller was more or less giving it away. Ok, if you're going to twist my arm...
Le Plumet bowler. Belgian made (likely); no label inside the hat. Size 57 with the brim at 5cm and the crown at 12cm (more or less). Very well made bowler and fits me quite well. I find that bowlers do tend to run small sometimes (they aren't as forgiving in fit as soft felt hats of course).

View attachment 353338 View attachment 353339 View attachment 353340 View attachment 353341 View attachment 353342 View attachment 353343 View attachment 353344 View attachment 353345

 

[1967Cougar390]

That's gorgeous; the leather ones are pretty cool. Who manufactured it?

Thank you for the compliment. Phoenix Technology is the manufacturer.
Steven

 

[TheGuitarFairy]

Just dug into past four pages .. you guys are killing it, great lids all around!

 

[NewJack]

Very recent acquisition. 40s Strat try-on.

 

[PanosChris]

For Matt

 

[Blare]

Very recent acquisition. 40s Strat try-on.

Look great Doc!

 

[Rmccamey]

Super nice Strat, young man! Wear it well.

Very recent acquisition. 40s Strat try-on.

 

[deadlyhandsome]

Very recent acquisition. 40s Strat try-on.

Looks fantastic! You’ve been finding some real gems, Doc. The color, shape, condition: home run!