Stetson Beaver 100

[TPD166]

That was ebay picture - I had not received the hat. I will try to get some better pics now that I have it.

Robert, yours looks like mid to late 60's with that gold band around the top of the sweatband & that size tag.
The glare on the photo is on the crest of the liner which makes it hard to see details.

I have a Stetson 100 with the same sweatband style, perforated & laced in ribbon, like Mike's but I have an older style size tag.
My size tag is the round style but with the full 7 5/8 printed versus just the fraction.
How is 7X marked on the sweat?

 

[gtdean48]

Gt, is the felt on yours stiffer like a western hat?

The brim definitely is. The crown is not as stiff as my western Stetsons but it is not as soft as my mid-50's 100 that I got from Jimmy the Lid who got it in open crown state. HTH

The JtL 100 mentioned above = http://www.thefedoralounge.com/show...uot-100-quot&p=1167534&viewfull=1#post1167534

 

[Landman]

The brim definitely is. The crown is not as stiff as my western Stetsons but it is not as soft as my mid-50's 100 that I got from Jimmy the Lid who got it in open crown state. HTH

Thanks. That sounds about like mine. The crown is stiff but not rock hard like a modern western.

 

[flyingfish]

Hi flyingfish,

I have received the hat and it is very nice. I'd say it might be a little larger than the 7 3/8 size tag because I'm in between sizes. I usually wear either a 7 3/8 Long Oval or a 7 1/2. This one fits me fine and it is a regular 7 3/8. Of course, when it comes to buying older hats it is hard tell if the size tag is accurate. A lot depends on how the hat has been taken care of and stored. I have some vintage 7 3/8 that are too big and some 7 1/2 that are too small. The previous owner might have stretched the hat too. You never really know until you try it on.

The felt is very nice on it but I'm a little surprised at how stiff it is. The stiffness reminds me more of a western hat than what I would have expected from a Stetson 100. This appears to be a late model Stetson Beaver 100 manufactured in the 1960's and I think it probably came with the cattleman's crease. From what I've read, the Stetson 100's from the 50's came with a soft open crown and usually a stiffer brim.

Since I like a cattleman's crease I'm fine with it. If I had wanted to recreased it into another type of crease I might be a little disappointed in it. I don't think I would want to try and recrease it do to the stiffness of the crown.

I hope that helps you.

Thanks very much for the detailed answer Mike. I'll continue the hunt!

 

[fedoralover]

Here is a Stetson Beaver 100 I just purchased. I haven't received the hat yet so I don't have much to contribute except these pictures from the Seller's auction.

Reviving this thread as I just found a Stetson 100 with the exact same labeling as this one. It came with a Stetson hat box. I too noticed how stiff it is. But the felt is super tight and in great shape. Found it in an Antique shop here locally. Have you made any effort to soften yours up?

fedoralover

 

[fedoralover]

This one had a cowboy type pinch. I popped it out and cleaned it with some scout foam cleaner. The crown took the reshaping well without any real hint of the previous pinch. It has also made it less stiff. Here's a pic. The inside is identical to the pics in the previous post. The hat is still a bit damp from the cleaning.

fedoralover

 

[randooch]

Looking good so far!

 

[Landman]

Fedoralover,

I haven't tried to do anything with mine. It is just too pristine for me to be experimenting with. Yours looks great though. Post some pics after you crease it.

 

[fedoralover]

Here they are. I've had another Stetson 100 and it was older. The felt seemed to be the same quality but I noticed they didn't bother putting the "Stetson 100" logo on either the sweatband or the liner on this one. I love the felt though super smooth and very dense, probably twice the weight of a vintage Borsalino, which may account some for the stiffness. This one did loosen up quite a bit after I cleaned it. It had a bit of dirt along the old crease lines but they all came out. I'm pretty happy with finding it locally.

fedoralover

 

[Landman]

That turned out very nice. If they didn't put Stetson 100 on the sweatband or liner how do you know it is a 100? Can you post some pics of the inside? Thanks.

 

[fedoralover]

Sorry, I wasn't specific enough about the sweatband. Mine is exactly like yours "Stetson 100 Beaver" but on the other one I had it also said Stetson 100 by the circular logo. Minor change I suppose but they used to put it on the liner as well and I just noticed the difference.

fedoralover

 

[Landman]

I understand. There does seem to be several variations of this hat over the years. I'm thinking mine might be toward the end of the run of these hats.

 

[fedoralover]

I have a Stetson 25 in excellent condition and the felt on the Stetson Beaver 100 is definitely a higher grade. I took both hats over to Mike Miller at Northwest Hats and had him close his eyes and feel the felt on each one and see if he could pick out the 100. He did it in a matter of seconds and I believe anyone could as the 100 has a much finer feel to the felt. I have so many thin ribbon hats now I'm pondering having it converted to a standard wider ribbon fedora with a wider edge binding.

fedoralover

 

[Rodkins]

Mine finally came in and I was pleasantly surprised. I'll get some pics up soon.

 

[Rodkins]

Here's my Stetson Beaver 100

This was an added surprise - It came from Morris Men's Shop Stock Yard Inn Chicago

 

[fedoralover]

Liner and sweatband is just like the one I just bought. I was very impressed with the felt on mine, I assume yours is equally nice. How stiff is yours? Mine actually loosened up after the reblock and working the brim some. Mine doesn't have the Morris Stock yard label on it though, nice yours does it should help you narrow down a date on it. Anyone know when they went out of business??

fedoralover

 

[danofarlington]

The Stetson sure does have a Western look because of the brim width and the curve.

 

[Rodkins]

It's very similar to the other hundreds I have had. The brim is pretty stiff and the crown is quite moldable. This brim I can actually wear up or down and it looks decent.

 

[danofarlington]

My 7x clear beaver Open Road is shaped like that too on the brim, and I did the crown like yours. But I can seldom wear up brim in front. Others, including you, can do it, but not me. Anyway I like the Western look, and you can see that it's a quality hat, so it can go anywhere.

 

[Garrett]

After being on the market for "many-a-hatless moons" this finally arrived on my doorstep. Purchased out of curiosity and I'm not overly-impressed though it does have a nice hand. For those interested, the pinhole is almost non-existant and the stain is quite tolerable. Look for it in the classifieds later today...