The BORSALINO BROTHERHOOD

[Sweatbandjo]

Thank you RJR, do tell me, what do you use to treat a sweatband? I have various wonderful saddlemakers' leather potions. I suppose it's a matter of how dry and encrusted a band is? Saddlesoap is the old fallback I guess. I was more concerned about over creased straw and cracking.
In the meantime I've definately come to love my Borsalino homburg/ fedora conversion it is SO comfortable and though not purist of course, it just feels right.

Oh yes, I've hunted the Net but can't find much on the Borsalino Becü. It must have been mentioned in dispatches many a time on the Fedora Lounge do you have any pointers please?

 

[moontheloon]

Thank you RJR, do tell me, what do you use to treat a sweatband? I have various wonderful saddlemakers' leather potions. I suppose it's a matter of how dry and encrusted a band is? Saddlesoap is the old fallback I guess. I was more concerned about over creased straw and cracking.
In the meantime I've definately come to love my Borsalino homburg/ fedora conversion it is SO comfortable and though not purist of course, it just feels right.

Oh yes, I've hunted the Net but can't find much on the Borsalino Becü. It must have been mentioned in dispatches many a time on the Fedora Lounge do you have any pointers please?

Chamberlains leather milk #1 & #2 is the way to go

 

[Sweatbandjo]

Thank you moontheloon, but it's "spot the error" time... It's a cloth swearband! Silly me.
Do you think that this straw Borsalino is their summer version of a Brooklyn Chabad kneitsch? The Crown Heights Chabad-Lubavitch badge of office? It might be at that, but why not? I may be a Scottish goy but I like it.

 

[RJR]

Chamberlains leather milk #1 & #2 is the way to go

I've had good luck with Lexol wipes,easy and disposable.

 

[Sweatbandjo]

I've had good luck with Lexol wipes,easy and disposable.

I'm pretty certain that this Borsalino fine weave Bakü has a cloth sweatband

 

[alanfgag]

Yes, cloth.

 

[Sweatbandjo]

I thought so Alan - it makes sense on a straw hat really. But I wonder why I can find no trace of this type of fine Borsalino Bakü - they do make a much heavier weave bakü fedora, but I find it very ordinary, not much of a Borsa' work of art.

 

[Tonio]

My understanding is that Tesi was the maker of Borsalino's straws.

 

[Sweatbandjo]

My Borsalino

Thank you Tonio, it does look very likely that Tesi made it doesn't it. I've seen this Tesi made for Bencraft that looks very, very like my straw Borsalino

This is the Tesi Bencraft. I'm very tempted to ease out the sharp bash on mine as it can't be any good for the bacü straw, my guess is that otherwise it'll crack sooner than later. What thoughts?

 

[RJR]

View attachment 56127
My Borsalino

Thank you Tonio, it does look very likely that Tesi made it doesn't it. I've seen this Tesi made for Bencraft that looks very, very like my straw Borsalino
View attachment 56126
This is the Tesi Bencraft. I'm very tempted to ease out the sharp bash on mine as it can't be any good for the bacü straw, my guess is that otherwise it'll crack sooner than later. What thoughts?

I'd be nervous,only you can feel how supple it is.Seems like a catch-22,if you work on it it might crack,if you don't it pretty certainly will crack.

 

[mayserwegener]

Borsalino, Point 5 1/2, 130 grams probably 1930 or 40s . This is a gift from Manfred. Thanks!

 

[1mach1]

Wow! Manfred is Santa Claus.
Great gift. Looks nice!

 

[Chepstow]

Santa is everywhere! [emoji23][emoji23]


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[alanfgag]

beautiful!

 

[safetyfast]

My first Borsalino arrived today. Overall in pretty nice shape. Sweatband threads have let loose in a few spots but the leather is still soft. The felt takes any bash effortlessly!
I know nothing about Borsalinos other than that I've wanted one since I first saw one on here. So, any information you can share would be appreciated. From the store name on the sweatband, apparently it was originally sold in Germany.

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[mayserwegener]

It's a German market Borsalino. Where did you find it? In the later 1950s "Export Qualität" is added to "Echter Borsalino". Can you post a photo of the paper label behind the sweatband? Here are some other German market Borsalinos.

http://germanaustrianhats.invisionzone.com/index.php?/topic/50-borsalino-german-market/

 

[safetyfast]

It's a German market Borsalino. Where did you find it? In the later 1950s "Export Qualität" is added to "Echter Borsalino". Can you post a photo of the paper label behind the sweatband? Here are some other German market Borsalinos.

http://germanaustrianhats.invisionzone.com/index.php?/topic/50-borsalino-german-market/

The paper label is illegible. Apparently it was manufactured by JA Seidl in Germany? I found it on Ebay.


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[mayserwegener]

It was made by Borsalino for the German market. J.A. Seidl Hutfabrik München became a shop name. You can read about J.A. Seidl on my Mayser thread.

http://germanaustrianhats.invisionzone.com/index.php?/topic/3-mayser-hutfabrik/

It would be helpful to see a photo of the paper label regardless. It might help in better dating.

 

[safetyfast]

It was made by Borsalino for the German market. J.A. Seidl Hutfabrik München became a shop name. You can read about J.A. Seidl on my Mayser thread.

http://germanaustrianhats.invisionzone.com/index.php?/topic/3-mayser-hutfabrik/

It would be helpful to see a photo of the paper label regardless. It might help in better dating.

Here are some more photos. All I can make out on the paper tag is "Borsalino Grand Prix Paris". There appears to be a 9 stamped on the inside of the sweatband too. It's in good shape other than the loose sweatband and what I'm assuming is a swear stain on the felt just below the ribbon on the front of the brim.

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[mayserwegener]

Thanks! It's a "6" which is the Point (French) Size. If you carefully pull back the small half oval tag on the sweatband it should have 6 or maybe 5 1/2 on it. As you said it's tough to make out the paper label. It's really hard to date Borsalinos because they don't change much in this time period. I know that late 1920s Echter Borsalinos have a handwritten Point size on the paper label. Can you see if a number is handwritten on it? This is a late 1920s Echter Borsalino paper label. My feeling is your hat is later maybe late 1940s early 1950s.