Thank you for the welcome plus comments, and I appreciate the honor of being part of the BB, and a member of TFL.
Hello Daniele, thank you for all that information. I thought the wind cord retained too much elasticity to be true vintage. The leather sweatband is also very soft and pliable, but I know the craftsmanship in vintage ones is different than modern ones. The fact that the fold lettering is basically etched (I don't know the right word but almost carved into the leather, there is a texture and the lettering is indented into the leather) makes me feel the leather is vintage and just held up well. The lining is thicker compared to modern day ones in feel and definitely has a different, almost I would say softer feel to it. I mean that differently than the smoothness of modern day linings. Could you confirm if it is at least authentic vintage? I also think it may be beaver fur specifically. I have had rabbit borsalinos that soaked through in the rain and got ruined. I wore this hat in a more moderate I'd even call it a heavy rain standing outside my apartment in my trench coat. I wanted to test the material in a controlled environment where I could rush inside if the hat felt like it wasn't holding up (and I could feel like Humphrey Bogart in the ending of Casablanca). The hat got pretty soaked but held its shape and the lining and leather came away from this completely dry, not a drop of water got through. Also, when I steam it there is a certain smell it gets that I've only had with beaver hats, never rabbit. I don't know how to describe it, but it is almost kind of musty scent that comes out only when I steam it.Joe you leave me a difficult task
I looked at the three Borsalinos that appeared yesterday with interest and I drew some conclusions that I wanted to sleep on before exposing them, because the first is the one that engaged me the most in its "identification".
@ Cristopher Smith First of all it was obvious to me that the hat has characteristics that for some reason are not very logical. The lining is that of the pre-war Borsalinos in Italy, in Europe the one with blue and red colors was used. Not always, knowing Borsalino's desire to consume any available material, does the sweatband seem more recent to me. The paper tag is from a hat made before World War II, but they are also found on hats made just after the end of the war. Alternative to all this: the hat was "refurbished" after the Second World War by the importer who used a new sweatband. In short, there is something that, in my personal opinion, is not logical in its appearance as it was found. In any case, the hat is very beautiful.
@ neuron The other two presented are more datable and readable. Both were built for the Italian market. The first, the color "Rusco", a dialect word from Bologna which means "garbage" is relatively recent, let's say from the Sixties - Seventies. Helios means nothing. It was a little marketing for the retailer. I would like to see the real color in light and shadow. The second, "Narvalo" color was made in the 1950s or 1960s. I haven't seen the seller, but "Esportazione vietata" is another little Borsalino marketing touch often used for hats without the retailer's name on the lining or/and sweatband. Two nice hats
Ciao Christopher, the answers to your feelings and observations are a little complex and I will try to be concise.
No, sorry to disappoint you, but it's not beaver.
Certainly the felt of your Borsalino contains rabbit and other types of fur.
Lovely hat. Can you show us the label as well?
This is an easy one: this hat was made in 1982. The labels with the hyphen between the numbers upper right were in use from 1976 and 1983. The first two numbers before the hyphen are the year of production.
Correct.
I'm not the one who would question Google Translate on an Italian translation, so it sounds about right to me!
Thank you very much! I was off by a few years, but at least my feeling was correct that the label was more modern than my previous ones.
Sepia and Chestnut seem correct as colours for the felt and ribbon in my case. Byt sometimes colour descriptions are hard to understand. I have a Borsalino in Morello, which by translation seems reddish, but it is gray in my eyes.
Great find and wonderful hat, Marcel. They don't show up often anymore.
Sharp looking hat, Marcel. Nice find.
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