The BORSALINO BROTHERHOOD

[cookie]

This Borso is just back from its cleaning at Optimo. It is an off-white color -- perhaps butter-creme is the best description. This one pre-dates the factory move, but perhaps some Borsalino experts can help with the dating -- I'm thinking late 60's-early 70's? Beautiful lightweight felt in a neat color for a fedora.

JtL

what was the brim width mate?

 

[jimmy the lid]

Cookie -- the brim width is 2 3/4".

Cheers,
JtL

 

[skwerl-hat]

borsalino bowler

i just received this hat today it is a borsalino qualita suprema. The hat is so soft its like velvet
Sorry i cant post a picture but here is the finished auction.
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&ssPageName=STRK:MEWNX:IT&item=110313781368

does anyone know a possible age on my hat?
id love to hear any of your comments.

 

[carouselvic]

I believe that it is a ladies hat....size 22....bow on the right?

 

[skwerl-hat]

HAHA oh no what have i done! :O

 

[carouselvic]

There are a lot of ladies on the Lounge.

 

[gtdean48]

My application for brotherhood membership...

I bought this Alessandria back in late 80's in Ft. Worth, TX. It is mix of rabbit & hare according to the sweatband. 2 1/2 inch brim with my personal bash, sort of a diamond/teardrop... gtd

 

[Baron Kurtz]

Gentlemen, what's the word on the Grand-Prix Paris? Is this even a model? That's what one on the 'bay is listed as, and I couldn't find anything out about the model.

(I don't know about the Grand Prix Paris as a model, but I was thinking that it may be an accolade from a competition. Gold medal winner?)

John has the generally accepted answer - and almost undoubtedly the true answer. Almost every Borsalino i've ever seen has "Grand Prix Paris 1900" on the sweatband … I own one which has "Grand Prix Turin 1911". I suspect that this hat dates from not far after 1911, since later hats reverted back to the "Paris 1900". The hat looks very much like several of the Italian hats pictured from the middle 19-teens in the Campione book.

I suppose the Paris prize was the most to be bragged about.

And JTL, that's a lovely hat. I'd agree with Dinerman that it would probably be 1950s, based on sweatband, liner and style.

bk

 

[HarpPlayerGene]

HAHA oh no what have i done! :O

If it fits, just swing that ribbon/bow around and res-titch it. WA-LA. I can't spell 'voila'. Or start a "Borsalino Sisterhood" thread and just let 'em wonder about you.

 

[HarpPlayerGene]

I finally got to dig out the Borsalino Homburg and don it for a cold day.

Jim

Oooooooooohhhhh. :eusa_clap

 

[mineral]

John has the generally accepted answer - and almost undoubtedly the true answer. Almost every Borsalino i've ever seen has "Grand Prix Paris 1900" on the sweatband … I own one which has "Grand Prix Turin 1911". I suspect that this hat dates from not far after 1911, since later hats reverted back to the "Paris 1900". The hat looks very much like several of the Italian hats pictured from the middle 19-teens in the Campione book.

I suppose the Paris prize was the most to be bragged about.

"Grand Prix Paris 1900" refers to winning the gold medal at the World Fair in Paris in 1900. They are by no means the only company that brags about winning gold medals there, as, for instance, the medal is featured on Campbell's soup can.

I must confess I don't know why it is something so significant people still brag about it 100 + years after. Maybe someone can enlighten?

(Speaking of which, maybe they stopped bragging about the 1911 win because the 1911 exhibition in Turin is not an official "World Fair".)

 

[Carlisle Blues]

Here is my Diamante and Como

 

[kaosharper1]

Vintage Alessandria

I scored this on ebay and would like to request membership in the Brotherhood. It's just about mint. I think its from the early 1960s. The six digit number starts with 62, sweatband says "Original House" and has a cloth size tag. Also the price is under the sweatband and says $35. Nice sewn liner and sweatpad behind the sweatband on the forehead. The felt is very soft and very thin making this a great Summer hat. Interestingly it fits me perfectly though its a 7 1/4 and I have a 23" head. Must be the light felt. I'd appreciate any ideas on the vintage. Thanks!

 

[tortswon]

Application for membership

I just won this Borsalino on eBay. Can anyone give me any information on it (age, etc.)? Thanks, Sam

 

[skwerl-hat]

If it fits, just swing that ribbon/bow around and res-titch it. WA-LA. I can't spell 'voila'. Or start a "Borsalino Sisterhood" thread and just let 'em wonder about you.

haha for shame ive disgraced the brotherhood with my hat. I beg for your forgiveness. Maybe i could resew the bow it fits perfect:eusa_clap

 

[zetwal]

Help: Borsalino reference materials

Esteemed Brothers

I'm not an official Brother of this august body but would very much like to know if someone here would be so kind as to answer a question for me.

Are there any readily obtainable and perhaps thorough reference materials that would help one learn how to date Borsalinos accurately?

Thanks! Eric

 

[RBH]

I shall soon join this fine Brotherhood.

 

[Lefty]

No. We're doing OK putting Stetsons into certain decades, but the work on Borsos seems shakey at best. There's a thread somewhere about dating them by liner, and Baron Kurtz has a system that works on hats from a certain era that involves the serial (or order?) number.

Some guys, like Dinerman, have a fine eye for detail and can often give a pretty good idea of the decade of a hat from things like the manner in which the sweat is stitched to the hat (or to a reed and then to the hat). There are also indicators for certain decades - the most widely cited being the very tall crown but short brim associated with hats of the 30s, and the again rapidly shrinking brim of the 60s and 70s. These "sort-of" rules have more exceptions than anyone can count. We do a lot of estimating, but there are very, very few hats on the Lounge upon which anyone can place a certain date. - Of course, sometimes a hat has a date right on a tag.

 

[zetwal]

OK thanks. If anyone out there knows where threads on Borsalino liners and/or serial numbers are buried and can pass that to me I would appreciate it. Perhaps one of you out there will publish the first comprehensive work on this topic? E

 

[Baron Kurtz]

No. We're doing OK putting Stetsons into certain decades, but the work on Borsos seems shakey at best. There's a thread somewhere about dating them by liner, and Baron Kurtz has a system that works on hats from a certain era that involves the serial (or order?) number.

Ha ha. No, i'm most certainly not taking credit for that one. In fact i don't own any Borsalinos that fit into any grand serial number schema, which was tenuous at best. I seem to remember Feltfan, maybe, was promoting that idea. I seem to recall that the scheme worked for post-factory-move (i.e. modern, 'antica casa') hats only. I thought for a while that liners could be reasonably used, but that's not true either. There seem to have been a fantastic array of possibe liners for a spectacularly long time.

As to reference materials. Unfortunately the only good picture book of *mainly* Borsalinos does not include any liner or any other information. You just have to accept that they've got their dates right. But they had access to the Borsalino collection and museum and various collections of the Italian hat bigwigs, so i suspect they're on the button.

bk