The Cavanagh Club

[Tukwila]

Selling.....? Ha ha

No, not at this time. It's got spectacular felt, a Cavanagh edge and is a wonderful blue grey color. I bought it as advertised at 7-3/8 for me... too small, so now it's hers.

.

 

[TheOldFashioned]

I don’t know production numbers, but Max was looking for an older/wider brim Cananagh for over a year. In Max time that’s like 20 years.

I have one and the first person who offers me $1,000 gets it.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

Is that the one I tipped? If so, I get a 10% pass along commission, right?

 

[Bill Hughes]

No, not at this time. It's got spectacular felt, a Cavanagh edge and is a wonderful blue grey color. I bought it as advertised at 7-3/8 for me... too small, so now it's hers.

.

Love the colors.

 

[AbbaDatDeHat]

No, not at this time. It's got spectacular felt, a Cavanagh edge and is a wonderful blue grey color. I bought it as advertised at 7-3/8 for me... too small, so now it's hers.

.

You sell that one and you better get in the box with it!!
Perfect!!

 

[Hagwood]

No, not at this time. It's got spectacular felt, a Cavanagh edge and is a wonderful blue grey color. I bought it as advertised at 7-3/8 for me... too small, so now it's hers.

.

Very nice indeed ! I do love the blue grey colors. Just landed a Mallory that I’m hoping is that color, but I’ll have to see when I get it.....

 

[drmaxtejeda]

I don’t know production numbers, but Max was looking for an older/wider brim Cananagh for over a year. In Max time that’s like 20 years.

I have one and the first person who offers me $1,000 gets it.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

I missed this post before, Brent. [emoji1]

Sent from my SM-A705FN using Tapatalk

 

[Hagwood]

Watching this hat that appears to be 40’s or earlier according to the liner info I have seen. I would like to add a Homburg to the collection, but don’t know for sure if this is an actual Homburg.

Any advice would be appreciated.

 

[deadlyhandsome]

My understanding is the liners switched from “John Cavanagh Ltd.” to “Cavanagh Hats” in 1950. Have you consulted The Hatted Professor? It sure looks like a typical (and nice) homburg from the 1950s or later.

http://www.thehattedprofessor.com/datecavanagh.html


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

 

[Hagwood]

My understanding is the liners switched from “John Cavanagh Ltd.” to “Cavanagh Hats” in 1950. Have you consulted The Hatted Professor? It sure looks like a typical (and nice) homburg from the 1950s or later.

http://www.thehattedprofessor.com/datecavanagh.html


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

Ah yes, I missed the name change part, was going by the address. Looks like they dropped the address and only left ‘New York’ around 53 or 54. That’s what caught my eye, as it seems everything I’ve seen has been 60’s or later.

That gives a pretty good window of early 50’s I guess.

Thanks for the help.

 

[Rmccamey]

Nice looking homburg I'd say.

Watching this hat that appears to be 40’s or earlier according to the liner info I have seen. I would like to add a Homburg to the collection, but don’t know for sure if this is an actual Homburg.

Any advice would be appreciated.
View attachment 191997

View attachment 191998

 

[steur]

Cavanagh in brown. Size 60 with the raw edge brim at 5,2cm and the crown 11cm at the center dent. At first I thought this hat may have had its brim cut (who would do such a thing?), but I doubt this hat ever had a Cavanagh edge in the first place. It's one of their later hats and the "cavanagh edge" feature would have been printed on the sweatband. Either way the overall quality is all there.

 

[Blare]

A new entry into the Cavanagh Club

Just in time for HAT Day.... this one arrived on the doorstep this morning!

Cavanagh Equestrian Derby

What is an equestrian derby as opposed to I guess a dress derby? was the question I had... here was what Alan had to say

An equestrian derby is reinforced for the rigors of riding - a stylish safety helmet/derby hybrid. The laced sweatband was a common feature on this style of derby. This Cavanagh liner was in use post-WWII - early 1950s, after the era of popularity for the derby/bowler and a little before the style would be revived in the late 1950s - 1960s, though Cavanagh was a champion of conservative styling and might have offered a derby well past its fashion prime. My guess leans to a riding hat. You will know when you have it in hand from the weight and hard hat qualities. Look forward to your report.

ps: the factory label behind the sweat will help to confirm the era of manufacture and perhaps purpose.

I can confirm it’s “hard hat” qualities... it is definitely very helmet like in how stiff it is. Heavier than a dress hat.. but not anything terrible.

I do not know if the reinforcement is a process of extremely stiffening the felt or if the felt is blown onto some type of under structure.

I guess the lacing on the widened sweat band is to tighten it to fit your head better for riding

Under the liner is this manufacturer tag which states 7 1/4 though it fits exactly as a 7. I am guessing they use a thicker sweat as part of impact protection.

Alan also suggests this HCA tag would point to a 1940s manufacture date

Upon arrival I gave it a very heavy brushing which released a big cloud of what I would imagine about a half century of dirt and dust.

I also dislodged from around the sweat band this small piece of copper wire which I am guessing is part of the reeding.. I say dislodged... however it was only removed from the hat when it implanted into my finger... hopefully no tetanus!

This hat does appear it was used for its intended purposes as there are scuffing marks on the crown and brim... and from what I see more so in the photos what appears to be red clay on the front brim

After having seen the bowler/derby hats posted by some of you here... when I saw this one at a great price I figured I would give it a go. It definitely scratched that itch for me.

I’d still like to know more about the construction of these equestrian derby and how they differ in manufacturing from the dress derby/bowler... but that’s for another day...

Until then....

Happy HAT Day!!




Best,
Joe

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

 

[DaveProc]

Late 1950s ? Cavanagh Twenty-five Equestrian Derby. Seen better days. Brim has a couple significant cracks. Still a very cool hat.

 

[deadlyhandsome]

I suspect this is a refurbished hat. 2 3/8” brim and a blue ribbon that doesn’t look original to me, but I’m not sure. The liner is sewn in and the size on the handwritten label is accurate: 7 7/8! No markings on the sweatband except the name “Mike.”

 

[Christopher Smith]

Hi everyone, I purchased a Cavanagh fedora on eBay a couple of days ago and I noticed something interesting. The letters GWE, which I'm assuming are initials, are printed inside the hat. There was an art collector by the name of Edgar William Garbisch who had some Cavanagh's in his art collection. A homburg and top hat that were in his collection are in the Metropolitan Museum of Arts collection now. The hats that belonged to him have his name or initials (EWG, the letters in the Cavanagh I found backwards) either on the lining or on the leather sweatband. I was wondering does anyone know anything about this gentleman's collection or if there's a chance that whoever made the hat printed the initials backwards? I mean it could of course be that the initials are actually supposed to be read as GWE and it belonged to an entirely different person. Just thought I'd check see if anyone had any info.

 

[deadlyhandsome]

I too looked at that hat on eBay. It looks to be a later Cavanagh as it has an overwelted brim edge. I also suspect that the crown ribbon is not original. I was tempted still as hats in that size aren’t very common.

I think that if the initials were in the right order there would be a 1:50,000 chance it’s from the guy you mentioned. In the wrong order and without any further provenance?

 

[Christopher Smith]

I too looked at that hat on eBay. It looks to be a later Cavanagh as it has an overwelted brim edge. I also suspect that the crown ribbon is not original. I was tempted still as hats in that size aren’t very common.

I think that if the initials were in the right order there would be a 1:50,000 chance it’s from the guy you mentioned. In the wrong order and without any further provenance?

I agree. Those are all good points. I agree with the band probably not being original. I’m not sure about the light grayish/taupe band but definitely the purple and gold one looks added on. And I also agree with the letters in the wrong order it’s probably not from the gentleman’s collection. Still just thought I’d check. Thanks for the reply!

 

[Christopher Smith]

I agree. Those are all good points. I agree with the band probably not being original. I’m not sure about the light grayish/taupe band but definitely the purple and gold one looks added on. And I also agree with the letters in the wrong order it’s probably not from the gentleman’s collection. Still just thought I’d check. Thanks for the reply!

I have another question. This isn't explicitly Cavanagh related but it's related to the hat I just posted so it's somewhat indirectly related to Cavanagh. In this photo of Igor Stravinsky how wide do you think his brim is? I'm always trying to recreate the looks of historical hat wearers and I've been looking for a hat that even comes close to the one Stravinsky is holding for awhile now. Basically I'm asking does his hat look similar to the one I got from eBay? Brim width is my main concern but if anyone has any comments about the crown of the hat any comments are appreciated. Not sure if this belongs somewhere else but I thought since it was related to my previous post I'd ask here.

 

[deadlyhandsome]

I have another question. This isn't explicitly Cavanagh related but it's related to the hat I just posted so it's somewhat indirectly related to Cavanagh. In this photo of Igor Stravinsky how wide do you think his brim is? I'm always trying to recreate the looks of historical hat wearers and I've been looking for a hat that even comes close to the one Stravinsky is holding for awhile now. Basically I'm asking does his hat look similar to the one I got from eBay? Brim width is my main concern but if anyone has any comments about the crown of the hat any comments are appreciated. Not sure if this belongs somewhere else but I thought since it was related to my previous post I'd ask here.

It’s more a matter of proportions than raw numbers. A 2 1/2” brim looks rather small on my 7 5/8 head, but it looks quite wide in a 6 7/8 head. That said, the hat in the photo has a wider brim than your new Cavanagh. Your Cavanagh was made at a time when brims and crowns were getting smaller. If you want a hat with those types of proportions you’re looking for a brim in the 2 3/4” range, and those don’t grown on threes in size 7 5/8.

 

[Christopher Smith]

It’s more a matter of proportions than raw numbers. A 2 1/2” brim looks rather small on my 7 5/8 head, but it looks quite wide in a 6 7/8 head. That said, the hat in the photo has a wider brim than your new Cavanagh. Your Cavanagh was made at a time when brims and crowns were getting smaller. If you want a hat with those types of proportions you’re looking for a brim in the 2 3/4” range, and those don’t grown on threes in size 7 5/8.

Good point. I thought his brim looked wider. I also figured there was an issue of proportions as you mentioned. Thanks for all your answers. I'm not exactly new to hat wearing but I still find myself learning a lot from people on these forums.