The Official Stetson Nutria Quality Thread

[MikeinRome]

Late 40"s to early 50's Stetson Nutria Quality, rescued from eBay. 3 inch brim, 6 inch open crown. About to send off for cleaning and replacement ribbon.

 

[Rmccamey]

Nice catch, Mike.

Late 40"s to early 50's Stetson Nutria Quality, rescued from eBay. 3 inch brim, 6 inch open crown. About to send off for cleaning and replacement ribbon.

 

[Mickey Q]

My Stetson Nutria. Funny how in 98% of the old catalogs it has the Nutria hats listed as more expensive than the regular beaver ones. It’s such a good feeling hat on the head and the color seems so rare.

Here are some nice older pages too. I love looking at those catalogs. Some of them nutria is more expensive and on others they aren’t. I still prefer regular beaver felts better but the nutrias are amazing too and feel great on the head.

Yeah I don’t know if you ever got a chance to look at these

This is a 1922 dealer price list (prices are per dozen) and among the western felts, nutria is a less expensive option than even 3X beaver. I like nutria, vintage and modern, but I concede that beaver usually makes a “better” hat…in my experience anyway.

good to see yours and I particularly like that liner.

View attachment 467456

yeah nobody is even talking about 1922 hats. More like the years of the hats I posted the catalog pages of after this post where nutria hats are more expensive than beaver ones on every page. You can scroll down and see them and read them. Lol 1922

 

[Mickey Q]

Here are some nice older pages too. I love looking at those catalogs. Some of them nutria is more expensive and on others they aren’t. I still prefer regular beaver felts better but the nutrias are amazing too and feel great on the head.

Here are the catalog pages from around the time all these hats are from.

 

[MikeinRome]

Stetson Nutria Quality, late 40's to early 50's, 3 inch brim and 5 3/4 open crown.

 

[deadlyhandsome]

Yeah I don’t know if you ever got a chance to look at these

yeah nobody is even talking about 1922 hats. More like the years of the hats I posted the catalog pages of after this post where nutria hats are more expensive than beaver ones on every page. You can scroll down and see them and read them. Lol 1922

You said 98% of old catalogs show nutria as more expensive than beaver. I would love to see photos of those old catalogs you are talking about wihere nutria is more expensive. I’ve never seen one. Let’s see a 1950s or earlier catalog where nutria is more expensive than a 5X beaver or higher. I’ve never seen one. In Stetson’s lineup, I’ve always seen the all beaver felt to be considerably more expensive than nutria felt hats. Things change when you compare beaver with rabbit and/or hare blends to nutria, but let’s stick to 1950s or earlier 5X or higher beaver and nutria. Can you share any of these 98% of catalogs with pricing?

 

[Frunobulax]

Stetson Nutria Quality, late 40's to early 50's, 3 inch brim and 5 3/4 open crown.

Geez, Mike, talk about burying the lede.

IT'S PINK!

 

[MikeinRome]

Geez, Mike, talk about burying the lede.

IT'S PINK!

Excuse me, I hadn't noticed! I didn't know those cowboys in Nebraska got down like that! That doggone seller lied to me! He told me it was a very manly shade of watermelon! Ha!

 

[Mickey Q]

Here too

You said 98% of old catalogs show nutria as more expensive than beaver. I would love to see photos of those old catalogs you are talking about wihere nutria is more expensive. I’ve never seen one. Let’s see a 1950s or earlier catalog where nutria is more expensive than a 5X beaver or higher. I’ve never seen one. In Stetson’s lineup, I’ve always seen the all beaver felt to be considerably more expensive than nutria felt hats. Things change when you compare beaver with rabbit and/or hare blends to nutria, but let’s stick to 1950s or earlier 5X or higher beaver and nutria. Can you share any of these 98% of catalogs with pricing?

You said 98% of old catalogs show nutria as more expensive than beaver. I would love to see photos of those old catalogs you are talking about wihere nutria is more expensive. I’ve never seen one. Let’s see a 1950s or earlier catalog where nutria is more expensive than a 5X beaver or higher. I’ve never seen one. In Stetson’s lineup, I’ve always seen the all beaver felt to be considerably more expensive than nutria felt hats. Things change when you compare beaver with rabbit and/or hare blends to nutria, but let’s stick to 1950s or earlier 5X or higher beaver and nutria. Can you share any of these 98% of catalogs with pricing?

Here you go, buddy. They were more expensive than many of the beaver hats at this time. Nobody said anything about 5x or 7x from that time because those were the highest price ones but the nutria’s are still more expensive than the standard beaver quality of hats at that time. YES if you wanted a 5x or 7x then they were more expensive but if you were choosing between the standard beaver vs nutria you were going to have to pay more for the nutria hats.

 

[Rmccamey]

Dale Evan's, Annie Oakley???

I'm not sure I could pull off the color, but that is one nice hat, Mike.

Stetson Nutria Quality, late 40's to early 50's, 3 inch brim and 5 3/4 open crown.

 

[deadlyhandsome]

Here too




Here you go, buddy. They were more expensive than many of the beaver hats at this time. Nobody said anything about 5x or 7x from that time because those were the highest price ones but the nutria’s are still more expensive than the standard beaver quality of hats at that time. YES if you wanted a 5x or 7x then they were more expensive but if you were choosing between the standard beaver vs nutria you were going to have to pay more for the nutria hats.

You’re misstating the facts. The “beaver” hats you are referencing were not made primarily from beaver. Those lower “beaver quality” hats were mostly rabbit and/or hare. It’s like saying silver is more expensive than gold when you are comparing solid silver to gold plate. If you compare beaver to nutria the beaver is more expensive. There isn’t a “standard beaver.”

You’re not alone in thinking that the “3X Beaver Quality” and similar hats are made from all beaver. It’s an all too common mistake on eBay etc. Stetson and the others have mostly refused to reveal their blends and percentages of fur types.

 

[jlee562]

,,,

I can't think of any of the regulars here who would call a No. 1 Quality Stetson a "beaver hat." Ditto for Royal Deluxe. The distinction you're trying to force here is imprecise, inaccurate, and useless. You've created this artificial category of "beaver hat," where the percentages of the blends don't matter. You are comparing Nutria to the lowest grade Stetson put their name on. And you know you posted a 3x that is more expensive than Nutria, yes? It is a real stretch to call No. 1 Quality or Royal Deluxe as a "beaver hat" compared to something labeled "3x Beaver."

 

[belfastboy]

Late 40"s to early 50's Stetson Nutria Quality, rescued from eBay. 3 inch brim, 6 inch open crown. About to send off for cleaning and replacement ribbon.

Nice save!

 

[belfastboy]

,,,

As a ustom hat maker and vintage restorer, I would never refer to hat made of a blend of rabbit & beaver as a 'beaver' hat. I would call it what it is in reality a blend. I sell 100% beaver, beaver/rabbit blends and 100% nutria and it is important for full disclosure to my customers regarding what they are commissioning. To call anything a beaver hat that is not 100% beaver felt is just misleading and wrong.

Nutria makes a nice hat but it ain't beaver. If you research any analytics about the different fur fibres you will understand why beaver is the superior fur fibre for felted fur hats.....it just is.

Price wise; at the top is 100% pure beaver felt. Then the price of nutria is about on par with various % blends of beaver & rabbit with the 50/50 beaver rabbit blends running $15-$20 more per felt than nutria.

 

[One Drop]

Don't speak for me, it's rude and unnecessary. If you have an opinion it's yours to defend. Absolutely no reason to speak for 'everybody', especially since no one is forced to read anyone else's posts. It's the easiest thing to just skip over posts, their author is listed at the top of each post. One of the reason I like this place is because there is next to none of this type of bickering, it reminds me of forums ten years ago when it's all you ever saw.

Regarding the subject and ignoring the hostility and uncalled for personal attacks, I think a more useful comparison is a like for like one, such as comparing Clear Beaver and Clear Nutria, as an example, over the eras they were available.

If Stetson had the identical offerings in Beaver and Nutria historically then perhaps a sweeping generalisation would be useful or provable, instead it seems to me unhelpful to make such sweeping statements.

 

[Frunobulax]

Nutria hat

Beaver hat

Not sure which costs more.

 

[MikeinRome]

Stetson Nutria Quality, late 40's to early 50's. 3 inch brim, 5 1/2 inch open crown. Both this hat and the previous pink hat came from a Lounge member.

 

[MikeinRome]

Late 1940's Stetson Nutria Quality. 3 inch brim and about 5 3/4 inch open crown. There are no mfg tags.

 

[MikeinRome]

Stetson Real Nutria. 3 inch brim and 5 1/2 inch open crown. Lot Number 7724. Dates about 1940.

 

[One Drop]

Stetson Real Nutria. 3 inch brim and 5 1/2 inch open crown. Lot Number 7724. Dates about 1940.

Wow, that’s a beauty.