Toppers Unite

[Charlie Huang]

Well, I hope you get it soon, and intact!

Speaking of which, just won this:

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=270594807188&ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT

I needed a fur melusine topper for occasions when i don't want to risk my silk toppers getting damaged and this had a low starting price so I bidded on it. Someone pushed the price up by £15 in the last seconds but it is still a good buy at £31 given a new one will go for at least £170.

 

[Lokar]

On Saturday:

Belgravian Victorian Stroll

Fantastic! You're looking the best by far - frock coats (especially modern ones with a fused or too lightweight canvas) don't look good unbuttoned, they don't have enough form.

 

[jwalls]

Silver belly topper with silver belly trim.http://www.myphotos.yahoo.com/s/20um7cjq58enexiphatv

 

[Charlie Huang]

 

[Garrett]

Thanks for posting that, Charlie

 

[Matt Deckard]

If that's it... let's start making hats!

 

[dhermann1]

The only factory in the world that was capable of making the silk was smashed up around 1960 in a horrible family feud in France. So unless someone learns the secret that was destroyed then, nobody will ever make a proper silk hat again. Ever.

 

[Charlie Huang]

The only factory in the world that was capable of making the silk was smashed up around 1960 in a horrible family feud in France. So unless someone learns the secret that was destroyed then, nobody will ever make a proper silk hat again. Ever.

Actually, there is still one person I know of that makes silk plush top hats...

 

[Delthayre]

Ever since I first watched "DuckTales"

Oh, how coy.

Silk Top Hats notes on its inventory page that, "We also supply new top hats made from silk plush." It certainly makes me curious, but I've never inquired further as I am in no position to make a serious inquiry to that effect. I can only presume that they somehow have some old stocks of silk plush on hand.

Incidentally, does anyone know of an American dealer in antique silk top hats? I suppose that the market for them is smaller in the United States, but I've long wondered if such a thing exists. I'd be curious about seeing American-made silk plush hats; I presume that they exist, but can't recall having ever seen any examples for sale.

The only factory in the world that was capable of making the silk was smashed up around 1960 in a horrible family feud in France. So unless someone learns the secret that was destroyed then, nobody will ever make a proper silk hat again. Ever.

I should imagine that for all the time that silk plush was manufactured some records of the process sufficient for some able and interested people to reconstruct and implement it exist, the trouble then being that sufficient interest to justify the trouble and expense probably does not exist.

It would be nice. I wear a size 7 1/2 and want a rather tall-crowned top hat, which is a slightly difficult and very expensive thing to achieve with available stocks of antique silk plush top hats.

 

[dhermann1]

Silk plush

I defer to Charlie Huang's expertise on the subject. All I know is what I've read on pages like this.

 

[Qirrel]

Actually, there is still one person I know of that makes silk plush top hats...

Indeed it is a myth that silk plush can no longer be produced. There is a very low demand for top hats today, and when someone does buy one, they get a felt or melsusine hat. There is also a large supply of vintage silk plush top hats out there. This makes the crafting of new silk plush top hats an un-lucrative business.

 

[Charlie Huang]

Delthayre, plenty American silk toppers crop up on eBay save they call and label them as 'beaver fur felt'.

And Ton Meewius does probably make silk plush hats in your size and your height requirements.

And there might still be one or two silk plush manufacturers there (and if there are, one wonders why all the hatters in the realm don't come running to them opening their chequebooks as there still is a desire for silk top hats and I bet they could charge a fortune if they could which is rather odd if so...)

 

[Qirrel]

And there might still be one or two silk plush manufacturers there

There are plenty. They do not make plush for hats, but for carpets and teddy-bears.

 

[Topper]

Plush come in many forms - it was not always silk plush, I have seen a number of antique toppers made from "long haired" plush, similar to long haired beaver. T

The first of what we call a Silk Plush Topper in England; was by George Dunnage in 1793.

If you visit hatworks you will also see some long haired plushes. Some years it was fashionable to to have a "ruffed" matted look rather than highly polished.

In attached photo shows one of my collection, showing a long hair in Golden yellow colour. The hat is from about 1937 emulating a 1837ish period.

 

[Topper]

Here is a fun one, I picked up this item from an auction ..... Try and guess what it is / was used for:

2nd pic shows small light bulbs inside the ring.

 

[Chainsaw]

Setting a dampened rim maybe?

 

[Topper]

Guess again

 

[Brad Bowers]

I'm guessing it heats up the hat from the outside so that the hat can be conformed directly onto the customer's head. If that's what it does, I need one of those to get my Topper to fit properly.

Brad

 

[Topper]

Any other ideas?

 

[Garrett]

Any other ideas?

Spill it aready