Vintage Hat Boxes Galore!

[fluteplayer07]

Today turned out to be a very good day. I went to visit a vintage clothing store that is normally very overpriced, and typically just a waste of time. But they do have a large collection of vintage hat boxes on the top of their shelves. The workers agreed to bring down a few boxes for me to look at, and I ended up buying four. I'll post pics later tonight, but I'll describe them for now. One is a octagonal Dobbs box that appears to be for three hats. It's red. It looks to me to be from the 40's, or maybe even earlier. Another box is an old Mallory from about the 40's or 50's. Brown, and elliptical. It has a leather strap and brass buckle. It's in the worst shape; the lid is taped together. It looked so cool, I just couldn't pass it up. Another is a Dobbs with a city or town scene on it. I've seen them in pictures before, but never in person. I wanna say it's as old as the red box. It's circular. The last box is a blue-ish Lee box, with 'Adventure' on it. I think all of these descriptions are correct; I have them in the garage right now, so I'm not looking at them. I'll post pics and correct the descriptions later. If anyone knows anything about them, please speak up. I think I cleared out all the good pickings for now, but if any Michiganders out there want to stop by and check it out for themselves, PM me for the store's address.

Can anyone attach an age to any of them?

Thanks,

 

[tonyb]

It seems that most of the old hatboxes I've seen in vintage stores are there for their decorative value and are therefore not for sale. Still, I've managed to score enough of them over the past few years that I really don't have room for any more. That, of course, wouldn't stop me from adding particularly interesting examples to the collection, should I come across them.

Hatboxes weren't really made to last as long as these vintage ones have (neither were the hats that came in them, for that matter). There's something kinda cool, I think, in their still being around, and still in reasonably good condition.

 

[fluteplayer07]

Red Dobbs

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[fluteplayer07]

Dobbs City Scene

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[fluteplayer07]

Lee Adventure

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[fluteplayer07]

Mallory with strap

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[fluteplayer07]

Anyone have any sorta clue about how old they are?

 

[HarpPlayerGene]

I can't estimate their ages but congrats on finding some cool old items, Flute'!