Brad Bowers said:Here is an advertisement I recently added to my collection.
This is a full-page ad, and very colorful by advertising standards back then. The hat is boldly styled, similar to the famous photo of Capone. It features side creases instead of a front pinch, but still looks strikingly like what we think of as a fedora.
The year?
1908.
Wow! Great image!
The side creases seem pretty common on the photos of the early (proto?) fedoras I've run across. This hat looks like a Fedora to me, as do they. If they aren't they're darn close.