Good looking hat, Jim. Interesting brand and theory too. Never have seen one of these over here, either in the felt or in advertising, so not a brand that was imported on any scale to speak of. I think the only American brand that was imported pre-war in some measure was Stetson. Post-war they were made in Europe under license, like Dobbs, which is the only other American brand you can find more regularly. Resistol and Penn-Craftwere made under license too, but are much more rare.TAR Thursday!
This Dalton is one of my oldest hats. These things are nigh impossible to date, but I have a completely speculative theory about the liner tip logos. The ones with "World's Finest," like this one and the blue Waverly, are pre WWII. They changed to "America's Finest" during the war, to capture the patriotic sentiment. It doesn't seem they were sold much, if at all, outside the States, though Steve (@mayserwegener) found a liner tip dye block in a European purchase of those things a couple years ago. We know the rights to the name were sold in 1953, and few later examples of this brand have been seen beyond that era (a few stingy late 50s-early 60s hats that don't appear to be from the original factory).
Sent directly from my mind to yours.