Your hats after you're gone; for the record

[Byrne Sherwood]

Ever wonder what will happen to your hats after you kick the proverbial bucket? Will they be auctioned, donated to a thrift store, lovingly taken on by a relative? As many of us have experienced when procuring someone else's hats, it is sometimes hard to ascertain the vinatge of the hat and we often muse at other details such as the original price, who owned it, etc.
Why not do future generations of hat wearers a favor and label our hats? A small note placed inside the sweatband (or in the hat box) can tell the future owner who owned it, when and where it was bought and for what price. You could use your own calling card or the business card of the hat store as the place to record the info. If you have a pre-owned hat, you can put your info and what you can glean about the hat's history. It's sort of a title history of your hat. For those of you with a plethora of hats, this might help you keep track of them and their histories.
Any thoughts on this idea? Forgive me if it has been advanced before.

 

[jake_fink]

Mine will be cremated with me.

 

[Joel Tunnah]

Mine will be kept on permanent display in my mansion.

 

[Feraud]

I would like whatever my favorite hat is at the time buried with me. The rest can go to my son or whomever will appreciate them.

 

[Baron Kurtz]

Sell them all, or give them all away, to an enthusiast that i'm certain won't be a wear-it-once-then-bin-it fashionisto.

bk

 

[Zemke Fan]

DNA Analysis

Actually, I DO know who owned all of my vintage hats. For only $4,250 each I was able to have a complete DNA analysis done on the sweatband of five of them. Turns out that my hats were owned previously by Franklin Roosevelt, Howard Hughes, Preston Thomas Tucker, Charles Howard, and Jeffrey Lebowski. While the cost of the DNA testing may have been a bit steep, if and when my heirs decide to sell them on OFAS, they such more than recoup my initial outlay.

 

[Marc Chevalier]

I'll do with them what Billy Wilder, the movie director, did with his modern art collection near the end of his life: I'll hold a live auction and enjoy the spectacle of who wins which hat(s).


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[Bud-n-Texas]

Sell them all, or give them all away, to an enthusiast that i'm certain won't be a wear-it-once-then-bin-it fashionisto.

bk

"fashionisto" I like that, surely we do not have any around here do we?

 

[Byrne Sherwood]

Based on the responses thus far I am surmising that either
1) my suggestion (in paragraph 2, original post) stinks, OR,
2) most responders didn't make it to paragraph 2 and thus did not read the suggestion.
I guess I made the mistake being too long winded in my original post.:eusa_doh:
BTW, Zemke Fan, did those DNA tests turn up any info on the animal who inhabited the hide before it was a sweatband?

 

[Marc Chevalier]

It's not that your suggestion stinks, it's just that I would do something else. A personal preference, that's all.

.

 

[Baron Kurtz]

"fashionisto" I like that, surely we do not have any around here do we?

Heaven forfend!

bk

 

[J.B.]

...Turns out that my hats were owned previously by Franklin Roosevelt, Howard Hughes, Preston Thomas Tucker, Charles Howard, and Jeffrey Lebowski...

I have a derby that is believed to have actually been present at a Chubby Checker concert.

 

[Marc Chevalier]

Now this one isn't a joke: I had a flat-top derby that was really, truly owned by Herbert Hoover in the '20s. A large size, too. Found it at an estate sale that had Hoover's morning coat, top hat, and several university gowns -- as well as 1920s white linen plus-fours and evening tailcoats owned by one of his sons. Believe it or not, the estate sellers didn't realize what they had.


I offered Iowa's Herbert Hoover museum and library the derby and the morning coat. They weren't interested [huh] I ended up keeping the morning coat (which is Savile Row bespoke, dated 1913), and sold the derby to my friend Joel.


If anyone's interested, I can bring Herbert Hoover's morning coat to the FL's Queen Mary event. It's beautifully tailored! Just let me know.


fftopic:, but there it is.

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[Baron Kurtz]

I offered Iowa's Herbert Hoover museum and library the derby and the morning coat. They weren't interested [huh]

Unbelievable.

bk

 

[Marc Chevalier]

Unbelievable but true. The museum told me that they already had Hoover's homburg. I guess they couldn't handle having two hats. :eusa_doh:

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[Mr. Lucky]

Mine? The Smithsonian! Where else?

 

[Marc Chevalier]

Have you asked the Smithsonian yet? They might already have a hat.

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[Byrne Sherwood]

Marc,
I like your auction idea, especially in light of your excellent collection. But I don't think our ideas are mutually exclusive. When you have that auction, I would think you would want to include a description of each hat for potential bidders. Say that occurs fifty years from now. Will you remember each hat's age and other info? All I am suggesting is that we keep a record in the hat of its background. Example: "Late 1930's Stetson Open Road, bought from eBay auctioneer for $125 in 2005" or "2005 Adventurebilt, made to my specifications for $250". Nothing elaborate, but more info than is already inside the hat. If we do this whenever we get a new hat, it will save trying to remember these details for dozens of hats bought decades ago.

 

[Marc Chevalier]

I'd go halfway and write down something about my vintage hat's maker, the store it was originally made for, the original retail price (if known), the date of manufacture (if known), and the hat's very first owner (if known). Other than that, I doubt that anyone would care about the date that I purchased the hat, since it was already vintage when I bought it.


On the other hand ... if I had a new hat made for me, or purchased a new one from a store, then it would be worth writing down who I am, where I bought it, when I bought it, and how much it cost me.

.

 

[Lauren]

Well, most of my hats are not really names that museams go after. If I do ever get said hats, they'll be donated. But the rest of my hats are going to go to Vanessa and my mom more than likely, unless I have kids someday who are interesed in vintage. I'd rather not give them to kids who will have an estate sale right after I'm gone.