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feltfan said:The quality specifications given here are those
submitted by the Stetson hat company:
number-one quality; clear nutria; real nutria;
3X beaver; 4X beaver; 5X beaver; and 7X beaver,
which is the finest quality of hat made. It should
be borne in mind that the qualities listed run
in the order given. (There is no 6X beaver quality.)
In order to give the reader an idea as to the price
range for hats in the different quality categories,
the Laloo shown in Figure 6 is selected and the
prices are given for this hat in the following
qualities: number-one quality- $14.50; nutria- $17.00;
3X beaver- $20.00; 4X beaver- $35.00. If this
Laloo were made with a lower crown or a narrower
brim, it would cost less; and if it were made with
a wider brim or higher crown, it wold cost more.
Naturally, the larger the hat, the more it will cost.
The beavers are made of beaver fur and the others
are made of imported English and Belgian hare skins
which are blended in different grades. It takes
about two weeks to make a hat of the kind referred to
above and a lot of hand work goes into it, which
accounts for the high price.
Very interesting find. So, it looks like beaver was ahead of nutria in terms of quality. I am assuming that the 7X Beaver corresponds with Clear Beaver Quality (although the quoted passage doesn't use this term). Putting 7X beaver at the top of the list jibes with Snyder's observation that Clear Beaver hats were of the highest quality. What is a bit baffling, however, is that Clear Beaver tops the beaver grades, but Clear Nutria does not top the nutria grades.
This is a bit like trying to solve the riddle of the Sphinx...
Feltfan, does the passage you have quoted jibe with your own sense of the relative grades of felt in your own collection? I guess I was surprised to see that nutria, including Clear Nutria, came in behind all grades of beaver. Your previous descriptions have led me to believe that Clear Nutria is an extraordinary grade of felt, as is the Clear Beaver.
HATCO, thanks for your previous replies. Trying to figure out the historical origins of the terms "Clear Beaver" or "Clear Nutria" and how they were applied seems to be somewhat of a challenge, since the terms appear to have been applied to hats that were ultimately dyed. I have a theory on this, but I'll wait to hear what you find out.
In the end, however, regardless of the origins of these terms, it would be great to get a sense of what those terms came to mean from a marketing standpoint for Stetson. In other words, what were the attributes of hats that were sold under the marks "Clear Beaver" or "Clear Nutria"?
Cheers,
JtL