The BORSALINO BROTHERHOOD

[Chepstow]

And one more time..... VERY NICE!!!!

+1 and a very very nice!

 

[mayserwegener]

+1 and a very very nice!

+2

 

[mayserwegener]

G. & Fllo Borsalino Qualita Extra-Extra Superiore Bowler + Box, size 7 1/4, 195 grams. This one had some major dents but I was able to work them out fairly well with steam. The box has a shipping date stamp of 3/31/31. I am afraid to mess with the sweatband to check for a paper label so can't comfirm the size. At a 195 grams this was not a light weight Bowler!

 

[mayserwegener]

Continued.

 

[alanfgag]

:eusa_clap

Fantastico! Thank you for the beautiful pictures.

 

[splintercellsz]

+1, thanks for the wonderful photos, and what am amazing find! Not every day can you aquire the hat and box!

 

[mayserwegener]

Alan & Justin, Thanks!

 

[bowlerman]

Supreme superiore Steve!

 

[mayserwegener]

Jeff, Thanks!

 

[mikespens]

That's a fine first borsy krasher.

Superb bowler and fascinating box Steve, when are you going to open a museum featuring your collection?

 

[Sprinkles]

A very fine hat indeed!

 

[mayserwegener]

Mike, Thanks! I think you are mistaking me with Robert (RLK)!

Sprinkles, Thanks!

 

[Chepstow]

Steve, I am late, but not to late. That is a superb Melone and a very rare too.
Nice old hat box. A fantastic find!

 

[mayserwegener]

Manfred, Thanks! I am still tweaking it.

Here is a comparison with a G.B.Borsalino Fu Lazzaro & C. from the same time period.

G. B. Borsalino Fu Lazzaro & C.

G. & Fllo Borsalino Qualita Extra-Extra Superiore

 

[Joshbru3]

Both of those liner emblems have INCREDIBLE detailed printing. The work it must have taken to make that silk screen is incredible. It often makes me wonder if printers could still do something like this today. So many hat companies have cheap and simple "gold" foil printing that often rubs off after some use. These old liners have lasted and look as good as the day they were made. If I started a hat company, I would try and find a company that could do printing like this for my liners.

By far my favorite logo out of the two is most definitely the G.B. Borsalino Fu Lazzaro logo. It has incredible and beautiful lines. What do you think the G.B. Borsalino liner is made out of? It has a different sheen than others that I have seen. Its also interesting that the sweatband stamp on the G. & Flio Borsalino is still used today. Possibly from the same metal stamps that made this one.

 

[alanfgag]

I'm not sure how these liners were printed but it wasn't silkscreen. Some sort of relief printing was used - letterpress most likely. As flat pieces of fabric they would be relatively easy to print. The most complicated issue is that fabric is a much coarser surface than paper. Imprinting directly on the inside crown of a linerless hat is, of course, a different issue. Silkscreen printing or an attached label needs to be used here.

 

[mayserwegener]

Josh, Thanks! I am not sure what G.B.Borsalino Fu Lazzaro & C. liner is made of (my guess silk). I think overall I like G.B.Borsalino Fu Lazzaro & C. better but they are both beautiful.

Alan, I sent photos to my friend who is a master portrait engraver at the BEP. I think he might have gone home for the day so probably will not hear anything back until Monday.

 

[Joshbru3]

I'm not sure how these liners were printed but it wasn't silkscreen. Some sort of relief printing was used - letterpress most likely. As flat pieces of fabric they would be relatively easy to print. The most complicated issue is that fabric is a much coarser surface than paper. Imprinting directly on the inside crown of a linerless hat is, of course, a different issue. Silkscreen printing or an attached label needs to be used here.

Ah, that makes perfect sense, Alan. I don't know why I thought it was silk screen. I should know better because my family's company uses silkscreens to print labels on plastic bottles before we fill them with product. The linerless hats with tip stamps seem to resemble silkscreen because its usually 1-3 colors, not as fine of print, and the ink seems to kind of lay on top of the surface verses being soaked in like these Borso liners. Would it be difficult to have a company manufacture a liner print like these vintage Borso liners? I'm sure it would be more expensive, but one of the wonderful things I love about vintage hats are all the details on the sweatband and liners.

 

[alanfgag]

Letterpress is enjoying a little surge in popularity in my industry and there are still plenty of them in operation for die cutting and foil stamping. These prints might also involve engraving or gravure... will be interesting to hear what Steve's friend says about them.

The problem with printing on fabric is the weave. The finer the weave of the fabric, the better it is suited to accepting the imprint from the plate without breaks and voids. Issues of bleeding and ink retention would be a factor too, which I guess would be addressed by the choice of ink and sizing applied to the fabric.

With silkscreen printing, you have the added loss of resolution posed by the silk (or nylon or polyester) fabric that holds the stencil. These open weave fabrics can be very fine, but there is still a loss where fine detail in the stencil is obstructed by the silk threads. This, and the tendency of the ink to dry in the silkscreen, give silkscreen printing more limited resolution than other methods, even in the hands of a very skilled craftsman.

 

[carouselvic]

light weight felted edge in amiata