Recent content by alanfgag

Happy Earth Day! Stetson No.1 Quality sold at the factory store... from the foil size label and wide 3 panel manufacturing tag, I would guess 1935-1940.

The Roycroft was a residential community centered around arts and crafts located in the town of East Aurora, southeast of Buffalo. There are a number of historical overlaps that make for an interesting read if you have the time for a Wikipedia journey. Elbert Hubbard, the Roycroft founder, had a...

Back at you for that wonderful old Borsalino.

Thank you Mark... good thing that black goes with everything... I have quite a few!

Something in black from the way back machine...

Great catch. The Roycroft print shop was in East Aurora about 25 miles from me. There were once hundreds of old volumes available to buy in the antique stores around the campus. I purchased a number over the years but never found a copy of this one. The nicest volumes were produced in the first...

It was a stiff hat for me today. This insouciant upwards bow leads me to imagine that this 1926 photo of Babbitt's might be right about the time this hat was sold.

Rainy day hat... a well loved early 20th century Stetson.

Thank you very much. When this hat arrived, the color floored me and seemed so appropriate to Los Angeles, Errol Flynn, Robin Hood, 1938... I don't think I've seen another Stetson in this tone and I've struggled each time I post a picture of it here to capture the richness and hue, usually...

I brought this hat out to photograph in today's chilly Buffalo spring sunshine. It is very difficult to capture this vibrant and unusual evergreen color inside. The Imperial Stetson 3X Beaver Fifteen (not the later Stetson Imperial) is a pretty rare bird - I've seen only a few surface from the...

Absolutely.

This is a custom project I designed and had produced with a nice young jeweler who has a storefront at the end of my street. The platinum band posted sometime back came from his estate findings. I had a twenty gram Swiss pure gold bar intended for wear as a pendant. I had thought it was a...

Nice to see. Do you think thinner or compressed (denser) from years of wear?

A Borsalino from a Bulgarian collection that made the rounds on eBay fifteen or so years ago. Advertised as a pre-war stash, it might very well be. The hat was in fine condition save the toasted ribbon which needed replacement. I had intended this hat for my Dad who is a size smaller than me. It...

Hi Nathan, Thanks for sharing your experience with wind cords. I have certainly experienced chasing a hat that was rolling on its brim down the street faster than I could run. Not fun or a pretty sight. I believe the lapel buttonhole, when not designed for an opposing button, was favored...