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A Borsalino, a Stetson, and a very happy noggin.

Bogie

One of the Regulars
Messages
109
Location
Texas
Thursday was a red letter day for me. It was the day that my two vaunted packages finally arrived. My first Borsalino, and a vintage Stetson. Both I had the good fortune of getting off of OFAS.

Needless to say, I was enthralled. :D


I was a bit picky about the sort of Borsalino I wanted; I made getting one made in the "Antiqua Casa" a must, and I perfered a wider brimmed thin ribbon hat. See <a href="http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&ih=014&sspagename=STRK%3AMEWN%3AIT&viewitem=&item=330114645446&rd=1&rd=1">here.</a>

Here is the Borsalino after I got it, the seller wrapped the hat in a plastic garbage bag and filled the box with packaging peanuts. The hat itself is very lightweight, accomodating readily into any shape I desire it to be in. The ribbon/felt color scheme is nothing less than beautiful. The Grosgrain trim around the edge of the hat is a very nice touch. I feel that this is the best hat I have right now.

It is easily my favourite out of all my hats right now, I am very pleased in my purchase, and will look for more Borsalino's in the future.




A shot of the liner. The whole of the hat is very clean, though in some places that hat is "lumped" due to the sweatband shrinking. Despite the seller's statement, it fits my head just as any other 7 1/8. [huh]. I do not have a clue as to what period it was made, also, did Borsalino's have some kind of importation mark? I have searched the liner over many times, but have found nothing. For these reasons I assume it stayed in Italia.





Because the fact that this particular hat was made in the original factory never came up in the auction, I was thrilled to find out it was so.




I just love this hat! :fedora:



After putting up my Borsalino I moved on to the vintage Stetson, just as before, the packing job was more than competent and got my congratulations. The auction is <a href="http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&ih=007&sspagename=STRK%3AMEWN%3AIT&viewitem=&item=170104740413&rd=1&rd=1">here</a>.

One of the reasons I bought this hat was the color that was presented in the auction. I enjoy more light brown rather than dark brown colors, and with what (I thought) being a handsome orangish-brown color, I wanted to make it mine. Here it is, out of the box:




The first thing I noticed about this hat when I took it out of the box, is the lack of a sidebow. Instead, a pleated backbow was in it's place, which is a first in my collection. I heard that the backbow was created so that one who had a center dent could tell which end went where, but fell out of fashion with the advent of front dents. The Stetson while I can still form and bash with my hands minus steam, does not take shape as easily as the Borsalino.




Here is the shot of the liner, with the plastic top, I'm guessing that it was made during the 1950's. A slightly unusual note is that this hat is marked simply 1/8 rather than 7 1/8 on the size tag. The overwelt on this hat is thick. I haven't seen such a thick overwelt on any other hat, much less triple stitching of one.

(Continued on next post)
 

Bogie

One of the Regulars
Messages
109
Location
Texas


I really, really like the color of this hat! :D



I really enjoy my two newest lids, and hope to use them both for many years to come. (Sorry guys, would have fixed the last image but I ran out of time...'sides, the thought of you all turning your heads sideways to look at the picture is amusing. :D )
 

moustache

Practically Family
Messages
863
Location
Vancouver,Wa
I really admire the colour on that Stetson!! Brown is my favourite colour and i pine for a hat like that!!
Well done.

JD
Vancouver,Wa
 

Dinerman

Super Moderator
Bartender
Messages
10,562
Location
Bozeman, MT
Great hats. Do you think that borsalino was once a homburg, or is the binding just that way. Either way, it's cool.
 

Bogie

One of the Regulars
Messages
109
Location
Texas
I don't think that the Borsalino was ever a homburg, it is much too soft for that, unless you can take shellac off of a hat. [huh] Although I do agree with you Dinerman, that the binding looks like it would belong to one.
 

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