Snrbfshn
A-List Customer
- Messages
- 345
- Location
- Charlotte, NC
I thought this one had potential when I saw the auction picture:
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=8236452317&rd=1&sspagename=STRK:MEWN:IT&rd=1
And I was thrilled to find it was in fabulous shape. It's a Stetson 3X, almost a light rust brown with a raw edge, 2 5/8" brim and 5 7/8" open crown. The store label glued to the back of the sweatband said "Model: Melrose" and "Price: $17.50." After a vacuum brushing and steaming (more about that later) it came out like this:
The liner says made expressly for Max J. Meyer Co. in Cheyenne.
The reorder label is the red John B. Stetson Co. one, and the brand on the sweat is the beaver logo.
The caution is this -- when the hat arrived, the sweat was supple and almost unblemished. I steamed the hat without a stretcher and, in order to flatten the brim, held the underside close to the kettle spout for what turned out to be much too long. I was horrified to turn the hat over and see I had cooked the sweatband. It had shrunk and cracked badly, as you can see in the last photo. I treated it with leather conditioner, but it's now so brittle it starts cracking if I turn it down to get a pix of the reorder label.
The hat dropped a size when the leather shrank, but I stretched it out to its original 7 1/4, so it's still wearable:
But I'm disgusted with myself for lousing up the sweatband.
The lack of a Stetson liner hurts my trying to date it, and I don't know when Stetson stopped using the beaver logo. Any idea as to the age of the hat?
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=8236452317&rd=1&sspagename=STRK:MEWN:IT&rd=1
And I was thrilled to find it was in fabulous shape. It's a Stetson 3X, almost a light rust brown with a raw edge, 2 5/8" brim and 5 7/8" open crown. The store label glued to the back of the sweatband said "Model: Melrose" and "Price: $17.50." After a vacuum brushing and steaming (more about that later) it came out like this:
The liner says made expressly for Max J. Meyer Co. in Cheyenne.
The reorder label is the red John B. Stetson Co. one, and the brand on the sweat is the beaver logo.
The caution is this -- when the hat arrived, the sweat was supple and almost unblemished. I steamed the hat without a stretcher and, in order to flatten the brim, held the underside close to the kettle spout for what turned out to be much too long. I was horrified to turn the hat over and see I had cooked the sweatband. It had shrunk and cracked badly, as you can see in the last photo. I treated it with leather conditioner, but it's now so brittle it starts cracking if I turn it down to get a pix of the reorder label.
The hat dropped a size when the leather shrank, but I stretched it out to its original 7 1/4, so it's still wearable:
But I'm disgusted with myself for lousing up the sweatband.
The lack of a Stetson liner hurts my trying to date it, and I don't know when Stetson stopped using the beaver logo. Any idea as to the age of the hat?
It doesn't look that terrible from the logo pic but if it has shrunk to where it won't fit then as unpopular as it might be, you might have to replace it. I have many leathers that I have removed from hats but can't swear that I have this one in your size. They are still packed away as I haven't started setting up the shop yet.
