Advice on Vintage Borsalino Open Road

[Uncle Vern]

I've been watching this hat in a local antique shop, a vintage (very vintage, I think) Borsalino Open Road, silverbelly, with wind trolley, and a 2.5-inch brim. The hat is so soft and pliable that I could roll it up and stick it in my pocket. I can buy the hat for approx. 20 bucks.
The hat is filthy--there's a ring of dried sweat where the crown joins the brim, penetrating all the way through to the underside. There are various other stains, and the headliner (stiched-in) is also very stained. But there's no physical damage to the hat.
I've had pretty good luck cleaning hats and might like to try it myself, although I'm a little unsure about the head liner. The hat is too small for me, probably a 7 or smaller, but it's so beautiful I hate to pass it up. I could always sell it or trade it, and I think it would re-block nicely for someone with a non-western bent. My questions are these--should I attempt the cleaning myself or send it off to have it rehabilitated? And is there enough possible return value for my efforts? Thanks in advance for any advice sent my way.
Uncle Vern

 

[Biltmore Bob]

Go ahead Vern. $20 ain't that much. Y'all could always wear it to cut the grass.

 

[tonyb]

It's hard to go wrong at 20 bucks. It's even harder at 10, so offer 'em that and see what happens. And then soak that sucker in naptha and marvel at the gunk left behind. It's bound to come out cleaner, if not quite pristine. Then get some shoe-stretching potion for the sweat band and a hat-stretching device (both available at your local western wear store, probably, provided thay have such things where you reside) and maybe, just maybe, you'll be patting yourself on the back over your fine acquisition. It kinda depends on just how dirty it is and how much it has to be stretched to fit your rack.

 

[tonyb]

By the way ...

You may wish to reconsider just how "vintage" that hat actually is. Borsalino still makes a hat that quite resembles the Stetson Open Road (I have half a dozen of 'em myself) but, of course, they don't call 'em that. (The newer ones have glued-on liners, which is a dead giveaway. But the one you're eyeing doesn't, and that's a good sign.) What color is it? And its liner? Does it have a store label embossed on the sweat band or printed on the liner? Is that store local? Is that store long defunct? If the hat is indeed vintage, you may wish to send it off to a pro for its rehabilitation.

 

[Uncle Vern]

To Biltmore Bob--Jeez, Bob, I don't have any grass--I live in an Apartment!
To Tony B--the hat shows all signs of vintage quality--stitched-in headliner, wind trolley, the headliner looks like the old ones I've seen posted on the lounge, the sweatband has the name of an old store on it, and, well, I can just tell--I have a closet full of vintage hats, and while my primary interest is in western hats, I've been handling enough different lids to start getting a bit of a feel for the real deal. You can just look at the sweatband and see that it's old. I don't know that I can stretch it enough to fit me, but I'll probably buy it anyway. I don't know yet whether I'll do the cleaning myself or send it off.
Getting the boot and hat materials for cleaning and stretching is easy--I live in Austin, Texas, in the south part of town known as "Bubba Land." You'd think that there would be some pros around here, but there isn't a real hatter anywhere near me, and most of the western store clerks are just that--cashiers. No one knows squat, which makes it tough in one way, but the good side is that I finding lots of cheap vintage hats here. Most of the hip kids want those phony, artificially beat-up Hollywood cowboy hats.
I wonder if anybody here could venture a guess as to its value once it's been cleaned? It must be at least 50 years old or more.

 

[Uncle Vern]

Tonyb, tell me about you Borsalino Open Roads. If you have a half-dozen, you must like them pretty well. Are any of them all beaver, or they all mixed felt fur? Are they old or new? I see so much bad feedback about new Borsalinos I don't know what to believe, but when I talked to Joe Peters a few months ago, he said he thought well of the new Borsalino hat bodies. Who knows? Maybe you do.
As I said in my post, this old hat I'm buying is soft and supple--not as soft and paper-thin as the Dobbs 5th Avenue I bought my wife a few months ago, but nice, nicer than my late 40's Open Road.

 

[tonyb]

Well, dang, cowpoke, you just gotta buy it then. Heck, I'll take it off your hands if you wanna part with it.
I understand your feelings about the clerks in the cowboy stores. Same problem out here in the northwestern reaches. A gal at a shop I recently stumbled into told me that the late-model Borsalino I was wearing was a fine beaver felt. She could tell just by looking at it, she said. (Telling her it was only lapin would have only made things worse, for a couple of reasons, as you probably understand. So I let it slide.) I can only imagine what she tells those poor newbies who are considering the junk she sells.
I don't wish to paint with too broad a brush, though. One little two-store operation out here, Renton Western Wear, is owned and staffed by people who are knowledgable enough to know what they don't know. I've never bought a hat from them (they don't carry what I wear), but I got a sweet deal on a pair of boots there and I've bought Scout brand spot remover and a stretcher and a brush from them too. And I've been tempted to buy a pleated tuxedo shirt there. (I like the way they look with blue jeans, and their price is right.)
My six later-model Borsalinos are indeed similar in appearance to Open Road/Stratoliner Stetsons. They're sold with an open crown. I have another wide-brim (like four inches wide) late Borsalino as well. I wouldn't argue that the newer ones are a match for what Borsalino used to produce. I have a vintage-ish Borsalino Savoy that does indeed seem superior, for whatever that's worth. But I can say with confidence that my late-model Borsalinos look and wear better than any of my other hats of recent manufacture, with the possible exception of a no-name budget Italian job (raw edge, slouch brim) that has served me well, and a Columbian-made rollup that is just the thing for wearing in really, really funky weather. (It even has a wind string. Imagine.) Whether they are worth roughly twice the price of a new Stetson or Biltmore is certainly a matter open to debate.

 

[tonyb]

Oops

Sorry, Vern, for asking 'bout the color. You said it is silverbelly. There's a similar Stetson at a junktique store near me, as I mentioned in another thread, but it's real, real clean. Too bad they want 90 bucks for it. It's in such nice shape I'm tempted to pay the price, but I'm guessing they'll move down after the holiday season.

 

[Biltmore Bob]

Another Texan...

...hell, y'all...you gotta put your location in your profile so's we can see where y'all are from....The Texas Contingent is starting to gain on the West Coast Boys and Girls Club.

Gonna have to do a gittogether.