AMAZING Vintage Photos of Fedoras

[DOUGLAS]

Marc, You have bowled me over

That is truely amazing. Did evryone see the size of the sweat bands. My GOD!! Never mind the cost just look at the huge variety of styles, I am dumb struck. Thank you for the history show Marc.

This should be a sticky.

 

[DOUGLAS]

Barrowjh, I am sure most of these hats would have been offered open crowned.

BTW check out the variety of liners.

 

[Marc Chevalier]

where did you run across that book?

eBay.

.

 

[Jerekson]

Holy...!

 

[Russ]

These photos confirm the impression I get from old catalogues that hats with side pinches were common in the early 20th century and the front pinch was never seen in advertisements or displays until around the 30s.

 

[Doh!]

Fantastic post!

$1.85 was a very popular price. Does anyone know what that would translate to in today's dollars?

 

[surely]

pics excellent quality

were they scanned or taken with a digital camera?

very informative, merci beaucoup Marc Chevalier

 

[Phil]

I'd kill for those prices today.

 

[deanglen]

The center dent side pinched in "messy" fashion is amazing in its dominance! Can't fine a C-crown or teardrop in the bunch. What circa would we be looking at for the change...must be the thirties. Even with the wider ribbons, the hats don't look so "gangster" with the pictured bashes, more "western", I think, which I gravitate toward. GREAT thread, Marc! :eusa_clap I'd love to see close ups of quite a few of those!

dean

 

[DominusTecum]

Thanks mate, wonderful pictures! If anything would let us know what the popular styles of the time were, it'd probably be the advertising. After all, it'd make no sense to bash the hats in a way that average Joe Hatwearer on the street would see as ugly.

 

[cookie]

Marc's New New Thing

You just dove down like a huge Humpback whale and now you have resurfaced energized and 'Thar she blows!'

 

[barrowjh]

$1.85 = $60.00 today

Doh! asked about the $1.85 price. Per http://www.wisegeek.com/what-is-the-historical-price-of-gold.htm the price of gold during those years was $21 compared to $681.30 at close Monday, or a multiple of roughly 32.5, so $1.85 times 32.443 would be about $60 today. Those $7-$8 Stetsons would be $227-$260 today. Competition and volume apparently kept prices low relative to today, because if we could find that quality at just $227-$260 today we would be happy campers for sure.

 

[EricH]

Marc, what an accomplishment in sleuthing and luck to get such an outstanding resource. It lets all of us take a peek back in time and literally window shop our favorite obsession. Sharing it with us is a very generous thing to do and I am sure has led to a surge in hat rebashing I think I almost forgive you for some of the prizes you've snatched from me Eric

 

[Empyrium]

Doh! asked about the $1.85 price. Per http://www.wisegeek.com/what-is-the-historical-price-of-gold.htm the price of gold during those years was $21 compared to $681.30 at close Monday, or a multiple of roughly 32.5, so $1.85 times 32.443 would be about $60 today. Those $7-$8 Stetsons would be $227-$260 today. Competition and volume apparently kept prices low relative to today, because if we could find that quality at just $227-$260 today we would be happy campers for sure.

thanks for the info...i was wondering why good quality hats would cost only $7


Thanks Marc for sharing those pics of hat s paradise :fedora:

 

[duggap]

Thanks for the post, that would be wonderful to walk down a street and see a window full of those beauties. I bet the bash on several of those has Dean watering at the mouth. They look just like his avatar. I am not sure that the change in gold prices is a fair comparison of todays prices, only because the government controlled the price of gold for quite a few decades. But those are the kind of pictures I will go to sleep and dream about. :eusa_clap

 

[jimmy the lid]

What a treasure trove! Thanks for the post, Marc.

Cheers,
JtL

 

[RondoHatton]

Look at the white(?) hat at about 9:00... I've never seen a hat dented like that. Mashed in with a small dent at the sides, no pinch. And it looks great!

Like this (in silhouette)?

 

[Chaps]

These are wonderful pictures. Thank you so much for posting them.

Chaps

 

[Undertow]

Excellent pictures! I love old pictures like this; these windows into the past. It's a shame you can't find hats like this anymore at as reasonable a price, nor in as much quantity.

 

[halpap]

thanks

Those were a really great set of pictures.