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Amon Carter Borsalino; Stetson Shady Oak Farm; Peters Bros Shady Oaks, Bankers Special & Shady Pines

MikeinRome

One Too Many
Messages
1,036
This morning I came across a hat very similar to this, in that the sweatband seems identical with same reference to President LBJ and it's also a 7X Seventy Five. I believe the liner is red in it, and the hat seems a dark brown and wide brim. I'll post pics when it arrives. Yes, just checked and my hat has the same red liner as that Banker Special Seventy Five you posted on page 1 of this thread, so my hat is a bridge between that Banker Special and the hat you show here. I don't know if these 2 LBJ hats were actually owned and worn by LBJ, but both hats are size 7 1/4, which I've read was LBJ's hat size.
 
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buler

I'll Lock Up
Messages
4,385
Location
Wisconsin
Shady Oaks Bankers Special Seventy Five, gorgeous montecristi I found in 2010. It had a new ribbon put on by Art during Fedorafest III. I'll try to find a picture after the ribbon addition.

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Messages
18,279
This morning I came across a hat very similar to this, in that the sweatband seems identical with same reference to President LBJ and it's also a 7X Seventy Five. I believe the liner is red in it, and the hat seems a dark brown and wide brim. I'll post pics when it arrives. Yes, just checked and my hat has the same red liner as that Banker Special Seventy Five you posted on page 1 of this thread, so my hat is a bridge between that Banker Special and the hat you show here. I don't know if these 2 LBJ hats were actually owned and worn by LBJ, but both hats are size 7 1/4, which I've read was LBJ's hat size.
Glad another early PB has been found. Look forward to seeing it & making comparisons.
 

Bill Hughes

My Mail is Forwarded Here
Messages
3,169
Location
North Texas
Here's a Peters Brothers Shady Oaks I picked up in a yard sale in Venus, TX back in 2018.. I paid $5. The sweat was rotten and the two ply crown cord was breaking-up when handled. Brad Peters pulled the liner and showed me the writing dating the hat to 11/24/32. Brad said Tom (one of the original Peters Brothers) always wrote in the crown. He would write the date and sizing information. Anyway, Brad replaced the crown ribbon, sweatband, cleaned, and blocked/flanged the hat. It's probably my most often used "go to" hat.

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MikeinRome

One Too Many
Messages
1,036
This morning I came across a hat very similar to this, in that the sweatband seems identical with same reference to President LBJ and it's also a 7X Seventy Five. I believe the liner is red in it, and the hat seems a dark brown and wide brim. I'll post pics when it arrives. Yes, just checked and my hat has the same red liner as that Banker Special Seventy Five you posted on page 1 of this thread, so my hat is a bridge between that Banker Special and the hat you show here. I don't know if these 2 LBJ hats were actually owned and worn by LBJ, but both hats are size 7 1/4, which I've read was LBJ's hat size.
As promised, here are pics of Peters Bros Shady Oak 7X Seventy Five, Mr President LBJ. Brim is 3 3/4, crown is 6 1/2 inches when open, 6 inches as blocked. I was pleasantly surprised to find a Hatco mfg tag in it. Note that the liner calls the hat a Shady Oaks, while sweatband calls it a Shady Oak, no "s" on end of Oak. "Oaks" was the original spelling of this hat style or genre and later was changed to "Oak". The felt in this hat is not really stiff at all, except that the brim is stiff enough so that the wide brim isn't droopy. The crown can easily be shaped as desired.
 

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This morning I came across a hat very similar to this, in that the sweatband seems identical with same reference to President LBJ and it's also a 7X Seventy Five. I believe the liner is red in it, and the hat seems a dark brown and wide brim. I'll post pics when it arrives. Yes, just checked and my hat has the same red liner as that Banker Special Seventy Five you posted on page 1 of this thread, so my hat is a bridge between that Banker Special and the hat you show here. I don't know if these 2 LBJ hats were actually owned and worn by LBJ, but both hats are size 7 1/4, which I've read was LBJ's hat size.
There is a documented LBJ hat here: https://www.oakauctions.com/_LYNDON_B__JOHNSON_Personally_Owned___Worn_STETSON-lot6051.aspx
which documents he in fact wore a 7 3/8 (same as Truman Ironically) and I have read elsewhere 7 3/8 was indeed his size not 7 1/4.
 

MikeinRome

One Too Many
Messages
1,036
Just to be clear I don’t believe & never intended to imply that the LBJ I own was a personal hat that LBJ once owned.
I've tried to be careful not to make any concrete conclusion regarding whether or not these hats were actually owned by LBJ himself but the way the inscription reads on the sweatband does give me the impression that it could be interpreted that way.
 
If you really want to stretch it he (LBJ) DID own the hats he gave away....He just did not WEAR them.......
BUT a good many were made and sold by others including at the presidential Library, just like the Truman ones......Ironically the ones sold at Trumans library were 3Xers with a rancher/cattleman crease which Truman NEVER wore in his OR's......
 
And he never wore it as a snap brim fedora. Something I'd never seen until this place.
It is the Cowboy in you....You need to broaden your horizons....;)

Truman actually wore most all his hats camber style (brim up).



You are too used to seeing the look of the stiff brimmed modern OR's and well westerns in general.....they made many an OR in soft....INTENDED as a SNAP BRIM. My OR Twenty-Five is super soft for example, YES, even the brim.


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And you have a real nice Royal Deluxe (which is a soft dress hat grade) like this one.

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MANY newspaper ads from men's shops (rather than western outlets) show them pinched and snapped in the 40's....it was introduced as a western/Fedora crossover......which is why the bosses liked them.

The lounge has had these arguments on telling others how to wear their hats before.....they NEVER end well....:oops:

Truth be told, I almost always wear my hats brim up...(must be the horse trainer/homburg wearer in me)....however...if the sun gets in my eyes and when driving...DOWN goes the brim (on those that can).

By the by, the OR has a almost exact if not exactly the same, predecessor, the Stetson Kingston fedora....is looks just like the OR and the design goes back to the 20's....It was said by Dobbs in the 20's that they were basing their (Dobbs) hat on the Borsalino Alessandra Model.....which has an even older history (according to them).

EDIT: sorry for all the edits...the reply has been messing up and not including all my response for some reason, this is the only way I can complete it.
 
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MikeinRome

One Too Many
Messages
1,036
If you really want to stretch it he (LBJ) DID own the hats he gave away....He just did not WEAR them.......
BUT a good many were made and sold by others including at the presidential Library, just like the Truman ones......Ironically the ones sold at Trumans library were 3Xers with a rancher/cattleman crease which Truman NEVER wore in his OR's......
How were the "others LBJ hats" sold inscribed, or do we know? When I think of tourists shopping for trinkets or souvenirs at a Presidential Library, I think of rather inexpensive things, not something like a 7X Seventy Five, which seems more purposely purchased to me. But that's just my theorizing.
 
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Messages
11,409
Location
Alabama
And he never wore it as a snap brim fedora. Something I'd never seen until this place.
When I wrote this I had a thought, 'Mark is likely to respond somewhat emotionally with caps and emojis'. You do not disappoint. The bonus is you threw in those catalog pics of the snap brim ORs. I've seen them a dozen times and thanks for proving my point; I had never seen those pics prior to TFL. Those were likely produced before I was reading catalogs.

And please don't tell me what I'm "too" used to seeing, I doubt your experiences are much greater than mine. You do not know me. As OR's go, I have 6 ranging in age from the late 40's to late 50's and qualities from Royal to a 7X CB. The Royal Deluxe was once an OC hat but came with a cattleman crease and a brim that can be snapped but likely wasn't. I also have a soft 25 that came with a cattleman crease and a brim that had never been snapped, though could be. I had another 25 with the liner and laced sweat like yours that was a stiff hat I got rid of. You could never have snapped it w/o great effort. The only OR I have with a snap brim is the 40's Royal. It also has a diamond, my least favorite crease. It was once an OC hat but it's been that way for a long time, so I left it. I have three 3X hats that are all soft and sold OC I'm sure. Two are center creases and my latest came with a cattleman. None appear to have been worn with a snap brim. My 7X CB OR is a stiff brim hat with a firm crown that came with a cattleman of sorts. I've seen folks take similar 7X CBs and work the cattleman out of them and steam them until they're able to bend the brim to a down position. Doubt it snaps back up.

As far as me "broadening my horizons", I'm certain our perspectives are quite different on that.
 

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