- Messages
- 15,073
- Location
- Buffalo, NY
The only thing I would have to say is I personally think it is a pre-40s hat based on the sweatband and hat features. The initial pins were more widely used in pre-40s hats from what I've seen. I have a couple of per-40 hats with the initial pins. On the other hand I'm no expert so I could be wrong. Anyway this is the first wool or wool blend felted hat that I've owned.
This is your lucky day! I sold this particular hat to Justin (SplintercellZ) a while back on eBay. It is a Fratelli Fiorenza. I think there is some connection with Borsalino, but that's not confirmed. I obtained this hat from a 57 year old woman whose father bought it in Italy...
It is a _very_ nice wool felt - one of the best I've ever seen, and it may be a fur felt blend because it is so much softer than most wool felt hats you will ever touch. I believe it is a 1940's hat.
A very nice hat and another puzzler. In my eBay experience, I've often found seller recollections (especially of parent's trips and purchases in Europe) to be unreliable. It does have an old look to the dimensions of the ribbon and hat body, but remember that taped sweatbands were used on Italian Borsalino hats into the 1970s and perhaps later. Would it be odd to see "made in Italy" in English imprinted on a hat that was purchased in Italy? Not sure.