Very cool, don't think I've seen this particular one before. It perfectly shows how labour intensive hatmaking originally was.
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Beneluxury
- Thread starter steur
- Start date
- Messages
- 17,514
- Location
- Maryland
Stefan, Thank you! It's on a Panizza Museum DVD of mine. The Panizza Museum had no info about how the Janyska film sequences where obtained for the DVD. I know from the Novy Jicin City Museum that the Czech National Film Archive restored the film but I haven't been able to find a copy. I will have to check into that again. I do have these stills from the restored film. This is definitely a one of a kind film.
Randall Renshaw
My Mail is Forwarded Here
- Messages
- 3,100
- Location
- Nahunta, Ga.
Viminet Brand From Belgium for the US market in prewar times.
Super lightweight. 2 1/4” raw edge brim.
High quality thin, but dense felt.
2.7 pounds. Lightest I’ve ever held!
Needed some lovin but turned out nice and in excellent condition. Supple sweatband having the Borsalino type corrugated forehead area.
7/8” hatband and bow with the basting stitches present.
Sold for $5.00 at Marshall Fields according to sales tag inside.
Size 60
Took a lot of steam to get the super black vintage felt free of heavy wrinkles that had been on this hat for far too long.
Super lightweight. 2 1/4” raw edge brim.
High quality thin, but dense felt.
2.7 pounds. Lightest I’ve ever held!
Needed some lovin but turned out nice and in excellent condition. Supple sweatband having the Borsalino type corrugated forehead area.
7/8” hatband and bow with the basting stitches present.
Sold for $5.00 at Marshall Fields according to sales tag inside.
Size 60
Took a lot of steam to get the super black vintage felt free of heavy wrinkles that had been on this hat for far too long.
Attachments
Again, a superb hat, Randall and a great find. I hope that's 2.7 ounces though
Mean Eyed Matt
One Too Many
- Messages
- 1,142
- Location
- Germany
Wonderful find, Randall - in so many ways! I love this survivor and it's superbe condition!
Randall Renshaw
My Mail is Forwarded Here
- Messages
- 3,100
- Location
- Nahunta, Ga.
Thanks, Stefan.Again, a superb hat, Randall and a great find. I hope that's 2.7 ounces though
And this is my “lightest hat”!!
Randall Renshaw
My Mail is Forwarded Here
- Messages
- 3,100
- Location
- Nahunta, Ga.
Appreciate it, Matt. Finding wonderful fedoras like this is what makes hat collecting such a fantastic hobby.
Owning a domicile SLAM FULL of desirable hats I may even soon excruciatingly admit to myself and publicly that I’ve made the slow transition from: Guy who really likes vintage hats— to sho nuff hat collector.
But I’m fighting it.
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Mean Eyed Matt
One Too Many
- Messages
- 1,142
- Location
- Germany
Don't fight it - let it happen!
Many of my friends know that I like to wear hats. But when they come to visit me again after a long time, they are often horrified: »You WEAR hats, yes, but what do you want WITH SO MANY...!?«
Many of my friends know that I like to wear hats. But when they come to visit me again after a long time, they are often horrified: »You WEAR hats, yes, but what do you want WITH SO MANY...!?«
Rmccamey
I'll Lock Up
- Messages
- 5,862
- Location
- Central Texas
Last week one of the few still existing newspapers did an article on one of the oldest still existing hatshops in The Netherlands. Here's the article and the translation.
DE VOLKSKRANT TUESDAY 11 APRIL 2023
The enterprise
Arnold Frits Bakker (I) and Sietze Bakker, brothers and co-owners of hat and cap shop H. Witting & Son.
PROFILE
Where: Groningen
Since: 1876
Number of employees 2
PROFILE H. WITTING &SON
In the oldest hat shop in the Netherlands, they have known for 147 years that a headgear fits every jar
At the Groningen H. Witting & Son they already sold headgear when decent people did not want to be found dead without a cylinder hat or colorful cap on their skull cap. The store is an ode to the hat.
By Jonathan Witteman Photos Raymond Rotting
The now 93-year-old father of Sietze and Arnold Bakker is probably the only Dutchman who quite literally made the purchase of a new car depend on how his cap looked. Or rather, how his hat was. 'My father swore by his Borsalino, a fedora like the American actor Humphrey Bogart wore,' says Arnold Jr. about Arnold Sr., ex-owner of the 147-year-old H. Witting & Zoon, the oldest store in Groningen, and the oldest hat shop in the Netherlands. 'He only bought a car if he could keep his hat on behind the wheel. Nowadays that is no longer a problem with all those off-road vehicles, but it used to be. So he always had to fit cars first. He often came home with a Peugeot, which had a slightly higher roof.'
Today, Sietze (55) and Arnold (53) are at the helm of H. Witting & Son. In their establishment in the Groningen city center, recognizable by a white cylinder hat as a sign, the shop bell and antique cash register still ring as in roughly 1923. The shop even dates from 1876, the time when no self-respecting man or woman left the house without a stove pipe, a bowler hat or a colorful cap on the head, whether or not trimmed with ostrich feathers. As a tribute to father and son Witting, founders of the 'Magazijn van Heeren Hoeden en Petten', the store still bears their name, although the business has been owned by the Bakker family since 1960. You would almost think that the Bakker brothers are craniologists, they are so focused on the size of the skull of their fellow human beings. 'That gentleman had a big head', Arnold judges, after a customer with an apparently quite normal proportioned skull has left the store wearing a green cowboy hat recommended by Sietze. Hat sizes range from 51 to 65, which is the head circumference in centimeters. 'We often see at a glance what you need,' says Sietze. 'Oh, do I also have a big head?', asks the Volkskrant photographer, slightly unsure. 'Not too bad', Arnold assesses, 'buddy 58.' The Bakers' shop is a jumble of Borsalino's, Stetsons, Kangols and Maysers. They are stacked meters high, the fedoras, panamas and alpinos, the berets, balloon caps and stovepipes. Not to mention all the cowboy hats, bucket hats, rain hats, bowler hats, bridal hats and UV resistant sun hats.
There is a lot of cultural history behind something as simple as a hat or cap, Arnold says from behind the counter. Take the best-selling Peaky Blinders cap, from the Netflix series about the misadventures of the Shelbys, a headgear-loving crime family in post-World War I Birmingham. "We've been making caps like that for decades, long before Peaky Blinders came along," says Bakker, pulling out a gray herringbone-weave balloon cap made of donegal tweed, recognizable by the colorful accents in the wool. 'This type of cap is also known as a newsboy cap, after the caps worn by newsboys in the 1920s. Ten years ago, when people came to the store and asked for a cap like that, they called it a Gilbert O'Sullivan cap, as the singer wore in the 1970s.' `Or Ciske de Rat-pet, or Kruimeltje-pet', his brother Sietze adds. 'Now when people come for a cap like this, they sometimes ask: 'Is there a razor blade sewn into the brim, like with Peaky Blinders?', Arnold laughs. Customer friendliness goes a long way at Witting, but not that far. The Bakker brothers ignite in a cultural-historical hat lecture, in which it is only a small step from Ciske de Rat to hip-hop. 'LL Cool J, that rapper, do you know what he was wearing?' Arnold asks. He points to the pile of bucket hats behind him.
DE VOLKSKRANT TUESDAY 11 APRIL 2023
The enterprise
Arnold Frits Bakker (I) and Sietze Bakker, brothers and co-owners of hat and cap shop H. Witting & Son.
PROFILE
Where: Groningen
Since: 1876
Number of employees 2
PROFILE H. WITTING &SON
In the oldest hat shop in the Netherlands, they have known for 147 years that a headgear fits every jar
At the Groningen H. Witting & Son they already sold headgear when decent people did not want to be found dead without a cylinder hat or colorful cap on their skull cap. The store is an ode to the hat.
By Jonathan Witteman Photos Raymond Rotting
The now 93-year-old father of Sietze and Arnold Bakker is probably the only Dutchman who quite literally made the purchase of a new car depend on how his cap looked. Or rather, how his hat was. 'My father swore by his Borsalino, a fedora like the American actor Humphrey Bogart wore,' says Arnold Jr. about Arnold Sr., ex-owner of the 147-year-old H. Witting & Zoon, the oldest store in Groningen, and the oldest hat shop in the Netherlands. 'He only bought a car if he could keep his hat on behind the wheel. Nowadays that is no longer a problem with all those off-road vehicles, but it used to be. So he always had to fit cars first. He often came home with a Peugeot, which had a slightly higher roof.'
Today, Sietze (55) and Arnold (53) are at the helm of H. Witting & Son. In their establishment in the Groningen city center, recognizable by a white cylinder hat as a sign, the shop bell and antique cash register still ring as in roughly 1923. The shop even dates from 1876, the time when no self-respecting man or woman left the house without a stove pipe, a bowler hat or a colorful cap on the head, whether or not trimmed with ostrich feathers. As a tribute to father and son Witting, founders of the 'Magazijn van Heeren Hoeden en Petten', the store still bears their name, although the business has been owned by the Bakker family since 1960. You would almost think that the Bakker brothers are craniologists, they are so focused on the size of the skull of their fellow human beings. 'That gentleman had a big head', Arnold judges, after a customer with an apparently quite normal proportioned skull has left the store wearing a green cowboy hat recommended by Sietze. Hat sizes range from 51 to 65, which is the head circumference in centimeters. 'We often see at a glance what you need,' says Sietze. 'Oh, do I also have a big head?', asks the Volkskrant photographer, slightly unsure. 'Not too bad', Arnold assesses, 'buddy 58.' The Bakers' shop is a jumble of Borsalino's, Stetsons, Kangols and Maysers. They are stacked meters high, the fedoras, panamas and alpinos, the berets, balloon caps and stovepipes. Not to mention all the cowboy hats, bucket hats, rain hats, bowler hats, bridal hats and UV resistant sun hats.
There is a lot of cultural history behind something as simple as a hat or cap, Arnold says from behind the counter. Take the best-selling Peaky Blinders cap, from the Netflix series about the misadventures of the Shelbys, a headgear-loving crime family in post-World War I Birmingham. "We've been making caps like that for decades, long before Peaky Blinders came along," says Bakker, pulling out a gray herringbone-weave balloon cap made of donegal tweed, recognizable by the colorful accents in the wool. 'This type of cap is also known as a newsboy cap, after the caps worn by newsboys in the 1920s. Ten years ago, when people came to the store and asked for a cap like that, they called it a Gilbert O'Sullivan cap, as the singer wore in the 1970s.' `Or Ciske de Rat-pet, or Kruimeltje-pet', his brother Sietze adds. 'Now when people come for a cap like this, they sometimes ask: 'Is there a razor blade sewn into the brim, like with Peaky Blinders?', Arnold laughs. Customer friendliness goes a long way at Witting, but not that far. The Bakker brothers ignite in a cultural-historical hat lecture, in which it is only a small step from Ciske de Rat to hip-hop. 'LL Cool J, that rapper, do you know what he was wearing?' Arnold asks. He points to the pile of bucket hats behind him.
Part II
" The American hip-hop star used to like to wear the red version. 'Those hats are also called bucket hats. LL Cool J always wore the Kangol brand, just like the actor Samuel L Jackson.' "Or look here," says Sietze, grabbing a pork pie hat, so named for its resemblance to pork pies. "This is Gene Hackman as Jimmy 'Popeye' Doyle in the 1971 movie French Connection." "Frank Sinatra wore it back in the 1950s," says Arnold, "and what Sylvester Stallone wore in Rocky was kind of like a porkpie too." The brothers could go on and on, about the fedoras of Indiana Jones, for example, the headgear of new style icons like Memphis Depay and Pharrell Williams, or the old trusted deer hunter hat of Sherlock Holmes. Or about the walking sticks of the British singer Robbie Williams - `They are also called pimp sticks, Sietze knows - because in addition to hats, caps and beanies, the brothers also sell walking sticks, suspenders, ties, bow ties, Groninger skipper sweaters, peccary leather gloves and dressing gowns.
In addition to the history, the future of the hat also looks bright, the brothers are convinced of that. In addition to being a fashion item, a hat has now almost become a health remedy, given the increase in skin cancer. 'There's a hospital nearby,' says Arnold. 'Many people from the dermatology department are sent to us. And they don't come for such a cap' - picks up a red cap at random - 'because the sun passes right through it, but for this Stetson cap, for example. It is made of UV-resistant fabric. You can walk in the sun for four or five hours with that.' 'And so', says Sietze, 'we always try to ensure that people leave with a smile on their face. And with a nice cap or hat on their head.'
I visited the shop once. It's great that it's still around and there are some great objects there (advertising items and such). The brothers are however are not as knowledgeable as they think they are and in part they're just telling stories to make the sale. If you find yourself in Groningen for one reason or another it's certainly worth a visit though.
" The American hip-hop star used to like to wear the red version. 'Those hats are also called bucket hats. LL Cool J always wore the Kangol brand, just like the actor Samuel L Jackson.' "Or look here," says Sietze, grabbing a pork pie hat, so named for its resemblance to pork pies. "This is Gene Hackman as Jimmy 'Popeye' Doyle in the 1971 movie French Connection." "Frank Sinatra wore it back in the 1950s," says Arnold, "and what Sylvester Stallone wore in Rocky was kind of like a porkpie too." The brothers could go on and on, about the fedoras of Indiana Jones, for example, the headgear of new style icons like Memphis Depay and Pharrell Williams, or the old trusted deer hunter hat of Sherlock Holmes. Or about the walking sticks of the British singer Robbie Williams - `They are also called pimp sticks, Sietze knows - because in addition to hats, caps and beanies, the brothers also sell walking sticks, suspenders, ties, bow ties, Groninger skipper sweaters, peccary leather gloves and dressing gowns.
In addition to the history, the future of the hat also looks bright, the brothers are convinced of that. In addition to being a fashion item, a hat has now almost become a health remedy, given the increase in skin cancer. 'There's a hospital nearby,' says Arnold. 'Many people from the dermatology department are sent to us. And they don't come for such a cap' - picks up a red cap at random - 'because the sun passes right through it, but for this Stetson cap, for example. It is made of UV-resistant fabric. You can walk in the sun for four or five hours with that.' 'And so', says Sietze, 'we always try to ensure that people leave with a smile on their face. And with a nice cap or hat on their head.'
I visited the shop once. It's great that it's still around and there are some great objects there (advertising items and such). The brothers are however are not as knowledgeable as they think they are and in part they're just telling stories to make the sale. If you find yourself in Groningen for one reason or another it's certainly worth a visit though.
Yamahana
One Too Many
- Messages
- 1,050
- Location
- Buckeye, Arizona
Interesting read, thanks for sharing it.
Pellie
One Too Many
- Messages
- 1,658
- Location
- Enschede, Netherlands
Great story!
"The brothers are however are not as knowledgeable as they think they are and in part they're just telling stories to make the sale."
How do you know this?
"The brothers are however are not as knowledgeable as they think they are and in part they're just telling stories to make the sale."
How do you know this?
By talking to them when I was there. I was looking for a blue hat at the time and they gave me some really odd story (can't remember how it went exactly) about how that was not a good colour for men's hats. They did try to push a €400 Borsalino on me though. No thanks.
Advertised as a size 55, but this time the size label was visible and the English 6 7/8 is a size 56. Yes, please.
Brummel's Nice fedora in grey. Size 56 with the overwelt brim at 6cm and the crown at 10,5 at the center dent. It was in a bit of a state when it arrived but it responded very well to brushing and steaming and it got got right back to where it belongs. Always very satisfying.
Brummel's Nice fedora in grey. Size 56 with the overwelt brim at 6cm and the crown at 10,5 at the center dent. It was in a bit of a state when it arrived but it responded very well to brushing and steaming and it got got right back to where it belongs. Always very satisfying.
moehawk
I'll Lock Up
- Messages
- 5,841
- Location
- Northern California
Chapeau Vimenet.
The color is a dark charcoal, not quite black. The felt is amazing, thin and light, can be creased by a breath. Crown is about 5 1/4 inches, brim is 2 inches. 80.4 tiny little grams. Very well made.
This one gives me a 30's vibe. Any opinions in agreement or otherwise welcome.
This one is too big for me, so it will soon be put up for vintage trade *psst Daniele! *
The color is a dark charcoal, not quite black. The felt is amazing, thin and light, can be creased by a breath. Crown is about 5 1/4 inches, brim is 2 inches. 80.4 tiny little grams. Very well made.
This one gives me a 30's vibe. Any opinions in agreement or otherwise welcome.
This one is too big for me, so it will soon be put up for vintage trade *psst Daniele!
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Superb find, John. They don't show up often, but when they do they're always high quality and lightweight hats. The company went into liquidation under German occupation in 1942, so all the hats we know of them are either pre-war or very early forties.Chapeau Vimenet.
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The color is a dark charcoal, not quite black. The felt is amazing, thin and light, can be creased by a breath. Crown is about 5 1/4 inches, brim is 2 inches. 80.4 tiny little grams. Very well made.
This one gives me a 30's vibe. Any opinions in agreement or otherwise welcome.
This one is too big for me, so it will soon be put up for vintage trade *psst Daniele!
moehawk
I'll Lock Up
- Messages
- 5,841
- Location
- Northern California
Thanks Stefan! It's one of the nicest hats I've handled, although it' s kind of plain. The quality needs no extra embellishments. I just wish it fit. The odds of finding another are pretty slim.
But, on the bright side, I should get something nice in trade for it!
