Beneluxury

[Blare]

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! *

This was the same one from ShopGW this past week correct? Would be crazy to see two pop up in the same time frame. But it does tend to happen that way after not seeing any for years. Very happy to see it turn up here after I got into something and forgot to bid. And glad we didn’t end up bidding each other up considering we were probably the only two looking at it that knew what it was Too bad it is too big for you… so clearly it is WAY too big for me.

 

[moehawk]

This was the same one from ShopGW this past week correct? Would be crazy to see two pop up in the same time frame. But it does tend to happen that way after not seeing any for years. Very happy to see it turn up here after I got into something and forgot to bid. And glad we didn’t end up bidding each other up considering we were probably the only two looking at it that knew what it was Too bad it is too big for you… so clearly it is WAY too big for me.

Thanks Joe!
Yes, it is the same one. I had no idea of the size, but I figured that the best time to bid on a Vimenet was when I saw one. The 8 days waiting for the auction to end were excruciating...
Looks like ""Dad lost out big time!

 

[Blare]

Thanks Joe!
Yes, it is the same one. I had no idea of the size, but I figured that the best time to bid on a Vimenet was when I saw one. The 8 days waiting for the auction to end were excruciating...
Looks like ""Dad lost out big time!

But still …. Kept it in the family

 

[TimmyV]

Here's a hat I recently acquired that I knew nothing about other than I liked the looks of it very much. Flevo Lord's hat I believe. Was pretty rumpled up when it arrived but a little steam and a good brushing had it back to it's previous glory. Thanks Stefan for pointing me to this thread as it is filled with great documentation on hats from this side of the world.

 

[steur]

Here's a hat I recently acquired that I knew nothing about other than I liked the looks of it very much. Flevo Lord's hat I believe. Was pretty rumpled up when it arrived but a little steam and a good brushing had it back to it's previous glory. Thanks Stefan for pointing me to this thread as it is filled with great documentation on hats from this side of the world.

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Again: cool find, Timmy. They don't show up all that often as the manufacturer didn't last very long.

 

[Pellie]

Here's a hat I recently acquired that I knew nothing about other than I liked the looks of it very much. Flevo Lord's hat I believe. Was pretty rumpled up when it arrived but a little steam and a good brushing had it back to it's previous glory. Thanks Stefan for pointing me to this thread as it is filled with great documentation on hats from this side of the world.

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For me, this is the first Flevo i ever saw! Nice one.

 

[steur]

Vimenet lords hat in brown. Size 56 with the brim at just about 5cm and the crown at 10,5cm at the center dent. The felt is great, as expected. Great hand to the felt, modest in its proportions. Weighs 115 grams.
Not much more to tell, except maybe that the "REG. U.S. PAT. OFF." on the liner is interesting. This brand rarely turns up over here, but they seem to have had an active export line to the U.S. since they do show up there on occasion. Brent @deadlyhandsome has one on the bay right now.

 

[steur]

Since Brent unfortunately no longer posts here (I do miss his enthousiasm for all kinds of hats) I better make sure this one is saved for posterity. This one is on the bay right now, so not my hat. Worth getting I think.

Vimenet fedora in brown with a felted edge. Unlined and in a size 7.

Part I

 

[steur]

Part II

 

[steur]

Time for another write up in this thread. Take a seat, because this will take a few posts.

JS Meuwsen: Dutch national hatman

When delving into Dutch hatting history, next to Jan Spoorenberg, there is one name that stands out and that is the name J.S. Meuwsen. This one took quite a bit of digging just to find out what his actual name was. A man of mystery therefore.

Born Johannes Stephanus Meuwsen on 30 March 1862 in Amsterdam (see birthcertificate below –skip the crossed out names) and not, as Wikipedia would have it, as Johannes Sebastianus Meuwsen.
Somebody did not call him Sebastian!

Son of hatmaker Cornelis Meuwsen and Elisabeth Margaretha Daalgreen, which is likely a misspelling of the Swedish surname Dahlgren, as Daalgreen is not a Dutch surname.

Here is a rare mention of C. Meuwsen as hatmanufacturer

Johan, as he was likely not called (given his strict and formal personality it would be "sir" or "mister Meuwsen"), married Carolina Elisabeth Nooteboom on 24th June 1886, daughter of Frans Nooteboom, manufacturer, and Johanna Fruijtier. Both Johan and his father were registered as “shopkeeper” at the time of his marriage.

By then he had already founded the company that would bear his name right until 1970. The company was founded in 1884 and named NV Chapellerie JS Meuwsen or firma J.S. Meuwsen. The first shop was located on the Vijgendam 3 Amsterdam, which no longer exists, but is now part of Dam Square. Below a tantalising picture that must have been taken from the viewpoint of the shop as we can see the address Vijgendam 3 on the right hand side of the picture. The central view is on the palace.

In June 1889 the shop moved from number 3 to number 1. There is a picture of the shop on number 1 available. We will get to that when we focus more on the several shops. The company expanded by opening several more shops over the years, which was continued by his son J.S. Meuwsen jr (more on him later). By the time the company existed 75 years in 1959 they had 19 shops in several cities, which by Dutch standards is considerable. Although by then the focus would likely have shifted more towards menswear in general.

Johan wasn’t content with being just a shopkeeper and hatter. On the contrary. Everything I could find about the man, which is a lot, concerns itself with his activities other than that. He was the initiator and the first chairman of the Dutch Union of Associations of the Trading Middle Class, the current MKB. Apparently he was fed up with the petty rivalries and competition amongst shopkeepers, who at that time and far into the twentieth century were associated along both religious and specialty lines; Catholic shopkeepers, Protestant shopkeepers and so on (there were quite a lot of denominations and specialties). Making it to chairman of the Amsterdam Shopkeepers Association and the larger Union of Associations he was used to operating on a national (and international) scale and tirelessly worked on behalf of the shopkeepers and small business owners, who could not always see the bigger picture. He was quite the strong personality, telling his collegues more than once they were their own worst enemy. Often ridiculed or mocked as a dictator, he wasn’t deterred and kept going. Lectures, meetings, expositions, publications: Meuwsen was everywhere and was universally praised for his hard work and organisational talent.

Here we can see two cartoons depicting Meuwsen. First one as a Roman Emperor overseeing the fight between the gladiators of the different branches of shopkeepers.

The other below depicting Meuwsen dressed in formal wear selling a hat.

It’s hard to imagine he still had time for anything else, but he was also active in shipping, helping organize the first Dutch exposition of Shipping or ENTOS (in Dutch it makes sense) and taking the pictures to promote the exposition. The pictures can still be found on the online image archive of Amsterdam. Here are a few examples. With hats of course.

If that wasn’t enough he was also an active shootist, something he had in common with his father. He was (of course) captain of his company. We can see him here, sitting in the middle.

Schutterij, 2de Bataljon, 1ste Compagnie, onder leiding van Kapitein J.S. Meuwsen.

The trade magazines start mentioning his absence due to illness starting august 1915.
J.S. Meuwsen dies on 20th November 1915 of a heart condition (his death announcement mentions a long sickbed though), 53 years old. Oddly enough the formal announcement of his death by his own family mentions his age as 52, which is given the dates not correct. The picture below was taken at his funeral.

 

[steur]

J.S. Meuwsen, the son

After the death of J.S. Meuwsen senior in 1915, J.S. Meuwsen junior took over the management of the company.

Wikipedia has this to say about the next J.S. Meuwsen:

Johannes Sebastianus Meuwsen Jr. (Amsterdam, 23 November 1889 -, 26-1 1962) was a Dutch entrepreneur and from 1915 director of Chapellerie J.S. Meuwsen. He was also the founder and director of the Nederlandsche Hoedenfabriek‎.
Unfortunately it is wrong. It should be Johannes Stephanus Meuwsen, exactly like his father therefore, (Amsterdam, 23 November 1889 - Laren, 10 April 1962). After some digging I found the civil registration card on which he, his elder sister and parents are noted.

Below the anouncements that were made after his passing. Also using the correct name.

And to lay to rest any doubt, here is a picture of his gravestone.

So where did the mix-up come from? Well, it turns out there was indeed a Johannes Sebastianus Meuwsen as well, with the years of birth close enough and the years of death the same. Johannes Sebastianus Meuwsen: born 5-2-1886 in Nijmegen and died 26-1-1962. Here is a picture of his gravestone as well.

Somebody did call him Sebastian!
Not only did he get mixed up with our JS Meuwsen jr but with Meuwsen senior as well. Glad we cleared that up, but this had me stumped for quite a while.

JS Meuwsen jr (the right one!) married Martha Maria Paula Skripnik on the 6th January 1926 in Charlottenburg Germany. He was divorced from her on 12th January 1938.
On the 7th november-1940, aged 50 he marries Martha Kannemans, aged 19. That marriage lasted until his death in 1962.

He probably met his first wife while he was working in Germany. His father sent him there to work for a large importer of panama hats. JS Meuwsen prided itself for being the first importer of panama hats, including the Montechristi hats, of The Netherlands and the quality they could provide. In an interview in 1908 Meuwsen senior said they had panamas up to a price of a thousand guilders, which was a massive sum at the time. The current equivalent is about €33.000,-. Comparable to the most expensive panamas you can order today from Brent Black.
Meuwsen jr was there to both establish the contacts and ensure the best quality hats got shipped to their stores.

One of the pictures used to illustrate the interview with Meuwsen Sr. Unsure if it him standing middle right.

Their Damrak store had a special diorama window display to introduce and give special attention to the panama hats.

Meuwsen kept the expansion of the shops going. In 1937 he had the number up to sixteen and by 1959, when the company existed 75 years, it was nineteen. Not all that strange that Meuwsen jr given the international unrest at the time decided in 1937 that he would start his own hat factory, which he did.

N.V. Nederlandse Hoeden Fabriek, Nehoefa in short was established in 1937 in Laren, but moved to Bussum the same year. The location was Industriestraat 11-25, (1e Industriestraat corner Anthoni van Leeuwenhoekweg).

It was the manufacturer of men's hats, among other things, mainly under the brand name "Staalmeester", though they used other brand names as well. In Bussum, the company also had buildings on the Marconiweg and the Vlietlaan.

Production of aimed to be 57.000 hats per year in 1937, which was about one sixth of the Dutch market at the time. The start-up was done with an international workforce of Frenchmen, Hungarians and Austrians. The idea was that the Dutch would gradually learn the tricks of the trade and take over production entirely. The plan was to work with a workforce of 25 people, which shows how smallscale the company was, certainly compared to the international manufacturers.

The timing was unlucky though because with the start of the war prices of material shot up. Below a newsarticle stating that Cappellificio Rossi in the company’s reports over 1941 that fur prices have been rising extremely and that no hair could be bought from Belgium and France. Given this situation it was no surprise that Nehoefa was liquidated during the war 31-12-1941 due to exactly those same circumstances. I've posted about this in this thread before.

It didn’t deter Meuwsen jr however to try again after the war and Nehoefa started again in 1948.

Below a rare picture of the location of the factory in Bussum. It again shows how small scale the factory actually was.

It didn’t deter Meuwsen jr however to try again after the war and Nehoefa started again in 1948.

Below a picture of the staff of Nehoefa in the forties. Looks like they were all there! Meuwsen jr is standing third from the right.

Selling hats is one thing, but hat insurance is another. That is however what Meuwsen was trying to do with this commercial from 1938.

https://www.archieven.nl/nl/zoeken?...miaet=14&micode=4016&minr=39656465&miview=ldt

The hat industry across the board was in trouble from the early sixties on. JS Meuwsen and Nehoefa were no exception. It’s hard to find any documentation on when they went out of business exactly. It is likely Nehoefa didn’t last long after the passing of its founder. JS Meuwsen as a company was bigger and the family was involved.

Older sister Elisabeth Margaretha Meuwsen, born 27th april 1887 married Joannes Merens, office clerk, on 12th September 1919. She had been married before to Paulus Pul, opera singer on 4th july 1911. The marriage lasted until 15th November 1918. She ran the shop located on the Leidschestraat.

Even though they were by then selling menswear in general, their part of the market, formal suits and the like, was on the way out as well. So the date given by Wikipedia that they went out of business in 1970 may well be accurate. Meuwsen jr went through the heyday of hatting right up to its demise in the sixties and with his death the company came to an end, even if it took some more years to finally pull the plug.

 

[steur]

J.S. Meuwsen: the shops

The first shop was not located at Vijgendam 1, but at Vijgendam 3, moving to number 1 around june1889. The first shop was called “A la ville de Lyon”. Above the entrance the Royal seal can be seen. The text beneath it reads ”Koninklijk gebreveteerd hoeden fabriekant” or “Royal warrented hat manufacturer.” The Royal warrant was awarded because Meuwsen provided hats for Emma van Waldeck-Pyrmont queen-regent from 1890-1898 and queen-mother to Wilhelmina.

An ad in the “Israelitisch nieuwsblad” of 10th may 1889 (Amsterdam had a large Jewish population back then) announcing a sale related to the move, shows us that soft felt hats were called “Fantaisie hats” and the English ones came in more than 50 (!) colours. At a price between 5 and 7 guilders back then they were the equivalent of current prices of about €200.

After eight years they opened a second shop at the Leidschestraat number 4: a building on the corner of Leidsestraat-Herengracht, built as a shop with two houses and office space. The design was provided by the architectural firm Van Velze-Oskam from Driebergen-Zeist. Note the Imperial Austrian coat of arms above the shop window. Meuwsen had a P&C Habig dealership. This shop was the second shop for the company, but more would follow. Meuwsen lived in the apartment above the shop.

At the time the new shop was described as follows:
The old corner house, which had become a sore spot in the Leidschekade [sic] due to a combination of misfortunes [including a fire, ed.], has been demolished and has made way for an architecturally well-maintained building, which has significantly improved the entrance to the Leidschestraat from the Koningsplein. The Meuwsen company has found a neat home in the new house; a lot of work has been done on the display areas in particular, and they now display the well-known articles of the old and renowned connections of the company in abundance.

This is what the building looked like in 2022. Progress I guess...

The next one was located on Damrak.

A better view of the shopfront which was done partly in bronze.

Below a picture of Damrak during the entrance of Sinterklaas in 1959. The Meuwsen sign and a Stetson sign can be seen just below the clockface on the left.

A shop window dedicated to Meteor hats.

And the location in 2022. It is now a KFC, because of course it is...we have no shame.

 

[steur]

J.S. Meuwsen: the shops part II

Before we start with the shops in Rotterdam, here is a picture of the interior of the Damrak store in Amsterdam.

J.S. Meuwsen on Mosseltrap, Rotterdam was a branch of the chain Meuwsen was setting up. This shop had established itself at number 3 in 1905 and remained there until the bombing of Rotterdam in 1940. In Rotterdam, J.S. Meuwsen's had two more branches; in Boijmansstraat and on Mathenesserplein.

In this top down view we can see the shop in the middle right.

More or less the same view: the white building in the middle of the block is the hat store.

The storefront. On the far left we see the P&C Habig plaque.

The shop again, seen on the right.

And the shop in the Boijmansstraat. Again on the right (but only just).

Hats sold by JS Meuwsen can be found now and then and I have several in the collection. Same thing for Staalmeester, Zephyr, Flevo and Holborn hats. Hats that are specifically branded JS Meuwsen though are a different matter. Those are very hard to find and I’ve never seen a soft felt one, just top hats.

 

[steur]

I guess you would like to see a hat now. Any hat! Well, this is not just any hat and I will steal some of Steve's @Steve1857 thunder, but this one I found recently.

J.S. Meuwsen top hat in brown silk. Size 57. Never seen one before and not very likely I'll see one again. As Steve is the topper master of the lounge I thought it would fit his collection better.

 

[BobHufford]

JS Meuwsen: Dutch national hatman

Excellent research and write up Stefan!

 

[steur]

Excellent research and write up Stefan!

Thank you, Bob. It was fun uncovering some pieces of the puzzle.

 

[Blare]

Excellent research and write up Stefan!

Ditto. And what a hat to inspire it. Steve is the perfect caretaker for that one!

 

[steur]

Ditto. And what a hat to inspire it. Steve is the perfect caretaker for that one!

Thank you, Joe. I thought so too!

 

[Mean Eyed Matt]

I have to second Bob and Joe: Here you present us with a fascinating and excellently researched story and, albeit a small, all the more interesting piece of Dutch hat and clothing history, which is certainly representative of a large number of European companies. Thanks Stefan!

 

[steur]

I have to second Bob and Joe: Here you present us with a fascinating and excellently researched story and, albeit a small, all the more interesting piece of Dutch hat and clothing history, which is certainly representative of a large number of European companies. Thanks Stefan!

Thank you, Matt. The find of the brown topper was the perfect starting point to dive into this piece of history. Fun to do anyway and even more so the more information turned up.