Buffalo bill's hat

[pjt113]

My wife and I vacationed in Wyoming this September. We took in the Buffalo Bill museum on one of the days and I captured a pic of Buffalo Bills hat. According to the sign it's a Boss Of The Plains Stetson, 4" crown with a 4" brim
In doing some reading apparently this was the hat of choice in the old West. Does anyone have modern version of this hat? I'm toying with the idea of acquiring one to add to my collection.

 

[pjt113]

 

[diabolicaldog]

The Akubra Sombrero with some ribbon work would look close. The colour from your photo seems a good match.

 

[Dinerman]

Also, the label of "Boss of The Plains" is incorrect. That refers to a style with a short, uncreased crown and a flat brim.

 

[Lean'n'mean]

The Akubra Sombrero with some ribbon work would look close.

The Akubra Sombrero has a much wider brim & taller crown.....

 

[pjt113]

Just tellin' ya what the museum said....

 

[diabolicaldog]

Also, the label of "Boss of The Plains" is incorrect. That refers to a style with a short, uncreased crown and a flat brim.

I have a photo somewhere of my great grand father in 1892 aged 18 wearing the style you described.

 

[gtdean48]

Stetson Austral is closest modern hat to original BotP's http://www.fedoras.com/stetson-aust...gclid=CJGZttD968ECFQ9p7AodYUIAHA#.VF6PDUAo7MI

 

[alanfgag]

William Cody had a lot of hats. The ones that survived from his later life and posed for modern photographs seem to be rolled brim Stetson westerns with a tall crown. These show up for auction (depending on your size). You might visit the pre-1940s Stetson western hat thread for ideas. If you can't find an old one that suits you, I'm sure Buckaroo Hatters could come close.

 

[hatophile]

Stetson Austral is closest modern hat to original BotP's http://www.fedoras.com/stetson-aust...gclid=CJGZttD968ECFQ9p7AodYUIAHA#.VF6PDUAo7MI

Very correct, that is the BoTP look. I didn't know they still sold those, that's good to know.
The one in the photo is great, but different style, higher crown and kettle rolled brim.

 

[pjt113]

Thx all!

 

[fedoracentric]

My wife and I vacationed in Wyoming this September. We took in the Buffalo Bill museum on one of the days and I captured a pic of Buffalo Bills hat. According to the sign it's a Boss Of The Plains Stetson, 4" crown with a 4" brim
In doing some reading apparently this was the hat of choice in the old West. Does anyone have modern version of this hat? I'm toying with the idea of acquiring one to add to my collection.

This is why I sometimes hate museums. If the photo you showed us was indeed going by that description it was completely and utterly wrong. Not only is it obvious that the crown on that hat is taller than a low four inches, it is also not a Boss of The Plaines styled hat.

Once I went to a museum in Indiana and viewed a "Civil War" display filled with wonderful items none of which were Civil War and ALL of which were Spanish American war.

I've seen many museum descriptions wrong like that over the years.

Amusingly, I had a friend who worked for a museum in the 1990s and I was at his place once and a collections curator came up to me with a US trench knife and asked if I could tell him about when it was made. After looking it over for a few quick seconds I told him it was made in 1914. He said, "gosh, how can you be sure." I replied, "because it is stamped US 1914 right here."

 

[T Jones]

My wife and I vacationed in Wyoming this September. We took in the Buffalo Bill museum on one of the days and I captured a pic of Buffalo Bills hat. According to the sign it's a Boss Of The Plains Stetson, 4" crown with a 4" brim
In doing some reading apparently this was the hat of choice in the old West. Does anyone have modern version of this hat? I'm toying with the idea of acquiring one to add to my collection.

You can always have one custom made.

 

[Greyryder]

This is why I sometimes hate museums. If the photo you showed us was indeed going by that description it was completely and utterly wrong. Not only is it obvious that the crown on that hat is taller than a low four inches, it is also not a Boss of The Plaines styled hat.

Once I went to a museum in Indiana and viewed a "Civil War" display filled with wonderful items none of which were Civil War and ALL of which were Spanish American war.

I've seen many museum descriptions wrong like that over the years.

I understand a lot of air and space museums have repainted A-12 Articles being displayed as SR-71 Blackbirds.

 

[gtdean48]

You can always have one custom made.

+1... got mine done by Art Fawcett.

 

[frussell]

I always wondered if the hat my great grandfather is wearing in my avatar was a "Boss." Since they often made you tip your hat back in old photos so your face would show better, you can't see the crown. Brim looks about right, but it could also be an unadorned Mexican sombrero, there were smaller models in those days. In later years he wore hats very much like the one pictured from the museum. Wish we had some in the family, but they're long gone. We just have his old woolly chaps, his Colt, and his 1880s saddle and spurs.

 

[HudsonHawk]

Since the BoTP was a flat brim, open crown hat, could it not be possible that this particular one received a crease and rolled edge over the years? It was quite common for hats back in those days to get creased, either intentionally or just from wear over the years.

 

[Dinerman]

That type of brim curl requires specialized equipment to make, it's not something that could happen naturally. The crown on a Boss of the Plains is much lower, and while over time many were creased, you can't get much of a crease in one due to the proximity of the crown to the head of its wearer.

 

[Joao Encarnado]

The crown on a Boss of the Plains is much lower, and while over time many were creased, you can't get much of a crease in one due to the proximity of the crown to the head of its wearer.

That 's why I don't like it. Also the Boss of the Plains seems to not have a 4" brim but a 3" or 3 1/2".

 

[T Jones]

View attachment 20015

IMHO, I think that hat looks better than the "Boss of the Plains" hat. I like both the shape and height of the crown. I like the style of ribbon work for that hat too, not to mention the wide pencil curled brim.