Dating Vintage Stetsons by Liner: A Field Guide

[Marc Chevalier]

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A close-up photo of the Stetson panama hat's embroidered logo:

 

[Marc Chevalier]

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*Bump* In case Jimmy the lid, rlk, et al can help.

 

[buler]

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A close-up photo of the Stetson panama hat's embroidered logo:

Marc, the angled "H" in John matches those seen on sweatband marks from Standard Quality Stetson's dated to the 30s.

B

 

[Marc Chevalier]

Marc, the angled "H" in John matches those seen on sweatband marks from Standard Quality Stetson's dated to the 30s.

B

Thank you Buler. That helps greatly in placing a decade for this hat.

 

[alanfgag]

Tale of Two Liners

Two red Stetson western liners, separated by at least 5 perhaps as much as 12 years.

5X Clear Beaver/ late 1930s - early 1940s

Real Nutria Quality/ late 1920s - mid 1930s

 

[Landman]

Stetson Open Road $15.00 Price Tag

I recently purchased this older Stetson Open Road with a Last Drop Liner and a $15.00 price tag in it. The photos are not very good because I used a cell phone camera and don't do the hat justice. I was hoping somebody could help me date it. Thanks for your help.

 

[carouselvic]

If you said mid-50's, you would not be off more than a couple years in either direction.

 

[Landman]

That's what I was thinking but I thought the $15.00 price tag might have made it later. Thanks for your help.

 

[gtdean48]

That's what I was thinking but I thought the $15.00 price tag might have made it later. Thanks for your help.

3X's was priced at $15 for quite a while....

 

[jimmy the lid]

If you said mid-50's, you would not be off more than a couple years in either direction.

Right on...

 

[carouselvic]

Size Matters...then and now

taller crowns and wider brims=a higher price

 

[Landman]

Thanks for all your help.

 

[Landman]

Stetson Royal De Luxe

Here are some more sorry photos of another nice hat of mine. I was hoping to get you guys to put a date on this one too for me. Thanks for your help.

 

[carouselvic]

again mid-50's plus or minus a couple years

 

[Landman]

Thanks again for your help.

 

[danofarlington]

All right, on Ebay I just got an old Stetson something, jet black, with very soft fur felt, no liner, but a logo on the beat-up sweat band like this one (only lacking the "No. 1 quality" words). It is stamped "The Roberts Store, Franklin, Tenn."

It's got a few holes in the top, supposedly was purchased at an estate sale in the Ozarks, and overall could qualify as an old hillbilly hat. Are any photos available of Stetson hats from:

1900-1910
1910-1920
1920-1930?

Because the brim has a pencil curl on it, I am guessing that it would have been out of style by 1930, hey even by 1920. I'd be interested to see photos of very early Stetsons in case anybody has such photos.

I have to add here that the below photo is not of the hat I bought. I'm using it from an earlier post on this thread, because I am electronic photo and technology challenged. Suffice it to say that my own hillbilly hat has the same logo as on the lining of the hat shown in the photo. The stars on that logo remind me of a World War I or (possibly) Spanish-American War era motif. Just guessing.

]

 

[carouselvic]

US Patent Office shows Stetson first use date as 1875. They stopped that logo around 1940. Pencil curled brims have never gone out of style.

 

[danofarlington]

US Patent Office shows Stetson first use date as 1875. They stopped that logo around 1940. Pencil curled brims have never gone out of style.

Lefty has a black Stetson nutria hat with pencil curl brim that mine would look like if blocked that way, so mine could be from whatever era that one is from. I can't tell which fur felt my hat has, I only know that it's maximum soft. I would've thought pencil curls went out of style with Woodrow Wilson, but I don't know at all.

 

[Annixter]

While I have this hat, I figured I'd contribute to the thread. From the earlier discussion (either here or in the sweatband thread) about the 1940s transition from the older "Royal Stetson" sweatband script to a newer script, the hunched-over beaver, and the crest with stars rather than a maple leaf, I believe this is from the early to mid 1940's. Unfortunately, the factory tags are located under the liner, and I'm trying to sell the hat and don't want to disrupt the liner.

 

[alanfgag]

O.P.S. St. Regis

Auction Photos: