Dating Your Hat (A Place to Discuss the Age of Your Vintage Hat)

[Louis Mountbatten]

Trolley cords go back decades before 1960.

 

[wsmontana]

Trolley cords go back decades before 1960.

Thanks for the reply Louis!

My hat seems to be a bit of an oddball with the 60s/70s date tag but has a trolley cord and the older 5X roundel. Also, it has the appearance of an Open Road but has no such markings. I have not been able to find any other hats like it.

Bill

 

[rthimens]

Newbie here so kindly let me know if I am doing this wrong. I recently acquired this early nutria stetson and hoping to date it. Gently worn and missing band

 

[deadlyhandsome]

Newbie here so kindly let me know if I am doing this wrong. I recently acquired this early nutria stetson and hoping to date it. Gently worn and missing band

This should get some hearts racing. Beautiful hat.

 

[rthimens]

This should get some hearts racing. Beautiful hat.

Sure got mine going!

 

[jlee562]

Pretty sweet Stetson. Sure looks pre-war to me. I don't personally recall seeing a #53 block before, neat!

 

[Hurricane Jack]

and hoping to date it.

Jared is right. The taped sweat seam & the size sticker definitely make it pre-war.

Sure looks pre-war to me.

 

[Bamaboots]

Likely to have a lot #, up front behind the sweat if it can be turned.

 

[rthimens]

Pretty sweet Stetson. Sure looks pre-war to me. I don't personally recall seeing a #53 block before, neat!

Here is the lot stamp you mentioned. Unfortunately I dont have any experience interpreting this information. Appreciative of everyones engagement thus far.

 

[rthimens]

Likely to have a lot #, up front behind the sweat if it can be turned.

Sorry I replied to the wrong comment. Here is the lot stamp you mentioned. Unfortunately I dont have any experience interpreting this information. Appreciative of everyones engagement thus far.

 

[Just Daniel]

Welcome to the Lounge! Are you buying, selling or collecting?

That is a great hat, there is thread here I will dig up on pre-40s Stetson westerns. This on is almost certainly a 20s or prior hat. As mentioned above, the unsewn sweat and size sticker are almost always pre-30s.

https://www.thefedoralounge.com/threads/pre-1940s-stetson-westerns.42532/page-55

What is the first digit of the Lot Number? It’s hard to see. There is another thread for that…

https://www.thefedoralounge.com/threads/stetson-sweat-stamps-lot-xxxx.62350/

Newbie here so kindly let me know if I am doing this wrong. I recently acquired this early nutria stetson and hoping to date it. Gently worn and missing band

 

[rthimens]

Welcome to the Lounge! Are you buying, selling or collecting?

That is a great hat, there is thread here I will dig up on pre-40s Stetson westerns. This on is almost certainly a 20s or prior hat. As mentioned above, the unsewn sweat and size sticker are almost always pre-30s.

https://www.thefedoralounge.com/threads/pre-1940s-stetson-westerns.42532/page-55

What is the first digit of the Lot Number? It’s hard to see. There is another thread for that…

https://www.thefedoralounge.com/threads/stetson-sweat-stamps-lot-xxxx.62350/

Thank you Daniel for the welcome and those thread roots. The top sequence appears to be F2 81 the lower "Lot" sequence is hard to decipher the first number as it has a "175" hand written over it. I am thinking possible a 5792. I purchased the hat recently at a flea and it was just sitting on a shelf with no box but the condition (other than a few stains that I have not attempted to clean) is great. No holes, band is pliable and not brittle or rotted. It is missing the outer ribbon band. To answer your question I am all three of those things. Since the hat does not fit me I would be open to entertaining offers.

 

[Just Daniel]

Very nice. Message 281 from Alan quoted below puts the lot number as likely later 20s, which matches the other indicators.

You might get offers on the hat here through the message service, there are certainly a couple of guys who have recently been collecting these types of Stetsons. As a general rule (broken every now and then) we try to avoid discussing prices on the forum, because we are all potential buyers!

Daniel

Hi Ross and all... after a few hundred posts on this research thread I am encouraged that the evidence continues to show a relationship between the LOTXXXX stamp numbers and a chronological history of production. We still don't know the meaning of the numbers- ie, is it hat production lots, or sweatband production lots? A purple union stamping that appears in the back of post war leathers suggests that in-house production of sweatbands might have ended around the time that the LOTXXXX stamps disappear. I haven't seen an obvious discrepancy - a low LOTXXXX number in a hat that is clearly later in the timeline. A couple of very old hats with high LOTXXXX numbers that have been posted in this thread might not be discrepancies - rather evidence for the numbering system having restarted sometime around the turn of the 20th century.

Assuming the LOT numbers are meaningful dating tools, the LOT6876 5XCB with NRA label (1933-35) posted above is a golden place marker. This morning I took a few photos of the hats I currently own with the Real Nutria Fur mark. Some have been posted earlier in this thread, but I've posted again below. Two of the hats with this mark I no longer own. Note that all hats below have taped rear sweatband seams. Stetson moved to a sewn rear seam sometime between the latest hat below and the NRA hat posted by Ross above. (Renovations done by Shudde Bros. and others did utilize taped rear seams well after WWII).

The hat with the lowest LOT number shows an earlier stylized version of the illustration found in a tall derby. LOT3266. Perhaps 1910-1920:

View attachment 264959

View attachment 264951

View attachment 264958

Long hair nutria western, LOT 4XXX, perhaps early to mid 1920s:

View attachment 264955

View attachment 264954

Another long hair western, LOT4427. Perhaps early to mid 1920s

View attachment 264953

View attachment 264952

Featherweight western, LOT5414. Perhaps later 1920s-1930.

View attachment 264957

View attachment 264956

Thank you Daniel for the welcome and those thread roots. The top sequence appears to be F2 81 the lower "Lot" sequence is hard to decipher the first number as it has a "175" hand written over it. I am thinking possible a 5792. I purchased the hat recently at a flea and it was just sitting on a shelf with no box but the condition (other than a few stains that I have not attempted to clean) is great. No holes, band is pliable and not brittle or rotted. It is missing the outer ribbon band. To answer your question I am all three of those things. Since the hat does not fit me I would be open to entertaining offers.

 

[pacolizarraga]

Hello,
here I am again, any idea about this hat?

Do you what age it could be?

 

[jlee562]

Oil skin liner = pre 1960s. 50's is probably a safe guess.

 

[pacolizarraga]

Please send me your comments

 

[pacolizarraga]

are these hard to find?

 

[deadlyhandsome]

Have you read all of this thread?

https://www.thefedoralounge.com/threads/the-official-stetson-nutria-quality-thread.55014/

 

[Just Daniel]

The thread above from Brent will give you everything you need. These nutria Stetsons are fairly rare but not extremely rare. As Jared notes, we usually associate the oilskin liner on Stetsons as between 48-52; plastic liners are generally 52+.

If you need to search the Lounge, just do a regular google sea4ch with site:thefedoralounge.com in the text. That will search just this site. It makes everything a lot easier.

Next hat?
Daniel

 

[deadlyhandsome]

I’ve seen hats made well after 1952 that also used the onion skin liner protectors. It looks like they were years of overlap with the onion skin and the plastic both in use. That’s my guess anyway.