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

[gtdean48]

You'll need to rack up 15 posts before you can upload pics...

That is only for Private Messaging....photo posting is available from the jump....

 

[Alive'n'Amplified]

Thanks for clarifying!

 

[Doc Mark]

Howdy, All,

I already posted these photos in the "new hat" thread, but so far, I'm not hearing a thing about the age of my hat, which I would very much like to know. To that end, I'll post these photos here, too, and see if I have better luck. I bought this at a Swap Meet, down in San Diego, this past Sunday, for a very good price (me thinks), and would like to know more about it, and about it's age. Any info or comments would be gratefully appreciated. I took these photos right after having bought the hat, in the back of my Mom-In-Law's Honda mini-van, and so apologize for their lack of quality. Here's my "new" Lock & Co. fedora, made for Brooks Brothers:

I think this old fedora was made in the 1930-1970 period, but would love to narrow that down to a single decade, if possible. My plans are to send this hat to a reputable Hatter, and Art F. has been strongly recommended, have the detached sweatband repaired, cleaned, blocked, and stretched from 7 1/4 to 7 3/8 long oval, if possible. Then, it will become a favorite of mine, I'm sure! Any thoughts on the age of my hat would be very much appreciated, and any other comments or suggestions will be, as well. Thanks, very much, and God Bless!

Every Good Wish,
Doc

 

[Doc Mark]

Greetings, Gentlemen,

By way of an update, I talked to Art Fawcett today, and he will be doing the needed work and associated maintenance for my "new" old hat! Thanks to those who recommended him, as he seems like a first rate Gentleman, who is a true artist at what he does! Can you tell that I'm excited?! You bet!! Thanks, again, and God Bless!

Every Good Wish,
Doc

 

[Sanna]

Hi everyone,

wanted to post here for ages to see what you think of a dear hat of mine but I am new here and I can't seem to get the upload image function (flash issue?) to work so had to found a workaround for that. I hope these links will work instead:

hat
lining
inside
side
from side

The hat belonged to my grandfather (who passed before I was born), he was born in the first decade of the last century which makes dating this hat even harder as he might have purchased it as a younger as well as an older man. The hat itself seems barely, if at all, used (I also have some of his other hats which are significantly more used). I don't know if this in any way points to that he bought it later in his life or however he simple didn't like it as much as the others.

The hat is a Super Panizza, dark grey felt, slightly darker ribbon. The width of the ribbon is 4 cm, the brim is about 5 cm.The size is 57. The hat is marked "Panizza Super Import. Especially for STRÖMS". Ströms was a hat shop in Stockholm, Sweden which is now closed (could not find out when they closed so no clues there either).

If any one have any ideas as to which decade this might have been produced and purchased please let me know!

Thanks,
Sanna

 

[mayserwegener]

I would say mid to late 60s. RLK (Robert) or someone else might also chime in.

 

[Sanna]

Thanks a lot mayserwegener ! Really appreicate it! Any other fun facts about Panizza hats of this era or any general comment on the hat greatly appreciated. I've read up a bit on the Panizza hats but haven't comed acrossed much about Super Panizza's and what I have seen they have not looked much like this one.

 

[dubnut]

Borsalino Bowler Hat -- hopping on the dating bandwagon...

I was in Istanbul a couple years back, and found this hat in a thrift store...
http://imgur.com/a/VpAlI
(sorry - can't figure out how to actually attach images)

It's a Borsalino bowler hat and fit like a dream, but I was really drawn in by it being labeled as made in Constantinople... Guessing that puts it in somewhere before 1928ish (as it became Istanbul after that)... Having a hard time finding any history of their shop there, so just wondering if anyone who actually knows what they're talking about would have any more insight or better place it?

Also, as someone ashamedly unfamiliar with bowler hats and the era... it appears that there was once something attached on the side (can see in the photo). What would someone have worn there?

Any inklings?
A tip of the hat in advance to any help...

 

[John Galt]

Hi everybody - didn't see an intro thread anywhere, so I'll just jump right in with a question. I'm not new to the wonderful world of golden age, but I am a purely uneducated guy, so i will ask questions you've all heard a bajillion times. Thanks in advance for the patience.

Here we go - can we date this hat I picked up at a garage sale about 9 years ago? It's a Stetson, the box was not original so useless to date

Dark Gray felt with black band

Inside the band it says United Hatters Cap & Millinery Wkrs Int Union

Band says John B Stetson Co. Royal Stetson

Stetson "crest"

thanks again!

The union stamp is of some small help, placing the hat between 1934 and 1983 ;-). From a search of the union name:

The United Hatters, Cap and Millinery Workers International Union (UHCMW) was formed in 1934 by the merger of the United Hatters of North America and the Cloth Hat, Cap and Millinery Workers International Union, settling deep rifts between the competing unions. For five decades, the UHCMW organized the declining hat and millinery trade in the United States until it merged into the Amalgamated Clothing and Textile Workers Union (ACTWU) in 1983, which merged in 1995 into the International Ladies Garment Workers Union to form UNITE (Union of Needletrades, Industrial and Textile Employees).

 

[John Galt]

Playboy II's are not as desirable as the orginal Playboy.
Playboys-on-Parade!

Have you seen my green vita-felt 1960's stingy Playboy in the Parade thread?
It's a pretty neat hatfor a stingy, but I do agree.
I like my old original Playboy much better.
I just wish I had one in vita-felt.

 

[Kris'svintage]

I recently bought two panama hats at an auction, a Man's and a Woman's panama. Both hats are stamped Made in Ecuador and Monticristo.
I am trying to authenticate both of these hats and get a general age as well.
I will add photo's as soon as I can, I need to resize them.

 

[Rudie]

British Streamline Hat With Union Tag

Who can help me dating this vintage Streamline hat?

Thanks!

Rudie

 

[mattface]

I picked this up on my way to visit the folks. I think it's rather old. Pre 1940s I guess. I love the ribbon. It's a bit dirty, but beyond cleaning it I won't mess with it. I love it as it is. I dropped it off at Henry the Hatter today to get it cleaned, and I'll share some better pics once I get it back, but I wondered what folks thought about the age on this hat.


stetsonselect3 by mattface, on Flickr

stetsonselect2 by mattface, on Flickr

stetsonselect1 by mattface, on Flickr

 

[alanfgag]

I would say 1930s or maybe earlier. A picture of a size tag and manufacturing label would be great to see. Beautiful tall ribbon/color and wide brim... a super find.

 

[danofarlington]

I say 40s. Crown not overly tall, wide brim. Perfect for the zoot suits of the era. A hipster no doubt purchased it the first time.

Well, not necessarily worn with a zoot suit, but a hipster anyway. However the interior band does look pretty ancient, supporting the 30s thesis.

 

[Lord Henry]

Gold Label Fine Hats

I just picked this up a couple days ago, I can't find much information about the manufacturer. I saw a few ads available in the google newspaper archive, but they're all in pay per view sites so I didn't get to look at them.

Front View

Side View

Liner

Liner Logo

Size Tag - On the back of the size tag, the original price tag says $11.25

If you look closely, it is stamped "DeLuxe Quality" and below that "Aqua Shed treated for water repellency, T.M."

Also, if you look closely, it is stamped "Genuine Beaver"

I didn't find any other tags inside the hat when I looked under the sweatband. If anyone has any information that may be useful, I would appreciate it. Thanks.

 

[fedoracentric]

Since it got swamped by talk of the ebay idiot that priced his Whippet at nearly a thousands dollars, I want to repost this here because I am REALLY interested in the date and the canvas sweatband of this Stetson. Please, some of you Stetson experts chime in, won't you?

Here is what I am thinking is a rare Stetson. It's a Stetson "Three Way."

But instead of the wide ribbon it has an Open Road-like 3/8 inch ribbon.

There is something else very rare about this hat. It has a sort of canvass sweatband.

Here are the photos from the auction.

By fedoracentric01

By fedoracentric01

By fedoracentric01

By fedoracentric01

The auction only lasted an hour as it went from a regular auction to a buy it now and then got snapped up.

I emailed the seller and he said it was a small hat (6-3/4) and was pretty well used but it was all original. I asked it it had any paper tags in it but he said he didn't see any.

Also, he said it didn't show in the photos but the brim binding is a full half inch on the underside but only about 1/8 is on top (hence the row of stitching on the upper as seen above).

Any clues to age and why the canvas sweat?

I know some of the "Three Way" ads posted here have a date of 1941.

 

[primapunya]

i have stetson hat, and the logo is a horse and man, the inside i got letter delaware ... lifefelt, anyone know what age of my hat? because i dont got a clue when i search on google ... TQ

here is my hat piture:

 

[RBH]

I would say 1980s on the Delaware.

 

[Dinerman]

What RBH said- '80s, if not newer. Looks like it's seen some rain in its life.