Did I do all right?

[tonyb]

I was a bit surprised to get this

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=8257374091&rd=1&sspagename=STRK:MEWN:IT&rd=1

at that price. Now all I need to know is how the Mallory "Dallas" model compares to the other Open Road-ish style hats. Better? Worse? About the same? I just hope that the darker color I see on the brim near the crown is mostly a shadow in the photo, and not a sweat stain. The seller's description says it isn't stained but is a bit dirty. I guess it comes down to definitions, eh?
Any opinions as to the straw that came in the deal? And anyone interested in some vintage ascots?

 

[MK]

.

You did great. That is an amazing price.

 

[tonyb]

Thank you, MK. I had set a $50 maximum bid (thinking that $25 apiece still qualifies as a bargain), and expected to get sniped at the last second, cuz that's the way it usually goes. But every now and then you get lucky.

 

[jake_fink]

AAAHHHRRR!

You did great.

Stole that right out from under my nose. I would have set up a snipe, but I didn't think I'd be caught up in the fight card today. So... thank the boxing gods for that win.

:cheers1:

 

[tonyb]

Thank you, boxing gods.

 

[Zach R.]

I sent you a PM about the ascots.

 

[jake_fink]

Okay I'm back. (Alcine won, but it went all 12 rounds :hamburger )

So, as penance for stealing my item you have to post pictures of your ever-lovin' self wearing both hats and a selection of ascots (one picture per hat/ascot unless you have more than one head/neck).

Cheers, and nice score.

:beer:

 

[scotrace]

Uh huh

Yup, you did very very very well. Congrats.

 

[Zach R.]

I think the reason why no one else saw this is because it was listed under top-hats.

It just goes to show, uninformed sellers are often treasure-troves for good deals.:cheers1:

 

[photobyalan]

I think the reason why no one else saw this is because it was listed under top-hats.

I saw it. It just made me wish I had a smaller head. Of course, if that were the case, then all the rocks wouldn't fit.

Nice buy and a great price.

 

[tonyb]

Thanks, gents. It seems there's no rhyme nor reason for some hats going cheap and others anything but. Sure, I expect that an unusually nice vintage hat in a "modern" size will fetch more than I'm willing or able to pay, but I'm pleased that some people among us end up with a few of them. Still, even some of those great old lids get sold at low prices. I've kicked myself for letting a few get away. Maintaining the boss lady's tolerance of this old-hat habit of mine depends on my getting them on the cheap. So I'm left to rely on dumb luck.

 

[EricH]

I wouldn't call it dumb luck Tony. Just looks like persistance and patience paying off. Those ascotts do look tempting, though, so keep me in mind. Hopefully I'll hit a bit of good fortune too, though its tough going against the pros from the lounge. Eric (Hey Tony, we are finally getting some winter in Minnesota so we can wear our furry fedoras.)

 

[tonyb]

Nice to hear from you, Eric. Sorry to tell you that someone else already has dibs on the ascots.

 

[John in Covina]

Largemont Lockjaw = Ascots

Figure with shipping each hat is about $21 a piece the box was free and you got a couple of g-strings. I'll bet the grey one cleans up just fine, hat not those other things.

If you wear an ascot you must cultivate speaking with Largemont Lockjaw, like Mr. Howell on Gilligan's Island. Jim Bachus was also the owner / pilot of the twin beechcraft plane Buddy Hackett & Mickey Rooney get stuck in in "It's a MAD, MAD World."

"But what if something happens?!"

"What could happen to an Old Fashioned?"

 

[tonyb]

These two lids arrived about a week ago. The Mallory is the one I had lusted after and it hasn't disappointed. But I'm wondering if the straw might be the better bargain. I've owned numerous straws over the years but none quite like this one. And the seller's size estimate was off--in my favor, as it turns out. It fits like it was made for me. And it has no damage whatsoever.
My reading here and at a couple of other sites indicates that the finer the weave the finer the hat. I count, as best I can with my tired old eyes, something like 35 weaves per running inch. If I'm correctly recalling my third-grade arithmetic, that works out to 1,225 weaves per square inch. There's a "brand" stamped on the interior of the crown. It's about an inch and a half across, but it's too faint to read with the unassisted eye. (You can view it in that shot of the sweatband, the one that also shows the original owner's name.) In the center of that label I can make out an image of a hat. It may be my wishful imagination, but it looks like the word wrapping around the upper part of that circular mark starts with an "M" and ends with and "I." Forward of that label (or brand or mark or whatever) is written, in what appears to be freehand, the letters M U U. Toward the rear of it is written, also apparently by hand, the numbers 1 1 0, or maybe it's 4 1 0. (It's kinda hard to make out that first digit. Or it may be the letters I I O.)
Noodling around on the web discloses that some vendors want staggering amounts of money for hats with comparable numbers of weaves per square inch. And then I see the relatively low prices our panamabob charges and I'm left to wonder how anyone can rationalize selling (or buying) a straw hat for multiples of thousands of dollars.
One of these days I will figure out how to post my own pictures, but for now the eBay listing will have to do. Any help in identifying what I have here would be greatly appreciated.

 

[Art Fawcett]

I wondered about that panama Tony. It sure looked like a Monticristi but without better pics it's hard to tell. What you are looking at is the "cartouche" that was normally stamped in the hat indicating the region and seller of the hat. At 1225 wpsi you are right...others get thousands for these under the rational that there are only a few weavers capable of doing this fine a work. Although there is some truth in it, it's mosty BS..smoke & mirrors. That being said, the finer the weave the tougher they seem to be to work with ( from a hatters standpoint).
Congrats, you got the deal of the century.

 

[SHARPETOYS]

An exaggerated sense of self-importance.

Quote

I see the relatively low prices our panamabob charges and I'm left to wonder how anyone can rationalize selling (or buying) a straw hat for multiples of thousands of dollars.

Some buyers believe the more the cost the better the hat. Wrong they just bought in to the sellers Hype!! As long as buyers have big egos sellers will offer hats to fill those egos.

I think you really got a fine hat at a great price.

http://www.panamas.biz/

 

[tonyb]

Thanks guys. So it looks like I oughta just wear it and forget about renting a bigger safe-deposit box down at the bank, right?

 

[Art Fawcett]

ummm, it's STILL only a hat Tony...wear it!!
One of my "toys" is a 1932 Marmon 8-125 automobile that is in original condition and I drove it almost every day to the grocery store. Now, this would'nt seem extraordinary except there are only 5 known to exist. Many of my friends thought i was totally nuts to be diving it so my response to the reaction became.."I drive it cause I can't hang it on the wall" geeze..it's STILL just a car.:cheers1:

 

[tonyb]

A 1932 Marmon 8-125? Heck, Art, I have a couple of those stashed out in my junk shed, parked between the safe from the Titanic and the Ark of the Covenant.