Ebay Hats: Victories, Defeats, Gripes & Items of Interest

[deadlyhandsome]

Do you need a LO flange for a LO hat or will a standard work well enough?

I prefer a LO for my hats, but mostly I use the flanges to freshen up hats I’m listing for sale.

 

[Blare]

Cool find, Joe. Failsworth held the UK license to produce Stetsons and made some very fine hats. Judging by the liner this appears a more modern one, but there's no reason why it shouldn't be a top quality hat.

Thanks Stefan. Figured I would take a stab at it for the price. I had no idea on age. was listed as wool.. but had no reason to believe that. Had no guesses really on age. It has arrived and I’ll be posting it up soon in new hats.

 

[BobHufford]

Did I get schooled?

I have this Resistol St. Regis listed on eBay as a thin-binding Homburg.

"Dad" or his son think otherwise.

"That Resistol homburg is very nice too! I guess you know it’s not the classic homburg with the fully bound brim edge? Someone actually paid to get the brimmed rolled. Quite unique if you ask me!"

I guess this OPS era Cavanagh had similar "custom" curling work (?).

 

[The Lost Cowboy]

Just a reminder to watch yourselves on eBay guys - I almost bid on this.

 

[belfastboy]

Do you need a LO flange for a LO hat or will a standard work well enough?

I missed this so a bit late to the dance......it depends on what you are trying to do. If you want to put a snap back in the brim then you need a LO. If you are just looking to refresh the brim cupping and it is not too deep a cupping then you can likely get away with it. Soft hand and a bit of finesse and it should work.

 

[Woodtroll]

Just a reminder to watch yourselves on eBay guys - I almost bid on this.

View attachment 600603

I got tangled up in an auction like that just recently. I paid a little too much for a 7-3/4 Resistol Timber Creek western, NIB, because I really liked the color and didn't have one like it. The shipping listed was only $5. I knew shipping would cost more than that, but the purchase price was high enough to cover actual shipping and still leave a chunk of profit for the seller.

I paid for the hat, it was marked "shipped", but for five days it never moved. I contacted the seller and he said he would check with the post office. Two days later he said the PO needs $70 ADDITIONAL to ship the hat, and that Ebay had told him to tell me to pay the difference because I "had chosen the wrong shipping option" - from the one option listed. He "generously" offered to split it with me, and I told him no, that I expected the hat as sold or a refund. I told him the refund would earn him negative feedback. Had he not lied to me at least twice already I wouldn't have been so harsh.

He never answered me back, no refund, and two or three days later the hat was relisted for the same price I paid but $45 shipping. I contacted him back and asked him what the heck, and got no answer, just a refund the next day, with teh explanation for the refund listed as "problem with seller's address". So I bounced him with negative feedback and a 500-word explanation as to why.

Now he's after me to rescind the negative feedback, as it's hurting his business and "the issue has been resolved". No it hasn't - I don't have the hat I paid for, and he lied the whole way through the process. And I have given y'all the SHORT version of the story and excuses.

Ebay isn't interested in my complaint against the seller because he did refund my money. Last time I looked he had it listed for a very high Buy-It-Now price.

Ebay stinks sometimes, if the seller is crooked. It seems like lately that happens a lot.

 

[georgie girl]

Not bidding on that....the damn fringe is uneven!

I just had to laugh... 4 years later that fringed bowler is still up on ebay

 

[Just Daniel]

It‘s been a while since I picked up a hat, but this 7X Clear Beaver was too hard to resist. It’s one of the retirement hats that pop up once in a blue moon, a rare non-western 7X.

It’s on the way…

 

[LazarusNine]

Hello all. I picked up this hat for £25 and have never heard of the brand. It was described as being around 30 years old in the listing. A Google search hasn’t revealed much either. Anyone heard of ‘Ben Faulkner’? This particular hat reminds me a bit of Akubra’s ‘Snowy River’. It’s nothing particularly special, but the price felt right, and I like the style. Cheers.

 

[alanfgag]

Did I get schooled?

I have this Resistol St. Regis listed on eBay as a thin-binding Homburg.

"Dad" or his son think otherwise.

"That Resistol homburg is very nice too! I guess you know it’s not the classic homburg with the fully bound brim edge? Someone actually paid to get the brimmed rolled. Quite unique if you ask me!"

View attachment 599921

I guess this OPS era Cavanagh had similar "custom" curling work (?).

View attachment 599927

Ebay is full of teachers with questionable credentials. This is a style of ribbon brim binding that appeared on homburgs in the mid 1950s - early 1960s. I've owned examples from Stetson and Cavanagh, which likely indicates that many makers active at that time gave the narrow brim binding a try. Custom work to adapt a fedora? No way methinks.

 

[alanfgag]

ps... here is a sidexside look at the two mentioned above. The gray Stetson had a dated store sales receipt in the box.

https://www.thefedoralounge.com/threads/side-by-side-hat-comparisons.65983/page-5#post-1534107

 

[georgie girl]

Here's the Borsalino I got in the mail last weekend. It looks like the colour is Argento, which I assume to be silver and the model which is the Ecosti(?). There are so many pages in the Borsalino Brotherhood to get through, so it's almost a shame that there isn't a page (thread, or pinned) that just shows paper tags and estimated dates.

Very soft moldable hat and the velour feels divine. Interesting name for the colour as it doesn't really come across as silver to me, but more of a brown... it does shimmer a bit in the sunlight though.

Really cool hat, I'm liking it a lot. Second picture is very close to the colour of indoors and somewhere in between 1/2 for the colour outdoors.

Enjoy the sunshine if you've got it ! Off to enjoy a Locust Honey Pear Cider, cheers

 

[Blare]

Here's the Borsalino I got in the mail last weekend. It looks like the colour is Argento, which I assume to be silver and the model which is the Ecosti(?). There are so many pages in the Borsalino Brotherhood to get through, so it's almost a shame that there isn't a page (thread, or pinned) that just shows paper tags and estimated dates.

Very soft moldable hat and the velour feels divine. Interesting name for the colour as it doesn't really come across as silver to me, but more of a brown... it does shimmer a bit in the sunlight though.

Really cool hat, I'm liking it a lot. Second picture is very close to the colour of indoors and somewhere in between 1/2 for the colour outdoors.

Enjoy the sunshine if you've got it ! Off to enjoy a Locust Honey Pear Cider, cheers

Very nice… with that velour like finish. I suspect if the liner was still in this hat it would indicate Marque Grand Luxe.

 

[RockyR]

Hello all. I picked up this hat for £25 and have never heard of the brand. It was described as being around 30 years old in the listing. A Google search hasn’t revealed much either. Anyone heard of ‘Ben Faulkner’? This particular hat reminds me a bit of Akubra’s ‘Snowy River’. It’s nothing particularly special, but the price felt right, and I like the style. Cheers.

Reminds me of an Akubra Territory (or Cattleman without brim ribbon) but with a Snowy River band, especially with those two eyelets and in that colour, both great hats! What a steal.

 

[steur]

Here's the Borsalino I got in the mail last weekend. It looks like the colour is Argento, which I assume to be silver and the model which is the Ecosti(?). There are so many pages in the Borsalino Brotherhood to get through, so it's almost a shame that there isn't a page (thread, or pinned) that just shows paper tags and estimated dates.

Very soft moldable hat and the velour feels divine. Interesting name for the colour as it doesn't really come across as silver to me, but more of a brown... it does shimmer a bit in the sunlight though.

Really cool hat, I'm liking it a lot. Second picture is very close to the colour of indoors and somewhere in between 1/2 for the colour outdoors.

Enjoy the sunshine if you've got it ! Off to enjoy a Locust Honey Pear Cider, cheers

Nice find and a great quality hat. There is a page in the Borsalino thread somewhere with all the colours, models and estimated dates. The update of that thread with the dates and labels can be found here:
https://www.thefedoralounge.com/threads/the-borsalino-brotherhood.13133/post-2546832

 

[georgie girl]

@steur thank you, so then according to this it looks like mine is late 50's-early 60's.

So what exactly was the Marque Grand Luxe... was it a series (ie: x-xxxxx) each with a different finish? Originally seeing that term (MGL) interspersed in the BB thread, I had thought that it was the model of hat, but I see that my hat is marked Ecosti... so were all MGLs Ecostis? or were they different hat models as well?

Anyways I do really like the hat, which is really great condition besides some little stains on that ribbon and a few mars on the fur that a little brushing seems to cover.

 

[Blare]

@steur thank you, so then according to this it looks like mine is late 50's-early 60's.

So what exactly was the Marque Grand Luxe... was it a series (ie: x-xxxxx) each with a different finish? Originally seeing that term (MGL) interspersed in the BB thread, I had thought that it was the model of hat, but I see that my hat is marked Ecosti... so were all MGLs Ecostis? or were they different hat models as well?

Anyways I do really like the hat, which is really great condition besides some little stains on that ribbon and a few mars on the fur that a little brushing seems to cover.

I suspect I was a marketing term they used for felts with that velour like finish and might have been made in different styles. The one I have is probably of a decade-ish after yours. I haven’t handled one quite as old as yours. Stefan or Daniele might be able to be more specific.

 

[Daniele Tanto]

So what exactly was the Marque Grand Luxe... was it a series (ie: x-xxxxx) each with a different finish? Originally seeing that term (MGL) interspersed in the BB thread, I had thought that it was the model of hat, but I see that my hat is marked Ecosti... so were all MGLs Ecostis? or were they different hat models as well?

Too many questions for Borsalino marketing in those years. The hats were branded according to agreements made with retailers anywhere in the world. It was a "personalization" of the hat that almost every retailer could boast as "exclusive". Then it should be added that Borsalino, the sales office, implemented customizations according to their methods for branding the hat. Having said this to confirm that there were flexible rules for branding hats. This "Marque Grand Luxe" was a high quality line, both velour and felt with other finishes.
"Silver" is the color of the felt and "Ecosti" the name of that model, both written on the paper label for that production and that retailer.
The color of the felt is perhaps "aged" and a cleaning could lead to the original color which is very different.
Indeed a great hat

 

[georgie girl]

The color of the felt is perhaps "aged" and a cleaning could lead to the original color which is very different.
Indeed a great hat

Grazie mille, Daniele

How does one go about cleaning/getting a velour felt cleaned?

 

[Daniele Tanto]

Grazie mille, Daniele

How does one go about cleaning/getting a velour felt cleaned?

The best, in my experience, Is to give It to a professional hatter for a cleaning.