Fedora Fever Fading???

[Joel Tunnah]

Can anyone here do math?

I don't understand why paying $150 for a near-mint 40's Stetson in your size is somehow considered outrageous. To buy a modern hat of similar quality will cost you at least $250, depending on the maker. Even adding in a cleaning an reblock, and you are still under that number.

So, it seems like most eBay vintage hat purchases are actually undervalued, IMO.

Joel

 

[Matt Deckard]

Sometimes, once you have the hat you want you no longer need to keep adding to the pile. Prices will ebb and flow, though the fervor isn't fading from my poin to of view.

 

[Pilgrim]

I found that a Whippet in my size went for less than $40 recently - but I was traveling and couldn't bid.

I'd best look sharp this summer.

 

[Marc Chevalier]

Don't get carried away and spent $60 outbidding when 3 days from now a quite similar hat will go for $13 in one bid.

I agree, but of course there's one big exception to this: the eBay hat that you *know* is truly exceptional, if not one-of-a-kind. Think of Sharpetoys' 1923 Montecristi panama hat, which you can see right now in the "hats" section. There is very little chance that such a panama will ever cross eBay's path again. In this case, Sharpetoys couldn't take the risk of waiting for another one to appear. He put in a high bid. (True, the bid was never met. Even so, it was worth the price to him.)

.

 

[Kaleponi Craig]

I certainly haven't noticed that fedora fever is fading, especially for us big heads. See the example above of the Penny's Marathon for almost $200. But we can only hope..KC

 

[epic610]

could it be....

that prices for vintage hat have been way, way too low for a long time . . . and this is just time catching up?

also, if vintage hats were really of such exquisite quality, then why shouldn't they be demanding a premium over the costs of new hats? this dynamic has been place in all other markets. why should hats be exempt? i don't think anyone on this forum would expect to be able to buy stocks in the stock market at 1976 prices.

 

[Marc Chevalier]

Dude, it's the summer. Sales of things like this tend to go down in the summer. Sellers are on vacation ... buyers are on vacation. Wait until September: you'll see prices (and availability) jump up again.

.

 

[Marc Chevalier]

Also, if vintage hats were really of such exquisite quality, then why shouldn't they be demanding a premium over the costs of new hats?

I'll tell you. Most people in this world do not like to put old, used apparel on their bodies: that includes hats. Practically no one in this world has any idea that there are some items of 50+ year-old clothing that have never been worn ("dead stock"). Therefore, demand is not high enough to make old hats command stellar prices.

.

 

[Tony in Tarzana]

I did just see a Borsalino get bid up over $150 in the last few seconds of an eBay auction a day or so ago, so it ain't over yet.

I want one but I'm not ready to spend my whole paycheck on one.

 

[Mr. 'H']

I got that one Tony.