Fedora help for the IGNORAMUS

[Veronica Parra]

Hi, this is Marc, Veronica's husband. I call myself the hat ignoramus because I really know very little about them. You folks in the Lounge have very kindly helped me with my previous hat questions, and you've inspired me to go out and get fedora'd! And so ...


Last week I made my first hat purchase in 8 years. I splurged and spent more than $60 on a vintage black fedora auctioned on eBay. I went for this one because:



1. It was made for Rogers Peet, one of New York's best haberdashers in the Golden Age, so I figured the quality had to be good to great.

2. It's a Stetson "The Boss Raw Edge", which sounds like quality.

3. It just seemed OLD. The very wide hatband, the look of the lettering on the leather sweatband, just said 1920s or '30s to me, although I don't know enough about hats to verify this one's age.



Which brings me to you, the experts. How old do you think this fedora is? Some more facts for you: the felt is very soft, thin and pliable, but dense. There are numbers printed in black ink and red ink (see photo below) on the underside of the sweatband. The red ink seems to indicate a price: 12.00 (twelve bucks, maybe). The dimensions are:

height of crown - 5 1/4"

width of hatband - 2 1/3"

width of brim - 2 1/3"

There is a very small, round, black paper sticker stuck directly onto the sweatband at the back (where the white ribbon is). The sticker gives the hat size: 7 1/8. The white ribbon has knotted ends.




Here are some photos. I'd be very grateful if you could take a stab at this and put a date (or a decade) on the fedora. Thanks to all !!!

 

[Veronica Parra]

And one more photo ...

And here is a photo of the markings on the underside of the sweatband:

 

[Nathan Flowers]

Interesting hat. The look of the crown and ribbon look 60's, but that sweat screams teens-20's.

 

[Mr. 'H']

....and no liner....

 

[Matt Deckard]

I think it could be late 20's. Really nice find... how does it look on your head?

 

[Hemingway Jones]

I think it could be late 20's. Really nice find... how does it look on your head?

I agree with Matt and I would also like to see it on. Hats come alive when people are wearing them. Then you see the proportion of the crown and the way the brim responds to the tensions of a head in a hat. Sitting on a shelf a hat is kind of lifeless.

 

[BellyTank]

Watched 'The Public Enemy' on TCM this afternoon-
Cagney and all...

The hats were similar, tall, stovepipe crown, narrow brim- worn snapped down all round by most, wide ribbon, bow at the back and just a centre-crease.

So what I'm saying is the hat in question looks like the late '20s to mid '30s era style- but this one seems to have a little taper from the front. The film hats had very square crown proportions.

It's an oldie-

B
T

 

[Art Fawcett]

My money is on '20s-30's Mark. Has all the signs except the 5 1/4 crown. Is that after creasing or open crown?

 

[Veronica Parra]

the hat in question looks like the late '20s to mid '30s era style- but this one seems to have a little taper from the front. The film hats had very square crown proportions.

I think my hat looks like it has a taper because I pinched the front of the crown. I just removed the pinch and -- ta da! -- the taper disappeared. The crown looks very square now.

My money is on '20s-30's Mark. Has all the signs except the 5 1/4 crown. Is that after creasing or open crown?

The 5 1/4 inch crown is after creasing. Open crown measures a tad over 5 1/2 inches.

I would also like to see [the hat] on. Hats come alive when people are wearing them.

I'll post a pic.



Thanks!!!