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German & Austrian Hutmachers

Chepstow

I'll Lock Up
Messages
5,406
Location
Germany/ Remscheid
Thanks Daniele for the explanation - Good to know that is an (old) historical Cervo - I hope that too, the season is opened and I hope to find more of great hats !


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Messages
18,409
Location
Nederland
I own several Mayser hats because they were and are a major brand here in Europe. The first hat I bought was a Mayser. This one is of a sort I never saw before and it's a style not very common over here in any brand. It's an Echter Mayser with backbow ribbon. No trouble dating this one, because the date stamp was on the sweatband. Size 57 with a 6cm brim, bound edge. Beautiful thin felt with a touch that resembles an antilope finish.

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Messages
17,481
Location
Maryland
Love it. There's something special about these shiny longhair hats. Their gloss makes them look blacker than black somehow. Do you know if any homburg style hats were ever made with this finish?
Thank you! Although I snapped the brim on this hat it would have been worn brim up. I don't have any pre WWII examples of Homburg like hats with long hair finishes. I am sure they were made but most of the brim up hats have the a similar brim treatment as this C. G. Wilke.

Also forgot to mention this C. G. Wilke Velour has the founding date (1899) for the Fur Felt factory on the sweatband stamp and not company founding date of 1822 (all my other old Wilke hats have 1822). C. G. Wilke only made wool hats up to 1899.
 
Messages
17,481
Location
Maryland
I own several Mayser hats because they were and are a major brand here in Europe. The first hat I bought was a Mayser. This one is of a sort I never saw before and it's a style not very common over here in any brand. It's an Echter Mayser with backbow ribbon. No trouble dating this one, because the date stamp was on the sweatband. Size 57 with a 6cm brim, bound edge. Beautiful thin felt with a touch that resembles an antilope finish.
Super! This form is fairly common in the later 1950s. Here are some advertisements for Mayser.

http://germanaustrianhats.invisionzone.com/index.php?/topic/3-mayser-hutfabrik/page-2#entry318

If you look through my site you will see hats with a similar form (side and back bow).
 
Messages
18,409
Location
Nederland
Manfred and Steve, thanks for the comments and additional information. Wouldn't have guessed it was actually a Trachten style hat. I do browse Steve's site on a regular basis (makes me all greedy seeing all those great hats). Can't remember them all, because there are so many.
 
Messages
18,409
Location
Nederland
I promised Steve (mayserwegener) today that I would be posting hats in his field of expertise in the future. Have to make good on that promise. So here is one i think. This was listed as a suede fez. It is in fact a velour tarboosh, which is usually a knitted then felted headcovering made of wool. Lower than a fez and not as stiff. This one has a Tonak label but a Hückel liner so probably made in a transitional period after the war just before or after Huckel was nationalized. The velour is great, but the sweatband is made of some sort of artificial leather. What puzzles me however is which market it could have been for. It was made for NR Hassaniyeh&Co on which company I couldn't find anything. Tarbooshes are usually made very cheaply. I hope the combined knowledge of the lounge gets us closer to the facts.
 

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Messages
17,481
Location
Maryland
Stefan, Thanks! Very interesting! Is the liner stitched or glued to the felt? I think it's later based on construction. Tonak eventually got the rights to the Hückel brand outside of Germany.
 
Messages
18,409
Location
Nederland
Thanks Steve. I enjoy learning more about my hats (and hats in general) and when it comes to this subject I can think of no one who knows more about it than you do. Having said that: here's another one for you to sink your teeth into. It's a Leica velour hat, lined, raw edge, 5,5 cm brim and 10cm high at the pinch. This one I picked up last summer and it was in a terrible state. The bow was missing completely, the liner was loose, the sweatband was in trouble and it had collected enough dust to start a second dustbowl. But something shone through and I bought it anyway. This seems to me to be an early one and what caught my eye was the brand name. Could it be that this is in some way connected to the camera manufacturer? Another odd thing about this is that it has a reeded liner: where the crown patch meets the rest of the liner there is a reed sown in. I had some ribbon and did my best brushing an steaming and this came out (I was well pleased with myself).

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Messages
17,481
Location
Maryland
The Velour looks really nice. Probably just a made up name like we see often. It actually has a filament / reed in the liner piping? Does it have a paper label? I am fairly sure it's WWII era.
 
Messages
18,409
Location
Nederland
The Velour looks really nice. Probably just a made up name like we see often. It actually has a filament / reed in the liner piping? Does it have a paper label? I am fairly sure it's WWII era.
Steve, thank you. No paper label to be found in this one and yes, it does have a reed in the liner piping. I was very surprised to find that when I took out the lining to clean the hat. I've been searching for a possible link between the camera brand and the hat, but nothing turned up.
 
Messages
18,409
Location
Nederland
This is one of those hats which has me wondering. Early German bowler hat "Superb" Kadene or Kadenve (notice the peculiar writing of the name) in a 4 3/4 size. It's the handwritten label combined with its backstory that makes me think this is an early one. Seller's mother, who was born in 1916, got it from her father or uncle (the story was unclear here) and passed it on to her daughter (seller) who used it for stage performance. Bought this one along with a Rehfus&Cie Zephyr bowler (I have seen pictures of one on the lounge somewhere) for 15 euros. Unfortunately the seller jammed both hats in too small a box for shipping and the Rehfus was dented. If anyone can provide any information or ideas on this one (my money's on Steve) it would be appreciated.





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Messages
17,481
Location
Maryland
Great Stiff Felt! I think it might be Kadewe Berlin or Kaufhaus des Westens Berlin (famous department store). The paper label has KDW which matches. If so I am not sure if they made it or had it made. I couldn't match any hat company to KDW. You see 1/4 French Point sizes in this time period in Germany and Austria (I am not sure of elsewhere).
 
Last edited:

Mean Eyed Matt

One Too Many
Messages
1,142
Location
Germany
Nice bowler, steur!
I am no specialist in hats, but I'm pretty sure it is "Kadewe" - usually written "KaDeWe" whitch means "Kaufhaus des Westens" - the most famous department store in Berlin since 1907:https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kaufhaus_des_Westens
The "Berlin" on the sweat band + liner and the "KDW" (another shortcut) on the paper label are other indications.

But the dating? I don't really know...
It has to be post 1907! ;)
The overall shape and look of the bowler is clearly pre WWII.
The design of the labels seams to be post WWI - I would guess.
So my assessment would be 20's or early 30's...
 

Mean Eyed Matt

One Too Many
Messages
1,142
Location
Germany
Great Stiff Felt! I think it might be Kadewe Berlin or Kaufhaus des Westens Berlin (famous department store). The paper label has KDW which matches. If so I am not sure if they made it or had it made. I couldn't match any had company to KDW. You see 1/4 French Point sizes in this time period in Germany and Austria (I am not sure of elsewhere).

Ah, you were faster than me ;)
 

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