I'm glad you got that one Josh. I was tempted the first time around when it ended without a bid. I love what is left of the ribbon... look forward to seeing it after your renovation.
Josh, Very rare find! The AP is for Anton Peschel of Neutitschein, Austria (Novy Jicin, Czecho Slovakia after WWI). AP along with JHS produced the finest Austrian Velours. My guess is it is from the 1920s. I believe there was only one pre 1940 AP on the FL and yours make the second.
Great hat. Almost bought it too. My old brown velour had a twin sweatband but no other labels so I suppose it was also a Peschel.
Great hat Josh. You can add me to the list of people who were thinking of buying it. It was the green color that caused me to hesitate. I'm still waiting for some nice velours. One day
Steve, thank you so much for the information regarding the hat. I had hoped that it was made by one of the major manufactures and figured that the logo on the tag meant something, but was unsure what. I'm actually very happy that its a Peschel and not a Huckel. I would have loved it to be a Huckel also, but it seems that anything pre WW2 from Peschel is very rare. Even more so than Huckel. Would the $25 price tag help date the hat? At $27, (including tax) this hat was very expensive for its time!
Outstanding, Josh! I admired this beauty from afar, and am glad you came away with it and have share it with us. Would really like to see a noggin shot when you have completed restoration.
I have this 1920 AP Velour newspaper ad that mentions $25.00 as the regular retail price + an additional war tax so your hat is from the same time period (was Austria prior to 1918).
I would go ahead and wear it once restored. Austrian Velours are pretty much indestructible (mentioned in above ad) regarding the felt and sweatband.
Outstanding, Josh! I admired this beauty from afar, and am glad you came away with it and have share it with us. Would really like to see a noggin shot when you have completed restoration.
That advertisement is awesome! Thank you for the info Steve!! I saw the word "Tax" on the label and at first thought that it meant sales tax, but sales tax didn't exist in the US prior to 1921. Also, 2 dollars sales tax for a 25 dollar hat would have been extremely high for that period of time. A "war tax" makes perfect sense. So most likely the hat is from the 1919-1920 range? Still at $25, it would have been a very expensive hat I would imagine.
Now knowing how durable these hats were, maybe I will wear it once I put the new ribbon/bow on.