German & Austrian Hutmachers

[Steinbockhase]

Stetson Excellent "Stratoliner", 58cm, probably later 1950s. Made by Mayser in Germany under license and is in NOS condition. The unique color is listed as Peacock. The color will show better in sun light. The lighter weight felt has a Chamois like finish and easily dry creases.

Open Crown

Aha ... so you were my competitor and winner of that eBay auction
It hurt losing that deal, but nice to see a Lounger get this beautiful hat.
You did a good job reblocking it.
BTW: the seller sold a total of three German Stetson "Excellent"s; all from "Hut Bracht".
I quess we both missed the first auction (I forgot to raise my bid before auction ended).

Stetson "Excellent" Woodlawn in Black-Mix

You were the lucky winner of his second auction.
Fortunately I succeeded in winning the third and last offer.



Notice how wrinkled the leather sweatband looks. I thought it was the result of cork strip inlays to reduce the size; the seller's other two hats were size 58 and this should be 59.
Now that I received the hat, I am shocked to see it is actually because the hat was shrunked down by two sizes!
It is actually tight on my 57-58 head; according to my hat-messure-tool it is only close to 57 cm.
I didn't expect that and I am surprised a presumably beaver felt hat can shrink that much.
I contacted the seller about this issue and I am still waiting for his response.
For now, I steamed up the hat and stretched it on a 57 hatblock (don't have a 58).
We will see how it turns out when dry. Might have to use a standard stretcher for extra width.
FYI: my eBay name is also Steinbockhase = s****e

beste Grüße
Georg

 

[mayserwegener]

Georg, Sorry about that! I don't pay attention to Stetson but for some reason I did recently.

Congrats on winning the other one. It's fantastic!

I think they may have been improperly stacked. Mine doesn't looked like it was worn so possibly New Old Stock. How about yours? The size of mine seems about 58cm. The plastic protector behind the sweatband might be part of the problem plus improper stacking.

 

[Steve1857]

Aha ... so you were my competitor and winner of that eBay auction
It hurt losing that deal, but nice to see a Lounger get this beautiful hat.
You did a good job reblocking it.
BTW: the seller sold a total of three German Stetson "Excellent"s; all from "Hut Bracht".
I quess we both missed the first auction (I forgot to raise my bid before auction ended).

View attachment 144465 Stetson "Excellent" Woodlawn in Black-Mix

You were the lucky winner of his second auction.
Fortunately I succeeded in winning the third and last offer.

View attachment 144466 View attachment 144467 View attachment 144468

Notice how wrinkled the leather sweatband looks. I thought it was the result of cork strip inlays to reduce the size; the seller's other two hats were size 58 and this should be 59.
Now that I received the hat, I am shocked to see it is actually because the hat was shrunked down by two sizes!
It is actually tight on my 57-58 head; according to my hat-messure-tool it is only close to 57 cm.
I didn't expect that and I am surprised a presumably beaver felt hat can shrink that much.
I contacted the seller about this issue and I am still waiting for his response.
For now, I steamed up the hat and stretched it on a 57 hatblock (don't have a 58).
We will see how it turns out when dry. Might have to use a standard stretcher for extra width.
FYI: my eBay name is also Steinbockhase = s****e

beste Grüße
Georg

I really like the colour and the ribbon shape is especially cool. I don't think that Stetson was originally a pork pie. How is it possible to shrink a hat two sizes down?
Steinbockhase, depite your and my question marks, it's still a nice lid. Congrats.

Sent from my HUAWEI VNS-L31 using Tapatalk

 

[Steinbockhase]

Georg, Sorry about that! I don't pay attention to Stetson but for some reason I did recently.

Congrats on winning the other one. It's fantastic!

I think they may have been improperly stacked. Mine doesn't looked like it was worn so possibly New Old Stock. How about yours? The size of mine seems about 58cm. The plastic protector behind the sweatband might be part of the problem plus improper stacking.

Other than the loss of size, the hat hardly shows any signs of wear. The liner does seem to have some very weak water stains; so I assume the hat has been wet or kept in a moist environment. Still amazing how "off size" it was, but I am confident I can get it to fit me okay.

 

[mayserwegener]

Other than the loss of size, the hat hardly shows any signs of wear. The liner does seem to have some very weak water stains; so I assume the hat has been wet or kept in a moist environment. Still amazing how "off size" it was, but I am confident I can get it to fit me okay.

It looks like a smaller hat was stacked on top of it. Something definitely happened because you can see it in the sweatband. By the way why do you think it's beaver felt?

 

[mayserwegener]

I really like the colour and the ribbon shape is especially cool. I don't think that Stetson was originally a pork pie. How is it possible to shrink a hat two sizes down?
Steinbockhase, depite your and my question marks, it's still a nice lid. Congrats.

Sent from my HUAWEI VNS-L31 using Tapatalk

That ribbon style usually had a lower profile. Here is an example.

http://germanaustrianhats.invisionzone.com/index.php?/topic/3-mayser-hutfabrik/page-8#entry1703

 

[Steinbockhase]

It looks like a smaller hat was stacked on top of it. Something definitely happened because you can see it in the sweatband. By the way why do you think it's beaver felt?

I thought "Excellent" Stetsons are usually made of beaver felt (or atleast partially); not true!?
The blocking and stretching was successful; got that hat back to a larger 58 cm.
Pictures will follow soon.

 

[mayserwegener]

I have no idea about the Excellent Quality fur content. I do have a Stetson 3X Beaver Quality made by Mayser.

That is great that you were able to normalize the hat size. I look forward to your update.

 

[mayserwegener]

J. Hückel´s Söhne "Grand-Prix Paris" Display, possibly 1920s - 1930s.

 

[steur]

J. Hückel´s Söhne "Grand-Prix Paris" Display, possibly 1920s - 1930s.

Another nice item added to the collection, Steve!

 

[steur]

Here's something unusual. This week we've seen some German manufactured Excellent Stetsons popping up. Steve @mayserwegener and Georg @Steinbockhase posted examples of those. Well, I found one too yesterday. Excellent Stetson, made under license in Germany. This one is a Stratoliner in black (which is quite unusual I gather). Size 57 (7 1/8), bound brim at 7cm and crown 10,5cm at the pinch. This one looked like someone had been sitting on it for a month (I really should take "before" pics), so it did take quite a bit of steaming to get it back to glory. Seemed to fit me in the store, but after steaming and shaping I found it is a roomy 57, so too large for me (dammit), so another one for sale, auction or trade.

 

[M Hatman]

Here's something unusual. This week we've seen some German manufactured Excellent Stetsons popping up. Steve @mayserwegener and Georg @Steinbockhase posted examples of those. Well, I found one too yesterday. Excellent Stetson, made under license in Germany. This one is a Stratoliner in black (which is quite unusual I gather). Size 57 (7 1/8), bound brim at 7cm and crown 10,5cm at the pinch. This one looked like someone had been sitting on it for a month (I really should take "before" pics), so it did take quite a bit of steaming to get it back to glory. Seemed to fit me in the store, but after steaming and shaping I found it is a roomy 57, so too large for me (dammit), so another one for sale, auction or trade.

What an awsome find!! To bad it did not fit....
M

 

[steur]

What an awsome find!! To bad it did not fit....
M

Thanks, Mark. You tell me! Usually I don't care much for these Stratoliner and Open Road style hats, because they quickly become too much of a western hat to me, but I really liked this one. The black colour makes it more subdued. But what can you do?

 

[steur]

One more (there's one after this, but I haven't taken pictures of that one yet). Mayser in brown. Not much else I can tell you, because there's no official label inside the hat. Bound brim at 6,5cm and crown 11cm at the pinch. My guess would be early fifties, but maybe Steve can chime in for a more accurate period.

 

[Steve1857]

Here's something unusual. This week we've seen some German manufactured Excellent Stetsons popping up. Steve @mayserwegener and Georg @Steinbockhase posted examples of those. Well, I found one too yesterday. Excellent Stetson, made under license in Germany. This one is a Stratoliner in black (which is quite unusual I gather). Size 57 (7 1/8), bound brim at 7cm and crown 10,5cm at the pinch. This one looked like someone had been sitting on it for a month (I really should take "before" pics), so it did take quite a bit of steaming to get it back to glory. Seemed to fit me in the store, but after steaming and shaping I found it is a roomy 57, so too large for me (dammit), so another one for sale, auction or trade.

Super find, Stefan. I particularly like the ribbon.

And yes, you should definitely take before photos. Always interesting to see how a hat can be rescued. I know you're a master at it.

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[mayserwegener]

Another nice item added to the collection, Steve!

Stefan, Thanks! I am still haven't decided where to put it.

 

[mayserwegener]

Here's something unusual. This week we've seen some German manufactured Excellent Stetsons popping up. Steve @mayserwegener and Georg @Steinbockhase posted examples of those. Well, I found one too yesterday. Excellent Stetson, made under license in Germany. This one is a Stratoliner in black (which is quite unusual I gather). Size 57 (7 1/8), bound brim at 7cm and crown 10,5cm at the pinch. This one looked like someone had been sitting on it for a month (I really should take "before" pics), so it did take quite a bit of steaming to get it back to glory. Seemed to fit me in the store, but after steaming and shaping I found it is a roomy 57, so too large for me (dammit), so another one for sale, auction or trade.

Stefan, Again super find! I think these have a great look to them.

 

[mayserwegener]

One more (there's one after this, but I haven't taken pictures of that one yet). Mayser in brown. Not much else I can tell you, because there's no official label inside the hat. Bound brim at 6,5cm and crown 11cm at the pinch. My guess would be early fifties, but maybe Steve can chime in for a more accurate period.

View attachment 144839 View attachment 144840 View attachment 144841 View attachment 144842 View attachment 144843 View attachment 144844 View attachment 144845 View attachment 144846 View attachment 144847 View attachment 144848

Stefan, Fantastic! I think you are correct on the time period.

 

[steur]

Stefan, Again super find! I think these have a great look to them.

Stefan, Fantastic! I think you are correct on the time period.

Thanks again, Steve.

 

[steur]

One more I picked up friday. It was in the infirmary yesterday, but full of life again today. Hückel chamois in Grey. Size 56 with the bound brim at 7cm and the crown at 10cm. Not a very rare hat; I believe Steve has about half a dozen of them in various forms and I have another one too, but these are such fine hats that given a chance I bring them home with me. This one was very wrinkled and dirtier than I thought when I bought it (the lighting in the shop was deceptive), but cleaning it with both naphta and water and white vinegar has brought it back to life (bar a small spot at the back of the crown). The hand of the chamois finish is fantastic, but it doesn't shape easily; there's a certain springy feel to the felt. No label inside the hat, as is common with these Hückel Welheim hats. We'll call it hellgrau.