Hat images

[Cigarband]

 

[Woodfluter]

Thanks for starting this thread!

I have admired these C&K ads ever since I first stumbled on them. Possibly the most handsome illustrations of men in hats anywhere. Notice that the lighting is dramatic, the faces are interesting, and the hats draw the eye equally to the faces. A fine artistic balance here.

From what I've been able decipher, these date from 1929-1930 (let me know if there were some that exceeded these dates!) and were all by Percy Edward Anderson. Stylistically, he seems to fit somewhere into the Howard Pyle school of illustration (e.g. N.C. Wyeth, Frank Schoonover, Maxfield Parrish, etc.) A golden age of illustration for books and even advertisements.

A brief Google search doesn't turn up much about Anderson, except that he appears to have done the painting for sheet music of 1912, "My Georgia Rose".

Agreed - a very nice proportion between straight-sided crown height and brim, plus ribbon width. To my eye anyway!

- Bill

 

[Brad Bowers]

Yes, the Anderson ads ran in the Saturday Evening Post from August 24, 1929, to August 9, 1930 - one ad per month, for a total of 13 individual ads, plus another ad - date unknown - that features several hats at once. These are gorgeous ads, striking and distinctive for their time, just one in a long line of marketing innovations for the company, due in no small part to John Cavanagh.

C&K was the first hat company to run a national advertsing campaign, as opposed to local or regional. This was in 1903. C&K ushered in a new era of advertising in August 1906 when they had a double-page spread in the Saturday Evening Post, featuring a painting by Edward Penfield (one I have yet to find). This use of color was a bold move at the time, and these Anderson ads are keeping in that tradition.

Brad

 

[carter]

I have hundreds of old ads on file. Here are some more for C&K.

1929 - the Game Bird (Dobbs wasn't the first)

1930 - Summer Felt

date unknown - the Harwood

1930 - the Saratoga

1930 - Knapp-Felt cap

dates unknown - Hats for Men

1906

1910

 

[jimmy the lid]

Great stuff, Carter. It's interesting that, in the 1930 timeframe, the brim down look was very much in style.

Cheers,
JtL

 

[Lefty]

1906

1907

1907

no date

1909

 

[Brad Bowers]

Carter, for your records:

Game Bird – November 23, 1929
Summer Felt – July 12, 1930
Saratoga – August 9, 1930
Hawtrey – June 14, 1930
Harwood – Either January, February, or March 1930

dates unknown - Hats for Men

The first one is the other ad I mentioned. I forgot to write down the date on it before I framed it and took it to my office on campus. I'll have to check it next time I'm up there, though it might not be until late June.

The other ad is from 1910, by the artist Adolph Treidler. I believe it was published in Collier’s.

Brad

 

[carter]

Brad, Thanks for the additional information. Do you have any idea what the images are that we are missing?

 

[Brad Bowers]

The Rudswick, August 24, 1929

The Early Bird, September 21, 1929

The Gallant, October 1929 (Don’t yet know the day)

The Carol, December 1929 (Don’t yet know the day)

These two, along with the Harwood, are all from January, February and March of 1930, though I don’t yet know which is which, as I haven’t acquired them.

The Boater, May 17, 1930

The Ariel, April 19, 1930

I still need to acquire the Gallant, Carol, Harwood, Cavendish, Lincoln, and Boater for my collection to be complete. Now that I’ve posted this information, the competition increases, and I’ll never get them!lol

Brad

 

[carter]

Brad, Thanks for this information. I'll let you know if I find any of the one's you're missing.

 

[Brad Bowers]

Thanks, Carter. And if you should stumble across an old stack of Posts, My holy grail ads are the first C&K national ad from August 1903, and the two-page color ad from August 1906!

Brad

 

[Dreispitz]

Anderson

Hello folks,

are there any records on Percy Edward Anderson? I checked Google. Not much, really. Very delicate pastels!!!

 

[Brad Bowers]

I've found very little on Anderson, unfortunately. Fantastic artist. Reminds me of J. C. Leyendecker, in a way.

Here's a marketing pamphlet from sometime in the '20s, before 1928. It's illustrated by Corydon Bell, better known for illustrating children's books, but he worked for a time in advertising.

I've got a good handle on C&K and Cavanagh marketing and advertising, but Dobbs remains a bit of a mystery, as there seems to be a dearth of national advertising for the brand prior to the 1930s. It may just mean I haven't run across anything yet, but there might also be some other significance.

Brad

Brad

 

[Dreispitz]

Great reference, Brad! How did you find it?

yes, the internet is a great recource, but jet not complete. One can find the complete works of Thomas Aquinas but when it comes to William of Ockham´s comnmentarys "in sententiarium" of Peter Lombard ...

....

The Rudswick ad is my fevorit! Imposible to convey the same message photographically.

By the way. Adam wore a palm leaf hat? Where did KC that reference?

...

Twelve season hats .... shame that FL did not exist back then

 

[Brad Bowers]

Won it on eBay. Thankfully, this stuff shows up for auction once in a great while!

I like the Rudswick, too. Must be that Cavanagh Edge...

Brad

 

[Brad Bowers]

Speaking of the two-page ad...

Not quite the 1906 ad, but neat nonetheless.

I won an auction for this ad tonight, a two-pager from the Post from 1908, so only about two years away from my holy grail. I believe this is by Edward Penfield, but I'm not 100% certain.

Crofut & Knapp were really pushing their soft felt hats by 1908. They were very profitable for C&K by that time, and certainly had to have cut into Stetson's business in soft hats.

I have another full-page color ad from 1908 that just has the last figure on the right as the subject.

I'll post a better image when it comes in. It won't fit on my scanner, but maybe I can piece an image together. If not, I can take a digital photo.

Brad

 

[jpbales]