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BIGDOG9857

New in Town
Messages
0
Hi everyone, I just acquired a vintage Stetson fedora which appears to be brown color with a redish tinge. The felt is very soft, inside printed on the leather sweatband on the left side it says 3x Beaver above " crafted edge ". To the left also in gold I'd the John B. Stetson Company Seal. In the crown of the lining is the beaver and griffin seal under the plastic lining. It appears to be unused & in excellent like new condition. Oh, and the brim is 1 1/2 " & the crown is 3 1/2 ". Truly a beautiful Stetson. Does anyone have a info on this hat? Thanks to all. BIGDOG9857.
 
Messages
19,001
Location
Central California
Hi everyone, I just acquired a vintage Stetson fedora which appears to be brown color with a redish tinge. The felt is very soft, inside printed on the leather sweatband on the left side it says 3x Beaver above " crafted edge ". To the left also in gold I'd the John B. Stetson Company Seal. In the crown of the lining is the beaver and griffin seal under the plastic lining. It appears to be unused & in excellent like new condition. Oh, and the brim is 1 1/2 " & the crown is 3 1/2 ". Truly a beautiful Stetson. Does anyone have a info on this hat? Thanks to all. BIGDOG9857.


Photos are soooo important. Like Jared said, it sounds like a 1960s or ‘70s hat. Stetson quality was mostly quite poor in this era. It’s also entirely possible that your Stetson wasn’t made by Stetson as it went out of business in the late 1960s and their name and trademarks were sold and sold again. Hats with the name Stetson were made by various companies.
 

RecklessPorcupine

New in Town
Messages
3
Greetings!

Can anybody help me identify the type of fedora David Bowie wears in the beginning of the 1976 movie 'The Man Who Fell To Earth'?
Through one of the hats that went up for auction years later, I know that it is a size 5 Borsalino, but that's all I've got. Bowie was first photographed wearing it at the 1975 Grammy Awards, So he presumably acquired it around then. It could have in theory been custom made, since the auction photos show it monogramed on the sweatband to DB, and this complicates things. Somebody on posted on Reddit years ago that it was this hat, A Lockhatters Louisiana Fedora, though the crown seems too tapered to me to be it. It looks somewhat similar (to me, at least) to a Borsalino Verdi, though I am unsure of this. I've included photos of the hat and a link to the old auction photos, and also comparisons with the Louisiana and Verdi fedoras.

Any help would be massively appreciated!

Auction

The hat itself:

C4D73998-774A-44E7-81A0-C9F1BBD5A8E1.jpeg
ECE832B6-5FC2-476C-B97C-8E5A9BFE4165.jpeg
4499EA32-01A5-4882-B14D-3DBE14B34232.jpeg


C1F4B203-C0FA-4400-85A5-D78856726D23.gif
1EB60B2D-4214-485C-BD68-CB99EA35C726.jpeg

CAB5086E-652B-4D89-B49E-8A17EA979EF3.jpeg



Louisiana Fedora Stock photo

630FB400-FF24-46EC-B8A2-6C85E824C5A5.jpeg
 
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jlee562

I'll Lock Up
Messages
5,103
Location
San Francisco, CA
Just spitballing but I don't think there's much you'd be able to tell comparing it to the model names of the modern Borsalino lineup. There's not a whole lot of consistent model names from the original factory.

If you want to know because you want that specific 70's Borsalino, you might just be SOL. There might be a documented example in the Borsalino Brotherhood thread, but it would be hard to confirm anything without specific measurements.

If you just want a hat that looks like that, just send those pictures to a custom hatter. It's probably around a 3" brim. I'm not even 100% convinced those are photos of the same hat either. The auction hat definitely looks taller than the first pic and the pinch/crease are not the same. Being a soft felt hat, it's not unheard of that it might look different decades later, but the 70's pictures have a tighter pinch, and I would think the felt would be more inclined to 'settle' in a tighter pinch rather than loosen up to a wider one. That's been my experience with 'felt memory' anyway.
 

RecklessPorcupine

New in Town
Messages
3
Just spitballing but I don't think there's much you'd be able to tell comparing it to the model names of the modern Borsalino lineup. There's not a whole lot of consistent model names from the original factory.

If you want to know because you want that specific 70's Borsalino, you might just be SOL. There might be a documented example in the Borsalino Brotherhood thread, but it would be hard to confirm anything without specific measurements.

If you just want a hat that looks like that, just send those pictures to a custom hatter. It's probably around a 3" brim. I'm not even 100% convinced those are photos of the same hat either. The auction hat definitely looks taller than the first pic and the pinch/crease are not the same. Being a soft felt hat, it's not unheard of that it might look different decades later, but the 70's pictures have a tighter pinch, and I would think the felt would be more inclined to 'settle' in a tighter pinch rather than loosen up to a wider one. That's been my experience with 'felt memory' anyway.
Yeah, that was pretty much my thoughts as well. Thanks for the input!
 

Ghostsoldier

Call Me a Cab
Messages
2,410
Location
Starke, Florida, USA
I know a little about hat styles, but this particular one alludes me: The hat worn by actor James Franciscus' character 'Jimmy Halloran' in Season One of the 1958-59 television series, "The Naked City".

I've attached a few photos and screen shots showing various views, including a top view.

Can anyone tell me a definite name of the style, and who might be selling a version today?

Screensnap32769.jpg

Screensnap32770.jpg

Screensnap32771.jpg
Screensnap32767.jpg
Screensnap32768.jpg
Horace_McMahon_James_Franciscus_Suzanne_Storrs_Naked_City_1959.jpg
13780021-large.jpg


Thanks in advance!

Rob
 
Messages
19,424
Location
Funkytown, USA
I know a little about hat styles, but this particular one alludes me: The hat worn by actor James Franciscus' character 'Jimmy Halloran' in Season One of the 1958-59 television series, "The Naked City".

I've attached a few photos and screen shots showing various views, including a top view.

Can anyone tell me a definite name of the style, and who might be selling a version today?

View attachment 531895
View attachment 531896
View attachment 531897 View attachment 531900 View attachment 531901 View attachment 531902 View attachment 531903

Thanks in advance!

Rob

I'd call it a pork pie. You could probably find something !like it on eBay for a decent price.
 

Doctor Strange

I'll Lock Up
Messages
5,252
Location
Hudson Valley, NY
That's a porkpie hat. They're out there, both from custom hatters and major makers. There are crappy cheap wool ones, and much nicer fur felt ones.



And better:


And Naked City was a great show!
 
Messages
19,424
Location
Funkytown, USA
Pork Pie it is... thanks for the info, folks.

I guess in my mind I thought a pork pie was something different, without the ridged crown and a much shorter brim (kind of like Popeye Doyle's), but I'm happy to be corrected. :)

Rob View attachment 531935

Yeah, I'm with you. A porkpie is more or less a specialized version of a telescope crown, which you see on some wider brim hats.

Popeye's is about a 1.5" brim, so it would never get the sweep Franciscus' character gets. His is likely 2"-2 1/8".
 
Messages
10,847
Location
vancouver, canada
Yeah, I'm with you. A porkpie is more or less a specialized version of a telescope crown, which you see on some wider brim hats.

Popeye's is about a 1.5" brim, so it would never get the sweep Franciscus' character gets. His is likely 2"-2 1/8".
I reburbished two hats this week from the 1950's. Both were "porkpie(ish)". Telescope crease, wide ribbon, stingy brims but 2" width that the brim could be worn up or snapped down. A look I associate more with the 1960's but I guess it had to start somewhere and not necessarily on January 1st, 1960. They both looked very similar to the hat in question here.
 

The Lost Cowboy

One Too Many
Messages
1,696
Location
Southeast Asia
I know a little about hat styles, but this particular one alludes me: The hat worn by actor James Franciscus' character 'Jimmy Halloran' in Season One of the 1958-59 television series, "The Naked City".

I've attached a few photos and screen shots showing various views, including a top view.

Can anyone tell me a definite name of the style, and who might be selling a version today?

View attachment 531895
View attachment 531896
View attachment 531897 View attachment 531900 View attachment 531901 View attachment 531902 View attachment 531903

Thanks in advance!

Rob
This seems to me to be a smart choice for a screen hat. The pork pie allows for such a small hat to be worn (which in turn allows the actor’s face to be seen) while at the same time diminishing the height of the hat. This gives the illusion of the actor wearing a regular hat instead of one that is two sizes too small.

The Naked City was a great show. Another one kind of gritty like it that never received much love was the original Mike Hammer series from 58-59. If I remember right, Darren McGavin also wore a too-small pork pie in that series.
 
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