High quality panama values? The best of the best, 7 1/2 to be for sale on classifieds

[SET]

I have a friend who has asked me to help him sell a hat he got from an estate sale. It's a Paul's Hat Works marked "Monte Cristi" and "Made in Ecuador" on the inside of the crown. I took it into Paul's and spoke to the ladies that now run the place. This is a $1500 to $2000 hat, if they were selling it new. I used to have a hat of near this quality and they're close to impossible to photograph to show how tight the weave is. I literally held mine up to the sun and even with that back lighting, the detail did not do it justice. eBay is a lousy place to sell hat's this good (unless someone tells me otherwise).

It's a 7 1/2, appears to be in unworn (other than a few times) condition and looks to have been properly stored in a cool dark place. The grass is still extremely flexible and healthy, with no fading at all on the ribbon. The color is a lovely, unbleached light straw color.

He wants $600, is that reasonable? I know you can always come down, but he'd kinda like $600. I'm going to post it to the classifieds as soon as I set up the picture hosting, it may go on eBay (nortonmarg if you want to check out my feedback) as well, but due to fees, will be listed a bit higher.

Anybody sold or bought something similar recently? The brim would be 3 1/4 if you flattened out the cigar rolled brim. Pinch front crown 4"+ with the crown shape (not open). 1" black ribbon.
Stevan

 

[Marcovgv]

what happend to this hat i would of liked to have seen pictures!

 

[singlechange]

Macovgv, This may be of use to you.....my recently acquired vintage Paul's Hat Works. Transformed by Mr. Vince Corvelli, master hatter, from a ladies Paul's straw hat with wide brim into a gentleman's panama. Brim is 3 1/4 inches, Crown 5 inches. About 1000 plus w.p.s.i. and nice even weave too. If you can find a vintage piece with Paul's Hat Works label, you can jump on it. I have two of Paul's examples and one is a buntal panama and the other is the Montecristi pictured here. P.S. this is NOT the panama you posted about but my own example I thought you might make use of.

 

[froguy]

This looks like a wonderful hat and I love that you had it converted. Did you find the women's hat in your size?

 

[singlechange]

froguy,
Yes, I did find the woman's hat in my size. The hat label indicated Medium, when I found it on Etsy.com. For the last couple of years it seemed to me that high quality vintage men's panamas were getting harder to find and the asking prices were going higher and last year while searching Ebay for men's panamas, I stumbled upon a ladies' Montecristi with a very wide brim, used and high weave count sold to the original owner by the Hawaiian hat shop Welt. At the time the asking price was $700 or such so I passed. Thus the idea to try focusing on the other gender's territory was born. So far, I've acquired three vintage women's hats. All originally sized about 7-7 1/4 including the Paul's Hat Works pictured here, another Montecristi converted into a panama in the gambler's style and one more Montecristi that never made it to conversion because my mother wanted it. There's a bit of effort involved in searching, a bit of a risk even after carefully evaluating the offered hat listing, money to get a hatter to convert it. I paid on an average of $30.00 for each women's hat before conversion and about $75.00 to $90.00 for the conversion. The pictured hat is my favorite because I like wide brim hats in general.

 

[cookie]

froguy,
Yes, I did find the woman's hat in my size. The hat label indicated Medium, when I found it on Etsy.com. For the last couple of years it seemed to me that high quality vintage men's panamas were getting harder to find and the asking prices were going higher and last year while searching Ebay for men's panamas, I stumbled upon a ladies' Montecristi with a very wide brim, used and high weave count sold to the original owner by the Hawaiian hat shop Welt. At the time the asking price was $700 or such so I passed. Thus the idea to try focusing on the other gender's territory was born. So far, I've acquired three vintage women's hats. All originally sized about 7-7 1/4 including the Paul's Hat Works pictured here, another Montecristi converted into a panama in the gambler's style and one more Montecristi that never made it to conversion because my mother wanted it. There's a bit of effort involved in searching, a bit of a risk even after carefully evaluating the offered hat listing, money to get a hatter to convert it. I paid on an average of $30.00 for each women's hat before conversion and about $75.00 to $90.00 for the conversion. The pictured hat is my favorite because I like wide brim hats in general.

It is surprising what you see in women's hats in thrifts in middle class areas. I have seen a lot of Philippine straws of top quality gone into Melbourne Cup hats etc and have passed some onto the ladies but I always look for the wider ones in the hope of a conversion.

 

[singlechange]

cookie,
Nice to find out there are others trying what I did. I too found a vintage circa 1940's Philippine buntal which I had custom made into a fine straw fedora from a raw hat blank of top quality. The seller of the straw hat blank told me that, just as in Ecuador, the really master weavers are few and mostly gone. Your location in the Pacific may provide you with better opportunity to hunt them down so one can really envy you. I imagine that the prices for ladies straw hats are as reasonable there too. Good hunting. Now you've made me wonder if starting a thread of ladies hat conversions might be of use and interest.