How old is my hat???

[Lorne]

Hello all,

I recently purchased a Adam Fedora on Ebay. It is a tan fedora with a 3" brim. The hat was a mess, and I'm currently using what I've learned here to try to revive it.

That being said, when I took the hat apart I found a tag that read: "Adam Hat Company Store, New York, $5.00". There was an address on the tag, I think it was 633 5th ave, New York.

Anyone care to guess how old this hat is?


Lorne

 

[Brad Bowers]

During the 1930s, $5.00-$7.00 got you a pretty good quality hat, so I'll throw my guess in that direction. It's always possible that it's from the '20s, or it could also date from the '40s. I'm not really sure when inflation started to hit hat prices.

Brad

 

[Marc Chevalier]

Adam hats were famous (and successful) for being fashionable and reasonably priced. In their first year, they blew the competition away. My guess is that your hat is from the 1940s.

.

 

[Snrbfshn]

Lorne - pictures, pictures!

Lest you be cursed with a bad case of hat head, show us pictures! Otherwise it's a wild guess.

 

[Lorne]

I know, I know

You are right Sir. If it makes you feel any better, my wife is getting on me about not having developed the Christmas pictures yet, from 2004.


Lorne

 

[Fortino37]

Dating a Hat

It is not easy to date a hat, the styles and materials vary in one decade, the logos, the prints, the prices, but let me take a guess.

This is my Stetson Special Homburg, it's crown is lower and the brim shorter than the St. Regis.

But you can see the logo in the lining, it looks different from the other stetson hats I have

This hat has the original price behind the sweatband $5.00

in this Mexican Magazine from 1933 you can see that a Dobbs cost from $26 to $29 pesos, $5.00 to $6.00 dollars. I Ignore if the Stetson Hats where more expensive than a dobbs.

Let me tell you that this Stetson Special feels and looks much better than a St. Regis, the felt is extremely soft, my St. Regis is marked $12.50, as I know at the end of the forties and the begining of the 50's that was it's price but the "Special" cost the half, from my point of view this hat is from the 30's or the begining of the 40's, but if you know when the "Special" came out to the market, then can be more precise.

Lorne, can you post some potos of the hat you want to date?

Saludos from Mexicali

 

[Marc Chevalier]

Saludos a ti, amigo!

You make a very good point. Old homburgs with low crowns and narrow brims tend to be from the 1920s and '30s. Homburgs with higher crowns and wider brims are usually from the '40s and '50s. Homburgs with higher crowns but narrower brims are often from the '60s.

.

 

[tonyb]

Thanks for posting those pics, Fortino37. I, too, have a Stetson Special, a dark blue one for which I paid all of 20 bucks a coupla-three months ago. Like yours, it has a tag affixed to the sweatband and, like yours, it cost five dollars new. The linings appear identical. I concur with your assessment of its quality. It's among the best of the bunch.
I, too, am curious about its vintage. Anyone know when was the Special was in production? And when it retailed for five dollars?

 

[besdor]

They were made during the 1930's . I also have one that has a peice tag of 5.00 in it from Young's Hats in New York . The quality is great and this wasn't their better line of hats ! They dont make them like that anymore .
It was very interesting to see an ad from Mexico from the 1930's . I'd love to see a Stetson hat from that time period from a foreign country . Mexico being a hot country lost all of it's dress business a lot faster than in the USA
and hats from these countries are very hard to find .


Steven
www.bencrafthats.com

 

[tonyb]

Thanks for the info, besdor. Now all we gotta do is get Lorne a digital camera, so we can all get to work on dating his old Adam.