I can't believe I found this!!!

[fedoralover]

I have to tell some people that would appreciate this find. I just stopped at a Goodwill Store not far from my house and I saw a fedora in a glass case. I thought "hmmm, doesn't look too bad". I asked to see it and it was a Brown Borsalino in excellent condition. No moth nibbles or stains on the felt. It has a 2 3/4 inch brim, 5 3/4 inch crown. Has the narrow ribbon with a wind string. Looks 40s to 50s I think. It is made with that real thin, lightweight felt. Has that corrigated piece under the front of the sweatband. No stains on the liner or sweatband. Paid the whopping sum of $4.49. It was a bit big for me, a 7 1/2, but I dampened the underside of the sweatband with a wet cloth and then dried it with a hair dryer and it shrunk up to make a perfect fit. The crown was smunched and dirty but it cleaned up and with some steam it straightened right out. Whoo Hoo!! This is one of the best finds I've ever made at a thrift store.

regards fedoralover

 

[havershaw]

whoa!

you are a lucky lucky man.

Did I say lucky lucky? I meant, very lucky lucky lucky man.

Congratulations!

 

[Canadave]

Cool! Any chance of a pic?

(Remember, if anyone ever happens upon a 7 7/8 in a Goodwill case, I'm your man!)

David

 

[MK]

Congrats on a killer deal.

 

[Andykev]

Caution!

Ok, great buy, you lucky guy!

One word of caution. I ruined a vintage sweatband with the "gentle steam" from the kettle trying to "shrink" it. It crinkled up like a gum wrapper! OOPS. STUPID IDOT DUMMY AMATURE ME!

Watch any application of heat to some leathers, it's almost like some behave like shrink wrap plastic. They are leather, but do they have some outer coating or something to make them shrivel so badly, I mean really bad, 1/3 the original width just that fast!

 

[Wild Root]

Ah the thrift store! First, congratulations on your find! I can?¢‚Ǩ‚Ñ¢t wait to see some photos of it.

I have found some good stuff at thrift shops! Once I found a lovely slate blue double breasted herringbone suit from the 40?¢‚Ǩ‚Ñ¢s for only $5.00! I also found a swell tan single breasted suit coat with windowpane patter from the 40?¢‚Ǩ‚Ñ¢s for only $3.50.

Thrift shops for the most part are dead, but you never know what you might find!!!
I tell ya, it just makes me feel like I can walk on air when I find a cool vintage something or other for only a few bucks and especially if it fits! I?¢‚Ǩ‚Ñ¢m feeling good for the whole week when that happens!

Good for you bud!

 

[havershaw]

Yeah, eBay has made it tough going at thrift stores. I can't tell you the number of times I've seen frumpy housewives with a cart full of vintage men's shirts that I know they're going to turn around and sell on eBay. And estate sales...? Forget them! The last time I went, i actually got -shoved- by more frumpy housewives, intent on grabbing some trinkets for their burgeoning antique stores. It was as cutthroat as it gets...my wife and I couldn't handle it.

Usually, my wife and I grab furniture at thrift stores. I do find shirts every once in a while (some of my favorite gabardines have come rom thrift stores) but usually nothing too exciting.

 

[Wild Root]

Cutthroat eh? Really, that?¢‚Ǩ‚Ñ¢s no fun. Ha, frumpy housewives eh? Well, I see those over here in CA but they don?¢‚Ǩ‚Ñ¢t care for 40?¢‚Ǩ‚Ñ¢s men?¢‚Ǩ‚Ñ¢s shirts! They have no idea of what vintage is or what would they want with it.

However, there are a lot of employees that find vintage and set it aside for dealers! That?¢‚Ǩ‚Ñ¢s why a lot of it has dried up in Thrift shops! But, there is always some that slips by their eye. I found a really nice 1930?¢‚Ǩ‚Ñ¢s toaster in a Thrift shop! It was mint when I found it and it was only five bucks! It?¢‚Ǩ‚Ñ¢s the type with the doors on ether side that fold down. Really Art Deco and works perfectly! Also, I did find a 1930 Westinghouse Highboy radio for $90. US. It works and has a very clean cabinet! Yeah, I was in Canada for a few years and found some cool stuff!

Canadian Thrift shops really are quite good. Reason being that there isn?¢‚Ǩ‚Ñ¢t really much of a market for it up there. It?¢‚Ǩ‚Ñ¢s just old junk to most of them. Works for me!!!

I hope you have some better luck with fighting those frumpy housewives.

Cheers.

 

[fedoralover]

thrift store finds

I've shopped at thrift stores here in Eugene and have found some real steals on clothes. Zegna, Hickey Freeman, Joseph Abboud, Armani, Hart Schaffner and Marx, suits, sport jackets and ties. I've found Willis and Geiger, vintage Banana Republic and Cabelas Safari Jackets. I could go on but here it is pretty good pickings at the thrift stores. This is the first fedora I've seen worth buying and it was a beaut. The others I've seen have been stingy brims and really trashed and dirty.

fedoralover

 

[Renderking Fisk]

Ebay has ruined so much...

 

[Matt Deckard]

If it wasn't for Ebay i wouldn't have half of my hats.

Congrats on a great thrift store find.

I stopped looking at thrift stores a while back because they never had my awkward size available.

 

[Sergei]

Ahhhhh..... 7 1/2!!!! My size.... Next time call me....

 

[fedoralover]

SORRY SERGEI

Sorry Sergei, at $4.49 for a mint vintage Borsalino, I was gonna make that thing fit one way or another.

regards fedoralover

 

[Dalexs]

fedoralover,

I certainly hope you will be able to make it to the QM summit,
I'm sure many of us 7 1/2ers... ummm , I mean, we would all like to see your wonderful find!


Dalexs

 

[Fedora]

Yeah, I think I would think twice about wearing that 7 1/2 around the likes of Dalexs and Sergei. Also, I just found out that God Almighty created ebay, in the second week. Fedora

 

[Andykev]

Bless Ebay!

I agree with Fedora. If it wasn't for Ebay, most of my most valued collection would be tucked away in some obscure Goodwill store, with some soccer mom buying it to cut up for the felt for some school project, or maybe they would all be relegated to the dusty closets of some grade school theater!

My very best vintage is my soft chocolate MacLaughlan silver beaver 50. I am tempted to send it to Fedora for him to see and FEEL...I KNOW he would fall in love with it....but I'd never get it back! LOL

I only have lately noticed that Ebay has sort of "dried up" with the "good stuff". That is either due to my becoming more selective (or having one already), and the competition from the good members!

 

[Canadave]

Originally posted by Matt Deckard
...I stopped looking at thrift stores a while back because they never had my awkward size available.

Hey Matt, what's your "awkward size"?

David

 

[Matt Deckard]

The awkward sizes I was reffering to are for jackets and pants.
thrift stores just dont carry much for me suit wise.

As for hats, I pretty much wear a 7 1/4,
or if custom 7 1/4 minus 1/32 German oval with a bulge on the right forhead

 

[fedoralover]

Going to thrift stores is like going on a treasure hunt. Most of the time you don't find anything, but once in while you find a gem like I did. It goes in streaks, most of the time I come out with nothing and then it seems everytime I go I walk out with another treasure. 2 days after I got the Borsalino I saw a Stetson 25 Open Road in like new condition at another Goodwill Store. Someone at this store was more familiar with hats and put a 25.00 price tag on it. If I didn't have so many hats already I probably would have gotten it. It goes on 1/2 price this Sunday, if it hasn't sold by then I may go ahead and get it anyway. This new borsalino is going to really be nice this summer as it is a very light weight felt.

fedoralover

 

[havershaw]

eBay is the source of all of my hats, except for two I bought at online vintage shops, me Akubras, and my PBBM. So it's been pretty good to me.

AndyKev, I agree that it seems to have dried up a bit. I haven't seen too much great stuff on there lately - I've bought a few things in the last couple of weeks, but they were mostly fixer-uppers for me to hone my reblocking skills.