I have over 27 hats! Mother of God...

[fishmeok]

So I'm unpacking after our move and I stacked all the hats up on my drafting table- I haven't gone through them entire in quite a while.

I have 27 frickin hats! And that doesn't count the baseball style or motorcycle helmets (plus an old US steel pot helmet with liner).
Fedora's, ranchers, military visor caps, winter conservation corps hat, USAAF shearling B-9 gunners cap, a pith helmet, and some misc. I've picked up here and there.

And all 7 1/8 (about 58mm)- they all fit me. Here's the lowdown:
Entire collection

The Fedora and Rancher style- the two on the bottom left are vintage Resistal, the straw campaign (probably Forest Ranger) and Pith Helmet are vintage as well. The rest are modern:

Vintage- the sweatband on the Resistal Fedora is in bad shape but that's it-

These two are Czech-made:

I'll cover the military hats in a reply to this post. I don't wear the hats as much as I should- kind of difficult when you spend all day in a grubby test lab getting covered with oil. I AM jonesing for an Akubra Federation though- if anyone has a brown 7 1/8 (58 or 59)Fed I'd be interested in some possible trades for a couple of the fedoras, etc..
Cheers
Mark

 

[deanglen]

That is some collection! I'd take all of them! Great choices!

dean

 

[K.D. Lightner]

I wish that's all I had, between fedoras, caps, cowboy hats, and some other kinds of caps, I must have twice as many.

I believe there are people here on the FL who have hundreds of hats.

karol

 

[Dinerman]

Nice collection you got there.

 

[carter]

I only have about 1/2 that many But that's OK. I have huge boxes filled with baseball caps! I'm gonna have a garage sale!

(plus an old US steel pot helmet with liner).

Speaking of which, do you want to part with this? I can't trade an Akubra (head's too big). And...do I see WWII AAF officer's caps in that photo on the top? Are those original? If so, COOL!

 

[fishmeok]

Military Visor and Crush Caps

I've been collecting uniforms for quite a while- these hats are my favorites out of the collection.
These are three WW2 era 'crush" style hats. The khaki on the left is an unissued officers visor from 1948. It's not a true crush cap in that you can't roll the thing up and put it in your pocket, but with the stiffener removed it's a good representation of something that would have actually been worn (many guys in the USAAF didn't have "real" crush caps- they just wore the issued cap without the stiffening grommet). The center hat is a true USAAF flight "crush cap" made from o.d. wool elastique. The flight caps are smaller around the top then the standard Army issue visor hats by a good 1.5 to 2 inches and were made by several different companies. On the right is a bashed enlisted "crush cap" that I made out of three trashed standard visor caps as an experiment. THIS one you can roll up and stuff in your pocket...
On the far right is a vintage Bancroft USCG petty officers hat with the stiffening grommet removed (I'm wearing it in my avatar).

These are two standard issue WWII visor caps- the officers on the left is in near mint condition and made by Saks Fith Avenue, while on the right is a standard enlisted peaked cap. Notice the enlisted is smaller around the crown than the officers- makes it easy to turn them into proper looking crush caps.

The next two are unissued Bancroft USAF "pac-caps" dated 1956 with the tags still on them. The pac caps had a folding insignia holder for packing them in a bag- the eagle on the front is mounted to a hinged support that folds over forward- makes it easier to put the thing in a siutcase and not ruin it.

I also have another '50's and a modern USAAF visor cap that I'm hanging on to for parts.
This is my repro USAAF B-2 gunners cap from Eastman (the Irvin is from WPG)- the best winter hat ever made, in my opinion (I'm wearing it as I write this for some reason).

Sorry for the long post- but then, being obsessive about apparel is what this place is all about...
Cheers
Mark

 

[fishmeok]

I wish that's all I had, between fedoras, caps, cowboy hats, and some other kinds of caps, I must have twice as many.

I believe there are people here on the FL who have hundreds of hats.

HA! Vindication! I'll, have to show this to my wife...
Cheers
Mark

 

[fishmeok]

I only have about 1/2 that many But that's OK. I have huge boxes filled with baseball caps! I'm gonna have a garage sale!



Speaking of which, do you want to part with this? I can't trade an Akubra (head's too big). And...do I see WWII AAF officer's caps in that photo on the top? Are those original? If so, COOL!

I'll have to see if I can find it- the thing is still buried somewhere.
Cheers
Mark

 

[J.T.Marcus]

We're trying to determine the maximum number of hats one man needs. So far, none of us has gotten there. One of these days there will be a home for old hat collectors. It will have HUGE closets.

 

[Tony in Tarzana]

I think I have 47 hats, although whenever I try to count them, I always seem to miss one or two. I am, of course, utterly insane. I was going through my boxes and found a grey Dobbs Guild Edge that I had completely forgotten that I had.

 

[Tony in Tarzana]

Just did an inventory, make that 50 hats plus 4 that I've sold or traded. Yikes.

 

[Dinerman]

One can never have too many.

 

[Tony in Tarzana]

Oh, yes you can. lol lol lol

 

[Art Fawcett]

OK guys...hold on to your seats...when I retired & sold my collection I sold the best 300 privately, then auctioned off the last 1200..and I never fealt that I hat the RIGHT hat for every occasion.
yes..I know...going to therapy soon...

 

[carter]

I never fealt that I hat the RIGHT hat for every occasion.
yes..I know...going to therapy soon...

And this therapy would begin....when you stop making hats?
I thought that was/is therapy.

Let's face it, you, my friend, are an unabashed fedoraphile. While this company may be brimming over with acquisitors, you, Sir, wear the Crown. :eusa_clap
Carter

 

[J.T.Marcus]

Art, Like I said, before, (but edited this time) "You're what we all want to be when we grow up. I'm trying to subtract 64 from your total, to see how far I have to go. Got any pictures of how you stored them?:eusa_clap :eusa_clap :eusa_clap

 

[Art Fawcett]

you, Sir, wear the Crown

lol lol lol
See!! I KNEW I didn't have them all!!! What if I were a king..wouldn't have had the hat.

JT, I'm sure there are old pictures somewhere here on the lounge of my vault. The wife & I owned a bank building and the special men's storage was literally, the vault. They were normally stack with cardboard separaters and pliofilmed. I actually didn't know I had that many until it was time to liquidate. After that I was afraid to count ...STILL don't know how many shoes I own.

 

[Edward]

One of my otehr fourms is a musicians forum and we have an identical debate which runs in perpetuity as to how many guitars one man needs. The closest to a final solution we have reached so far is the zen-like "just one more."


Plus ca change.....


I think I'm currently on twelve hats I'd actually wear, plus another half dozen or so I don't. I have a long ways to go yet....

 

[fishmeok]

It's not having too many hats that's the problem- it's having someplace to PUT them....
Wish I had a bank vault
Cheers
Mark

 

[bolthead]

One can never have too many.

Tell that to my wife.....:eusa_doh: