Here is an ebay gamble that I'm undecided on whether it was bad or not.
The hat is a great color combination Jay Lord Hatter Silver Beaver. The copper ribbon is a wonderful color against the olive drab felt. The felt itself is thick and pliable kind of like the Dobbs and Knox 20 felt but just a little less clay-like. The dimensions of the hat are nice with a 2" brim and 5" crown. I myself prefer more brim to a hat. The ribbon is 1 5/8". The sweat is a 2" reeded medium brown with a cloverleaf tassle.
I knew it had spots/smudges when I BIY'n the hat but hoped it would brush up or at worst require a K2R or naptha cleaning. The K2R helped the spots some, but when I brushed the spot on the top of the crown to remove the smudge/crust, whatever had stained it had eaten away some of the felt and there was a small hole. The other spots have not gone away after two K2R applications so its off to a naptha bath.
I may try to come up with some way of "patching" the crown area...... still thinking on that one.
I haven't found a lot on Jay Lord except they were custom hatters in New York from 1936 to 1988 (based on the dates in the article I found). Besdor posted that they bought some tools from them so maybe he knows more.
From a 1989 article:
"Men who wear hats faced an uncertain future when Jay Lord Hatters closed abruptly in October. After 52 years in business, the landmark custom hatmaker at 30 West 39th Street was a victim of escalating rent. But the Jay Lord label abides.
The company, founded by Lou Wald (who thought Jay Lord sounded better), has entered a licensing agreement with Resistol Hats, said Burton Berinsky, Mr. Wald's son-in-law and owner of the company. The homburgs, fedoras and trilbies will be produced in Garland, Tex. Cloth hats will cost about $50; felts, $100 to $125.
''We will still make fine hats, but we no longer can produce custom hats,'' Mr. Berinsky said. ''Guys like Tom Wolfe are going to be hard-pressed, since we were the last men's custom hatmaker in New York.''
Jay Lord hats should be available this fall at Charivari and other stores."
B
The hat is a great color combination Jay Lord Hatter Silver Beaver. The copper ribbon is a wonderful color against the olive drab felt. The felt itself is thick and pliable kind of like the Dobbs and Knox 20 felt but just a little less clay-like. The dimensions of the hat are nice with a 2" brim and 5" crown. I myself prefer more brim to a hat. The ribbon is 1 5/8". The sweat is a 2" reeded medium brown with a cloverleaf tassle.
I knew it had spots/smudges when I BIY'n the hat but hoped it would brush up or at worst require a K2R or naptha cleaning. The K2R helped the spots some, but when I brushed the spot on the top of the crown to remove the smudge/crust, whatever had stained it had eaten away some of the felt and there was a small hole. The other spots have not gone away after two K2R applications so its off to a naptha bath.
I may try to come up with some way of "patching" the crown area...... still thinking on that one.
I haven't found a lot on Jay Lord except they were custom hatters in New York from 1936 to 1988 (based on the dates in the article I found). Besdor posted that they bought some tools from them so maybe he knows more.
From a 1989 article:
"Men who wear hats faced an uncertain future when Jay Lord Hatters closed abruptly in October. After 52 years in business, the landmark custom hatmaker at 30 West 39th Street was a victim of escalating rent. But the Jay Lord label abides.
The company, founded by Lou Wald (who thought Jay Lord sounded better), has entered a licensing agreement with Resistol Hats, said Burton Berinsky, Mr. Wald's son-in-law and owner of the company. The homburgs, fedoras and trilbies will be produced in Garland, Tex. Cloth hats will cost about $50; felts, $100 to $125.
''We will still make fine hats, but we no longer can produce custom hats,'' Mr. Berinsky said. ''Guys like Tom Wolfe are going to be hard-pressed, since we were the last men's custom hatmaker in New York.''
Jay Lord hats should be available this fall at Charivari and other stores."
B
