Looking for beaver bodies

[sben0063]

Well, this is my first post since I joined. I'm new to the whole hat world, but am heartened by the community of hat fans at the fedora lounge. I love this forum.
What I really really need is to find somewhere I can get hold of about 20 hat bodies of beaver fur felt.
I don't know what most beaver fur felt is like, but I want it to have a long pile (like what I think is call piled felt?) which means that the finished hat can have a sort of fluffy edge to the brim (I'm not being very technical I'm affraid) and for the whole hat to have a sheen.
This is in order to make a set of what are called clerical hats, which look much like this:

and these

If anyone has any suggestions then please let me know. I'm sort of desperate.
Thanks, SBEN

 

[Aaron Hats]

Pick up a copy of the Hat Life Directory and start dialing for dollars.
http://www.hatlife.com/

 

[jeboat]

need beaver hats

Try Steve Delk at sdelk@cableone.net. If he doesn't have them he will help you find them.

jeboat :cool2: :cool2: :cool2:

 

[besdor]

Pure beaver bodies are hard to get . From the picture , it looks as if there is a shine to the hats. There is a body factory in Portugal called Thepsa where many of the hat factories buy their fur from . The man to ask for is Ricardo .
You may also want to contact a facory in New Jersy called Serratelli . They produce their own hats and may sell bodies . They are located in Newark. Very nice guys!

 

[Matt Deckard]

Art Fawcett or Fedora on this forum can help you. Do they have to have a sheen? Out of curiosity, why clerical hats? is it for your religion?

 

[sben0063]

Thanks for the posts.

jeboat; I shall certainly give Steve Delk a try.

besdor; I'm beginning to realise how hard pure beaver bodies are to come by! I have the contact details of the company in Portugal you mention, though I had thought they were called Fepsa - no matter. The shine on the hat in the picture is partly from it being under too much of a flash, but also because it is not really an authentic beaver (which is the problem, as new hats like the one shown are made of something else which is much smoother and shinier.)

Matt; again, the sheen is not actually so essential, though I think the beaver should have a sort of lustre about it. Yes this hat is for religious usage and a priest has asked me to arrange to have about 20 made.

I thought I would put this photo up too, which actually gives more of an idea of the felt that I'm looking for, though the shape is all wrong and there seems to be a special 'wave' in the felt which is not what I'm looking for (from webite:http://www.levinehat.com/Selentino_Beaver_Godfather.htm)

Thanks again, and more suggestions appreciated.
SBEN