My brown Federation IV came today; a small difference from my grey one

[MattJH]

On the sweatband of my grey Federation IV (purchased from Carter), it's embossed in gold with "FEDERATION IV."

On the sweatband of my brown Federation IV (purchased directly from HatsDirect), it's embossed in gold with "FEDERATION."

The dimensions appear to be identical, unless I have a particularly small-crowned Federation III.

Thoughts?

 

[tortswon]

Possible explanation

I think Carter is probably counterfeiting them. He apparently likes to torture guys from Philly. I am currently waiting for a hat from him and it is killing me! How else can he explain his seemingly limitless supply of hats to trade?

 

[B. F. Socaspi]

Who is this Carter and does he have a 3rd Fed IV?!

<< Another Philly masochist.

 

[carter]

Torture is strictly forbidden by the articles of the Geneva Convention.

Who is this Carter and does he have a 3rd Fed IV?! Another Philly masochist.

I learn who folks are by reading threads in the FL and reading entire threads from the beginning if they are particularly interesting. It's an education.

shakeshead Sorry, Carter does not have any more Fed IV's to trade. shakeshead

BTW, tortswon has not revealed all. I'll leave that and the tale of two hats part deux up to him.

 

[Woodfluter]

Mysteries abound...

Dumbjaw, in May of this year I received my brown Federation IV, ordered from H.D. after a month's wait. They are way faster now, but were behind at the time with orders piling up.

The sweatband just said "Federation". When I received a gray one recently, the sweat said "Federation IV". My curiosity aroused, I measured the crown height: definitively a full 6" for the brown, and 5-1/2" for the gray. But brims essentially the same widths.

I got to wondering if, with demand exceeding supply, someone might have taken an unsold brown Federation III and trimmed the brim. Could yours fit that mold? Pure speculation on my part. Might want to measure the open crown height if you haven't...

Mind you, no complaints from this quarter! I just recently re-did the brown one with a telescoped c-crown. I have two more Feds on the way and it seemed like the way to go with the higher crown.

- Bill

 

[MattJH]

Thanks! I just measured the crown on the brown Federation and it's definitely 5.5", so it's a legitimate Federation IV, it's just not embossed as such on the sweatband. Weird.

 

[Chuck Bobuck]

My brown Federation has a IV on the sweatband. I received it about the time you got your gray Fed.

 

[ken100]

Fed 4

My Fed IV has FEDERATION in carbon grey
IV
on the sweat.

Ken

 

[MattJH]

Official reply from HatsDirect:

"Hi Matt,

glad you love the hats!

We had one order of Fed IVs come in without the IV on the band.......not sure why....someone was asleep when stamping the headbands. Anyway, it's the real thing! It might be a collectors item one day!

cheers,
Deb"

 

[MattJH]

Hey everyone. It's been a while since I've posted here, and I've changed webhosts since, so a lot of my old image links are broken. I'm just updating the three threads that reflect my remaining three hats (VS, grey Fed IV, brown Fed IV) with images of them now, for reference material.


Model: Akubra Federation IV
Quality: Standard
Color: Dark Brown
Crown: Open and dry-creased

​

 

[gtdean48]

Great to see you back Matt....Give Oscar & the folks at South Street my best....