My First Borsalino

[Visigoth]

Greetings, Fedorates

I just joined, but I did my research on this site before purchasing my first Borsalino. I'd love opinions on the vintage lid I snagged tonight on ebay:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=8398803279

I know there's a bias here against the "stingy brim," but I was specifically looking for one -- I look strange in the classic broad-brimmed Borsalino. My questions: is that 2" ribbon just *too* wide? I take it that it's easy to replace. Also, viewed from the front, the crown tapers a fair bit -- is this just a question of rebashing it, if I want the sides closer to parallel (the way the front and back are in the side view)?

Lastly, I take it the price is good, no? Seventy bucks for a mint Borsalino in beaver fur, from the fifties? (In precisely my size.) I look at the new prices, and it seems this hat would set me back $500 or more.

Can't wait for it to arrive, after which I shall model it on my peculiar head for y'all.

 

[John in Covina]

You have to learn all the lyrics to "Fly Me to the Moon" and sing it like Sinatra when you put that one on!

And that's a good thing!

 

[Visigoth]

Ah, lovely: you think it's an echt Sinatra lid? I suspect he would have worn it in black, but no matter.

I'm looking closely at the photos, and I'm hoping it really is "mint" -- either the lighting is weird, or it seems as if there might be some discoloration. And it's definitely been bashed in a bit (although that doesn't bother me).

 

[besdor]

This hat is from the 1960's or early 70's . Today , a Diamante hat is about 275.00 to 300.00 but your hat is in a quality level all by itself . Enjoy it as they dont make them like that anymore .

 

[WEEGEE]

One of my faves

Besides my customs from Art my charcol grey Diamante II is one

of my most worn hats...its a great hat...though for me i like wearing the

brim turned up around...nice hatitude.

enjoy!!!

 

[spiridon]

Very nice snag there Visigoth! I was looking at that one pretty hard myself....love the "look".

 

[mysterygal]

Visigoth, congradulations on your first borsalino! and you did good as far as the price goes too...enjoy!

 

[Visigoth]

Thanks all,

Weegee, we share more than a Diamante hat. I have (and use) the same Graflex camera as Weegee did. In fact, at one point a group of us were going to start a large format street photographers league... and the one thing we agreed upon is that we should all wear:

fedoras.

So is the Diamante still made, then? By a company other than Borsalino? (I assumed it was a peculiar model name; not a type.)

 

[WEEGEE]

Don't know

So is the Diamante still made, then? By a company other than Borsalino? (I assumed it was a peculiar model name; not a type.)

Mine is the same vintage Borsalino as yours...it is soft yet solid and holds

any block you shape it in...very nice felt.

I have (and use) the same Graflex camera as Weegee did. In fact, at one point a group of us were going to start a large format street photographers league... and the one thing we agreed upon is that we should all wear:

fedoras.

I was just shooting some polaroid Type 55 in the yard with my Graflex

Monday...love using that Machine.


You'll love the hat...i shoot darts in a leauge tonight and the Diamante

is the hat i often wear when i shoot.


Cheers...

WeeGee

 

[Visigoth]

Lovely! And is your Diamante beaver? (How do you tell?)

Polaroid 55 is great stuff; and, strangely enough, I can even get it fresh in my remote Mexican mountain town. (Surely Graflexes, Rollei TLRs and Leicas are appropriate to the Fedora lounge, viewed as fashion accessories.)

 

[WEEGEE]

QUILITY

I only by owning some hats i'm certain are beaver would i guess the

Diamante is...it may be a mix primarily beaver with a percentage rabbit.

Art, Fedora and other loungers will know more. As the lounge is growing

leaps and bounds...MK may want to think about a Cameras and Images

section.

When you get the Diamante check under the sweat ...between the sweat

and liner you'll see a tag with a manufacture #...on a prior post we talked

about how this relates to date and production #.


WeeGee

 

[Visigoth]

So, Weegee, would you roll that hat or not? (I do a lot of travelling -- wondering whether it's wise to roll *any* lined fedora.)

 

[WEEGEE]

No Rolling...

You can toss it...its strong.

No...roll is not in its vocabulary.

It would be kinder to use it as a pillow...it will bounce back as long as you

keep it oil/grease free.

Needs to be brushed...counter clock wise ...lots of fresh air!!!

I am seroius about the brushing...daily!

Where in Mexico are you?

We are going to Mexico City for two weeks in November.


Most Regards,

WeeGee

 

[Visigoth]

Hm. Wonder where I'll find a hat brush down here. I'm in San Miguel de Allende, in the highlands of Guanajuato. About four hours by bus from Mexico City. Lovely colonial city, completely preserved... impossible to take a photograph here that's not a cliche.

It will be interesting to see how the Borsalino suits our summer climate -- we're 6300 feet up, so it's not appallingly hot (and almost never humid). I take it if this hat is anything like the Borsalinos I've felt (no pun intended), it's nice and light.

 

[John in Covina]

Hm. Wonder where I'll find a hat brush down here. Doug

**********
Doug!

One of the guys here is using a brand new unused shoe brush as a temporary fill in. (Kiwi Brand) So it should have fairly long hairs or bristles and be fairly soft to brush a hat.

 

[Marc Chevalier]

I'm in San Miguel de Allende, in the highlands of Guanajuato.

Say hola to the mummies of Guanajuato for me!

 

[WEEGEE]

Kiwi (no imposters)

O.P. John in Covina

One of the guys here is using a brand new unused shoe brush as a temporary fill in. (Kiwi Brand) So it should have fairly long hairs or bristles and be fairly soft to brush a hat.

Doug,

Kiwi Brand...the off brands tend to shed the horse hair because they are

cheaply glued.

 

[Magus]

**********
Doug!

One of the guys here is using a brand new unused shoe brush as a temporary fill in. (Kiwi Brand) So it should have fairly long hairs or bristles and be fairly soft to brush a hat.

Actually John...I'm not using it as a fill in...but as my regular everyday brush. It works fantastic.

M

 

[Visigoth]

Hat Brushes and Mummies

Thanks for the brush advice. I take it the "daily" brushing is only required those days on which the hat is actually worn...

And re: the mummies of Guanajuato. Me, I find them, frankly, depressing. These aren't two-thousand-year-old anonymous Egyptian royals: they're somebody's grandfather. Dug up because the family couldn't pay the rent on the burial space. None are wearing fedoras, but some are still wearing socks.

By the way, a friend of mine, another photographer, wanted to do a photo shoot with the mummies, and was amazed when the museum director simply handed him a key, and told him he was welcome to come in after hours. So my friend captured this lovely, gruesome photo of himself, at midnight, with his arm around a desiccated corpse...

But this being the Fedora Lounge, not Necrophiles "R" Us, I'd like to know whether anyone here snagged that black, never-been-worn vintage Borsalino off ebay yesterday. I came so close to buying a second Italo-lid, before the first had even arrived, but I see a potential addiction blooming here, which I've decided to curb before it bankrupts me.

 

[Marc Chevalier]

... I see a potential addiction blooming here, which I've decided to curb before it bankrupts me.

And then you might not be able to pay rent on a burial space, and then ...


Just kidding. I, too, find the Guanajuato mummies very sad. Heck, they were even used and abused by Klaus Kinski in Nosferatu: Phantom der Nacht (1979).