My Grandfather's hats restored

[Allenworsham]

Awhile back my sister came across an old "Dobb's New York" hat box in her garage that had 5 hats that belonged to my Grandfather who had died in 1959. He had a barber shop for many years and then got his insurance and realtor licenses and opened up an insurance/notary/real estate office and ran it for about about 15-20 years before he passed. So he was a pretty snappy dresser and really enjoyed his hats. The hat box had gotten some water damage so one hat, a 1930's straw boater hat was on the top and was damaged beyond repair, but it worked out good to put out on display on the bookcase along with the box once I repaired the box. There were 2 felt fedoras from the late 1940's-early 1950's that were in decent shape and repairable and one felt fedora that beat up had tears in it which I had to toss. There was also a straw Panama from the late 1940's-early 1950's that was also repairable and will get a new ribbon as the original ribbon was toast. So I dropped off the 2 decent felt fedoras and the Panama to a vintage men's store that does work on vintage hats. Being that I am a hat guy and wear them all the time, it was really important to me to get these restored so that I could wear them. So I picked up the 2 felt fedoras a couple of days ago which turned out nice and will get the Panama next week.

So here are a couple of photos of the refurbished felt fedoras which I am very pleased with.

This one turned out really well and they were able to save the original silk ribbon. The felt is very clean, light and tight and was used as a dress hat as opposed to every day. There was no sweat staining and there was no lining inside the hat. Not sure of the hat maker, but the band has "Volk & Wiese The Men's Shop, Fullerton ,CA" which was a brick & mortar store in downtown Fullerton. I also have a couple of ties from them as well.

This hat was made by "Caxton" in New York and was worn a lot. It had a lot of sweat stains on the interior satin liner as well as having sweat that seeped through the felt into the ribbon. The ribbon was not salvageable, but they found some ribbon that was pretty much identical to the original ribbon.

 

[Big Man]

Glad you were able to get some of your grandfather's old hats restored. They look great.

 

[RJR]

Nice saves,hope the panama turns out as well.

 

[The Wiser Hatter]

I sure these will be treasured hats. Would love to have some of my grandfathers hats.

 

[barrowjh]

Awesome! This is what many of us do, and why we talk on this site, exchanging information to help us restore or help find a refurbisher. The hats we pick up on ebay are somebody's grandfather's hats. Looks like your grandad preferred medium brown, with rust color ribbons. Both hats seem similar it that respect.

 

[pnbarber]

Nice hat and a great story. I too would love to have some of my grandfather's hats.

 

[KingAndrew]

Great find and the hats look super on you! Thanks for sharing a story that is the fantasy of every member here. Now you just need to find a Packard in the barn...