New Old Hat

[jpbales]

Hey all,
I managed to find this vintage panama at an antique store in my area and I was wondering if any of you guys could possibly give me an estimated date of the hat or any other info you can conjure up.

It's a Royal Stetson, 7 3/8 LO (it actually fits!), 2 3/4" brim, and 4 1/4" crown to crease.

There's a number printed on the inside of the sweat that says "584079."

The sweatband has a "John B. Stetson Company" logo and the word "Royal Stetson" next to it, "Genuine Leghorn" in another spot, "Burk Building, Nashville TN." logo in another spot, and the intitials "GAP" punched into it.

Judging by the stitching and how it was tied off, it looks like the sweatband was hand sewn onto the hat.
(as seen in the pic above with the number)

The tattered pinch reveals that the straw was woven around string, something I haven't seen before:

The weave seems to be panama but is loosely woven. The edge looks to be woven back into the hat, not folded over and sewn like some straws.

It has a small satin liner which contains the stetson logo again:

So here's my questions:
How old is this hat?
What is "Genuine Leghorn," some kind of special leather?
Is having string woven in with the straw normal??
Any other thoughts?

Thanks!!

 

[carter]

jp, If you run an Advanced Search using the criteria of Keyword: Leghorn, under Hats, and look at posts, there are 13 references to Leghorn. Here is a bit from one:

Leghorn is a featherweight, open-weave hat made of specially cultured and woven wheat fiber, shipped from the port of Leghorn (Livorno, Italy), whence it gets its name. The finer, upper portion of the the wheat stalk is plaited into Leghorn braid. This straw hat is light, durable, clear and bright in color.

 

[jpbales]

Carter, thanks for the info about Leghorn! So I guess that what I thought was string is actually "The finer, upper portion of the the wheat stalk," which is woven in. Interesting. I read somewhere that it's "rare," but how rare is it? I'm still curious about the date and other info as well. Thanks all!

 

[jpbales]

Stetson Leghorn Advertisement

I manged to find this old Stetson for sale on e-bay. The seller says it's from 1952:

That doesn't mean that Stetson didn't make Leghorn before or later than that tho, but I don't know.

 

[jpbales]

I just bought that ad in the post above- it seemed like a deal I couldn't pass up [huh] So hopefully I'll be able to post better pics of it when it comes.

 

[HarpPlayerGene]

I don't know about these hats but it looks like you're onto the info you seek.

That hat is very cool. I love the style, proportions, ribbon...

Are you going to wear it in the summer in spite of the damage at the pinch? I would.

 

[jpbales]

I probably will wear it, the damage gives it "character" I think. The only thing is that I'm afraid of damaging it futher, and it seems pretty delicate. Is there any way to patch up the hole? I was thinking maybe a peice of color-matching cloth glued on the underside of the hat where the hole is. I just don't want it fraying open any further.

I don't know about these hats but it looks like you're onto the info you seek.

That hat is very cool. I love the style, proportions, ribbon...

Are you going to wear it in the summer in spite of the damage at the pinch? I would.

 

[jpbales]

Leghorn Ad

The ad I purchased for the Stetson Leghorn hat has arrived.

It says

"Combining crisp styling with zephyr-light comfort, famous Stetson Leghorn Straws are available this year in a variety of distinctive new shapes. Millions of tiny windows invite cooling breezes to circulate around your brow, keep you delightfully "hat cool" all summer long. Feature above: The "Randolph," trimmed with the exclusive Stetson woven band. $10.
the STETSON Leghorn
is part of the man
THE STETSON "CUSHIONED-FIT" LEATHER HAS BEEN THE STANDARD OF HAT COMFORT FOR OVER 70 YEARS. STETSON HATS ARE MADE ONLY BY JOHN B. STETSON COMPANY AND ITS AFFILIATED COMPANIES THROUGHOUT THE WORLD.
ESQUIRE: June
page 43"

I was trying to figure out what year the ad was printed by using clues from the adds on the other side, but I couldn't figure it out. I'm going to e-mail the person who sold it to me to see if they happen to know what edition of Esquire the ad was taken from.

Mine appears to be "The Stetson Newport"

 

[jpbales]

my age guess...

My guess is the 1950's.
Firstly, the liner logo closely matches this one which is found on a 1950's whippet:
http://gallery.me.com/garydoty/100482/TLD_0074/web.jpg

secondly, on the back of the Leghorn Ad page, there's an article written by "Richard Joseph" who wrote a "Vacation Now" article in Esquire Magazine. From what I've seen of old esquires post on ebay and elsewhere, he wrote in only in the mid to late 50's. There's also an add for shoes that have nylon, which wasn't even invented until 1935, and not used until WWII in parachutes.

thirdly, the tag is just a fraction (3/8), as opposed to a number and a fraction (7 3/8) which supposedly didn't come until later.