"New" Stetson Royal Deluxe

[matei]

Hello all,

A few weeks back I picked up a light grey Stetson Royal Deluxe. I sniped at the last minute what turns out was another 'Lounge member - many apologies!

It is a lovely hat indeed. The felt is uber-soft and easily molded, there are no holes or rips to speak of. It doesn't have a bound edge, rather it is underwelted.

It is a wee bit tight, but I'll give it some gentle, quality time on the "rack" and see what happens. the liner and sweat are in excellent shape as well.

It appears to have the same sweat as my other Royal Stetson, but floppier fur and no edge ribbon. The felt is a much lighter colour, however this could be because it was left out in the sun a bit.

Here are a few pics:

The only negative bit about the hat is the ribbon. Instead of being black, it appears to be "going grey", with reddish highlights. Almost like it was left in the sun... That is fine with me, a ribbon can be replaced (or even re-dyed, no?)... It wouldn't stop me from wearing it though!

Correct me if I'm wrong, but wouldn't sunlight deter moths from attacking a hat?

 

[Baron Kurtz]

Well moths like dark, undisturbed places to do their thing. So i guess sunlight and wearing will deter the little blighters ...

I be of the opinion also that an imperfect ribbon gives the hat character ... I leave all my imperfect vintage ribbons in place.

bk

 

[matei]

Upon reflection, this hat is really close to the custom Optima that MK has. The feel of the felt and design are very similar.

 

[matei]

When I pulled the sweat down to moisten it a wee bit, I found that a previous owner had added some newspaper to adjust the fit... This is some old newpaper, I can't quite make out the date (because it was cut into strips just ahead of the date!) but I can see a picture of a football player wearing one of those old-school leather helmets!

 

[Magus]

When I pulled the sweat down to moisten it a wee bit, I found that a previous owner had added some newspaper to adjust the fit... This is some old newpaper, I can't quite make out the date (because it was cut into strips just ahead of the date!) but I can see a picture of a football player wearing one of those old-school leather helmets!

COOL!...just waitin on a PICTURE!

 

[matei]

Well... I don't have my scanner hooked up, but the paper is in strips, maybe 1'' x 4''. You can only see a wee part of the picture.

I don't know much about American Football, so I don't know when they stopped wearing this type of helmet. It looks a bit like a WWII pilot, or even tanker, helmet.

Anyhow, I posted two of the pics of the lid up in the first post. It needs to be cleaned a bit, there are a few places where the dust and dirt has set in over the years!

Disclaimer - I don't intend to wear it with the rad t-shirt in the pics, honestly!

 

[Baron Kurtz]

That's quite common. I found a Bugs Bunny cartoon page dated 1954 inside the sweatband of one of my Whippets ...

bk

 

[Baron Kurtz]

Juat saw the pics. Nice hat. Era?

bk

 

[matei]

I don't know... Forties? It is very floppy, very soft - almost no stiffener.