OFF TO EBAY - early '40s Stetson Special - 7

[ScottF]

Probably early '40s Stetson Special with an overwelt, 2 5/8" brim, 5" crown, 21 3/4" circumference around inside of sweatband. It has some mothing on the underside of the brim, and two on top at the bottom of the ribbon (7th pic) - not extremely conspicuous, but they are there - see detailed photos. Sweatband is in very good shape, but is reeded and is coming loose in a few places - completely wearable though. I have NOT brushed up the hat yet - needed to get pics while we still had some daylight - but will do, Lexol the sweat, and mist alcohol on the inside prior to shipping.

U.S. only due to low price - $40 shipped.

 

[HarpPlayerGene]

GAWD, this is hard to resist. I've got to be strong and stick with 'getting rid of some stuff instead of buying it'.

Someone take Scott up on this great deal, QUICK!

 

[ScottF]

I think this is actually late '30s, but trying to err on the side of conservatism.

 

[Ephraim Tutt]

40 bucks for a Special??!!

What a bargain!!

 

[sproily]

Aw dang it! Gotta live so far

 

[ScottF]

Aw dang it! Gotta live so far

If you are seriously interested, $65 shipped to Finland.

Anyone else from Europe, that's fine too; otherwise, I'll ebay it tonight.

 

[ScottF]

Okay, here's the deal - I bought the hat as 'unworn', 'like new'. I will be returning it, probably TODAY, for a refund of $40 + shipping. Or I can sell it to someone here for $40 and I take a small loss on the shipping. I don't mind, but...

...it's going somewhere, today, so jump on it now if you are interested. Thanks.

 

[thunderw21]

Someone really needs to jump on this.

I already have a Stetson Special but if no one wants this one I'll seriously consider taking it off your hands, Scott.

 

[ScottF]

Someone really needs to jump on this.

I already have a Stetson Special but if no one wants this one I'll seriously consider taking it off your hands, Scott.

Okay, but it's small - also, if you wouldn't mind taking a look at your Special and letting me know thoughts about it, I'd appreciate it. With yours, I have images of 7, and a bunch of ads, so enough to make some educated guesses about its history (what's missing), and start a 'Stetson Special' thread with good documentation...but waiting for the hat to sell, so it doesn't look like inappropriate advertising.

You guys are going to see a lot more of these from me - if I can get a pre-40 Stetson REAL cheap I'm going to do it. I have almost all the photos I need for the pre-40 Stetson web-page, but trying to get a few variations. This particular hat is tough to date because it has a liner that matches up well with what I think are mid-30's (or older), and a tightly-stitched reeded sweatband made from cellulose reed (not plastic), but the sweatband label has gold embossing, which is probably the upper end for these (late '30s?). Other than a cheaper second-generation version of the 'Special' that popped up with a $5 price tag in the '50s, I haven't found any ads for them after the early '30s. It's a bit of an enigma, as it was advertised very heavily up until 1932, then disappeared, but I feel certain it was in use through the '30s and possibly early '40s, based mainly on a liner design change and a general 'newer' look on some of them (newer as in early '40s). (Input appreciated).

The 'Special' apparently entered the market in 1905 as a 'clear nutria' hat, priced at $5 (lower than the 3X or 'Real Nutria' base models at the time, so I assume it was thinner felt - the older one that I have is VERY light). By 1928 it was priced at $20, below only the 4X,5X and 7X Stetsons. This one has thick, soft felt, so it makes sense.

 

[ScottF]

Wow. Okay, now, and forever more, off to ebay.

I'll be auctioning more hats on ebay, under seller i.d. RUNSCOTT, the next five or so beginning tonight and Sunday, all ending next Sunday.

I also have a 1940's dark forest green wool coat (large) which I had planned to put up for sale here, but I'll go ahead and send that one to ebay as well, and post the link here.

...still looking for '20s to '30s Stetson fedoras, so please PM if you have any for sale/trade

 

[Marc Chevalier]

Wow. Okay, now, and forever more, off to ebay.

The FL Classifieds can be frustrating for sellers.


.

 

[Feraud]

Sorry to read it did not sell here. What happened to those who want to see Loungers selling to other Loungers through the Classifieds? [huh]
Apparently the esprit de corp disappears when it's time to open the wallet.

 

[Garrett]

ebay is the best way to go. I no longer will sell items through the lounge.

 

[simmonsgc]

Well, you guys can certainly sell your hats wherever you want. But I'd point out that you seem to be condemning the buyer-interest of the members of the Fedora Lounge, when in my opinion you should be condemning the buyer-interest of members of the Fedora Lounge whose heads are 21 3/4" in circumference. Big difference, esp. in this economy when some hat lovers don't have the bucks to own hats that don't fit them just because they're neat hats.

Speaking for myself, I always appreciate it when a lounger posts a hat here for the community, or passes along a good deal. I recently sold a Dobbs Golden Coach to a fellow FL member for $22 plus shipping, because I got a great deal on it and it didn't fit (and I don't make my living buying/selling hats). I think that's part of what's nice about being a member of this community, and I hope to find a hat offered here that I'll buy at some point. I appreciate guys like Gene, who's been moving a lot of stuff here lately. Likewise, his hats are all too small for me, but some folks I know have snapped up some of his stuff.

I'm always looking here for 7 1/4LO or 7 3/8 hats that I don't have, because I trust the opinion and accuracy of FL'ers more than the general public. But that's just one guy's opinion, and worth what you paid for it. Good luck on your sales where ever they may be!

Cheers,

GC

 

[Marc Chevalier]

... in my opinion you should be condemning the buyer-interest of members of the Fedora Lounge whose heads are 21 3/4" in circumference.

Well, those are the people we're condemning. Isn't that self-evident? Who in their right mind would condemn someone for not trying to buy a hat that doesn't fit him/her?


No, the problem we have is with the people who do have the right head size for the hat, and who like its style ... but would rather wait for the Holy Grail "$25 hat auction on eBay" that might, just might, come their way. All well and good ... but if that's the lay of the land, don't expect sellers to keep offering high quality hats (or suits!) via the FL Classifieds.


Lower quality and/or less desirable hats? Sure, they'll continue to turn up here. Finer, more desirable hats? Not so much, I reckon.

.

 

[simmonsgc]

Self-evident? I suppose that depends on what "Wow. Okay, now, and forever more, off to ebay" means. If it means Scott will never offer another hat (of any size or price) here ever again, then it's not so self evident.

If this hat fit me, I'd have snapped it up for $40 so fast it would make your head spin.

 

[Marc Chevalier]

If this hat fit me, I'd have snapped it up for $40 so fast it would make your head spin.

Wish there were more potential buyers like you! :eusa_clap

If it means Scott will never offer another hat (of any size or price) here ever again, then it's not so self evident.

This isn't really the case of one hat not being bought by someone even though his/her head size matched it. No, Scott is frustrated because this stuff happens again and again with hats of various sizes and prices. If a hat has an unusual and desirable size and make/color/whatever, then it doesn't sell because the price is "high." If another hat is offered at a low price, then it doesn't sell because the make/color/size/whatever is less desirable.


As I said earlier, this is all well and good: it's the prerogative of the buyer to decide what he/she wants. On the other hand, we shouldn't expect sellers to continue putting up with it, when eBay offers a more lucrative solution.



.

 

[ScottF]

Wish there were more potential buyers like you! :eusa_clap





This isn't really the case of one hat not being bought by someone even though his/her head size matched it. No, Scott is frustrated because this stuff happens again and again with hats of various sizes and prices. If a hat has an unusual and desirable size and make/color/whatever, then it doesn't sell because the price is "high." If another hat is offered at a low price, then it doesn't sell because the make/color/size/whatever is less desirable.


As I said earlier, this is all well and good: it's the prerogative of the buyer to decide what he/she wants. On the other hand, we shouldn't expect sellers to continue putting up with it, when eBay offers a more lucrative solution.



.

Marc, thanks for your support on this - I couldn't have said it better. But thanks also, to others for adding some comments here - I certainly don't mind differences of opinion on this matter, but I do hope that no one thinks I'm being a jerk by stating that from now on I do ebay.

I tried the classifieds here for a while, then took the items that didn't sell and put them on ebay. I almost always found that I got MORE on ebay than I had asked here in the classifieds.

...so I quit selling here for a while. Then, as some of you will remember, a new fellow started a thread complaining about people who advertised ebay auctions in the classifieds, complained that we should be offering our hats to fellow loungers first, and then went so far as to suggest that the administrators not allow ebay postings here.

Well...while I didn't agree with the guy, I definitely understood his frustration, so I tried an experiment: I posted about 8 hats here in the classifieds. As expected, a couple of cherries were picked. The others sold for more than I advertised them here - most were BIN's, so my prices on ebay were only a small amount above what I advertised them for here.

Now, the above can mean a couple of things: when it comes to hats, we're all incredibly intelligent here on the lounge, and ebayers are not. Or it can mean that most buyers prefer to 'play' the ebay auction game. That I can actually believe.

In any event, I'm not even concerned about the price difference - I just would prefer to put up an auction listing and not have to think about it until time to collect $$$ and ship. With classifieds, it's going back and forth with several people via PM, then in all likelihood still not selling a hat.

 

[ScottF]

Actually, I'll take back part of what I said - I can still see times when putting hats in the classifieds is a good thing, and I'm likely to do it again, but it will be the minority of the time.

 

[ScottF]

Well, you guys can certainly sell your hats wherever you want. But I'd point out that you seem to be condemning the buyer-interest of the members of the Fedora Lounge, when in my opinion you should be condemning the buyer-interest of members of the Fedora Lounge whose heads are 21 3/4" in circumference. Big difference, esp. in this economy when some hat lovers don't have the bucks to own hats that don't fit them just because they're neat hats.

Speaking for myself, I always appreciate it when a lounger posts a hat here for the community, or passes along a good deal. I recently sold a Dobbs Golden Coach to a fellow FL member for $22 plus shipping, because I got a great deal on it and it didn't fit (and I don't make my living buying/selling hats). I think that's part of what's nice about being a member of this community, and I hope to find a hat offered here that I'll buy at some point. I appreciate guys like Gene, who's been moving a lot of stuff here lately. Likewise, his hats are all too small for me, but some folks I know have snapped up some of his stuff.

I'm always looking here for 7 1/4LO or 7 3/8 hats that I don't have, because I trust the opinion and accuracy of FL'ers more than the general public. But that's just one guy's opinion, and worth what you paid for it. Good luck on your sales where ever they may be!

Cheers,

GC

Thanks for the comments.

If this hat were a 7 1/4, I would be asking a heckuva lot more for it than $40 shipped. Look at Whippets - 7 3/8's now go for over $300. 6 7/8 go for about $70. If you don't believe me, PM me and I'll send you a website where you can buy one right now.

Heck, why wait - here's the link, go buy it:

Beautiful Whippet on the web