Open Road

[eaglerich]

Saw this on Ebay today. The sweatband says "Open Road" but I've never seen an OR with a wide ribbon like that. Anyone ever seen an OR like this? It looks to be a nice hat. If it was my size I'd definitely bid on it.

Active auction link removed. No active auction links may be posted in keeping with Lounge rules. --AlanC

 

[Lefty]

I saw the hat you're talking about, but don't want to discuss an open auction.

Check out the Open Road Guild thread and you'll find that a wide ribbon on an OR can mean one of three things: (1) the sweat isn't original to the hat (this one doesn't happen often), (2) the ribbon has been replaced (a maybe), or (3) it's a real oldie. As to 3, check out Douglas' early OR for the very different sweatband and liner that the old ones had.

 

[Pilgrim]

If the sweatband says Open Road, it's pretty sure to be the real thing. Ribbons come and go, but sweatbands normally are not replaced - and if one were replaced, the replacement wouldn't say Open Road on it.

 

[Dinerman]

The real old ones don't come up often, as they were only made for a year or two in the '30s. Those have entirely different logos, dimensions, and trimmings to them. In other words, it's an entirely different hat, but with the same name. If it was one of those, you'd know, and the one in question definitely isn't one.

Someone's just changed the ribbon on it at some point. Simple as that.

 

[jimmy the lid]

Someone's just changed the ribbon on it at some point. Simple as that.

Yup.

Cheers,
JtL

 

[mingoslim]

The real old ones don't come up often, as they were only made for a year or two in the '30s. Those have entirely different logos, dimensions, and trimmings to them. In other words, it's an entirely different hat, but with the same name. If it was one of those, you'd know, and the one in question definitely isn't one.

Someone's just changed the ribbon on it at some point. Simple as that.

Kind of like comparing a 2009 Ford Mustang with a REAL ford Mustang . . .
They have the same name, but they are not the same beast.

 

[Justdog]

These links dont seem to work

Saw this on Ebay today. The sweatband says "Open Road" but I've never seen an OR with a wide ribbon like that. Anyone ever seen an OR like this? It looks to be a nice hat. If it was my size I'd definitely bid on it.

Active auction link removed. No active auction links may be posted in keeping with Lounge rules. --AlanC

These links dont seem to work

 

[RBH]

From The Paris [Texas] News October 26 1951.

<a href="http://imageshack.us"><img src="http://img144.imageshack.us/img144/6373/openroadng4.jpg" border="0" alt="Image Hosted by ImageShack.us"/></a>

It looks , according to this ad, that Open Roads could come with wide ribbons at least up to 1951.

 

[jimmy the lid]

R - As a member of the Society of Forensic Fedorists, it's amazing what you come up with in these newspaper ads!

I always love to check out what colors are advertised. It's the first time I've seen blue advertised as a color for the OR, in addition to gray, brown and silver belly. Also interesting that the Stetson 25 is advertised in "Ash," and that it comes in something other than an OR model.

The advertising about the OR being available with a wide or narrow band is interesting. In terms of Stetson westerns, there was a super narrow band available. I wonder if, relatively speaking, the thin ribbon we associate with the OR was the "wide" ribbon of the two. [huh]

Just looking at the ad makes me wish I could have walked into that store and been surrounded by all of those lids. How great would that be?

Cheers,
JtL

 

[RBH]

The advertising about the OR being available with a wide or narrow band is interesting. In terms of Stetson westerns, there was a super narrow band available. I wonder if, relatively speaking, the thin ribbon we associate with the OR was the "wide" ribbon of the two. [huh]


Cheers,
JtL

I really dont think this would be the case.
We have 'seen' a few Open Roads with a wide ribbon. BUT I have never seen one with the 'very thin' western style ribbon.