OTHER THAN eBAY Hats: Victories, Defeats, Gripes & Items of Interest

[steur]

Saw this nice looking chest on a posting for a local auction today:
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And then the money shot:
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Maybe a half dozen or so hats, right? Definitely worth going to check out. Boy, was I wrong:
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That's right folks, (10) felts and (5) straws! They were taken out of the chest and placed in random stacks on a table. Winning bidder to get choice of stack. I chose them all.

Now here's the kicker. Only (1) is a 7-3/8, which I plan to keep. The rest of the sizes range from 7-1/2 to 7-3/4 LO. (All you big headed folks...breathe.) I didn't try all of them on, but some may have shrunk a little bit, so I might keep some more, TBD.

Here is an alphabetical list of the haul (though not in order as shown in pics, sorry, my bad):

FELTS

1. Adam 7-1/2 Dk. Brown 2-1/4
2. Adam 7-1/2 LO Brown 2-3/4
3. Cavanagh 7-1/2 Brown 2-5/8
4. Disney 7-1/2 Dk. Grey 2-1/4
5. Dobbs 7-3/4 LO Dk. Brown 2
6. Lee ? Black 2
7. Mallory 7-3/8 LO Tan 2-3/4
8. Resistol 7-3/4 Dk. Brown 1-3/4
9. Resistol 7-3/4 Grey 1-3/4
10. Resistol 7-3/4 Dk. Grey 1-7/8

STRAWS

1. Bee Cool 7-3/8 Brown 2-1/4
2. Boegel's 7-1/2 2-Tone 2-1/2
3. Dobbs 7-5/8 LO Grey 2
4. Lee 7-1/2 Grey 2
5. Sea Spray 7-1/2 Natural 2-5/8 to 2-3/4

Condition ranges from good to excellent. The vast majority have brown sweatbands, so likely hats from before mid-60s (don't crucify me for this oversimplification). I would suspect most are from the 50s, maybe a 40s hat or two but don't hold me to that yet (need to research). There isn't a single hat I wouldn't wear due to flaws, though some do have mothing, light stains, etc. Obviously there are some stingy brims, but hey, they were part of the stacks and need love too.

This posting is NOT about selling any of these hats. Any inquiries or offers received will be of no interest and hold no bearing in terms of who was first to respond and therefore have "dibs." I do intend to move most of these on as they are too big for me. My preference would probably be a trade, but let's be honest, money talks. Maybe I can even earn a few bucks and get a custom with Art at VS in this final week.

Whether I use the Classifieds and/or eBay hasn't been decided yet. I'd prefer to keep it here within the Lounge brotherhood. The only thing I dislike about that is that it's basically a who sees the listing first, which sort of is unfair. I know an auction style format is not allowed here, so I have no intentions of conducting business like that. Perhaps a lottery system where all interested parties are given a number which is then chosen at random? I don't know if that would fly.

Anyway, more to come in the near future. Obviously a lot of work needs to be done in terms of properly documenting each hat, so please bear with me as this will take some time. I shall do my best to share this wealth.

Congrats are in order, Jonathan! I'll be dreaming of finding a mother lode like this myself (to be honest I came close a few times).

 

[TheOldFashioned]

Congrats are in order, Jonathan! I'll be dreaming of finding a mother lode like this myself (to be honest I came close a few times).

Thanks, Stefan. About the only thing that would have made it better is if they were all my size. I would have nearly doubled my collection had that been the case.

I actually missed out on another lot of (8) hats, mostly homburgs, through an online auction later that same day. First time I had tried that platform and I think I still need to work out a few kinks. Not sure if it was due to network lag or what but I thought I had placed a winning bid only to find out my bid didn't even register. Someone ended up with (8) hats for $45.

Had I won that auction as well I think it probably would have been safe to say I would never have a better hat finding day again.

 

[Scooterz]

Disturbingly nice cheap paper straw hat.

Cloth sweat. Pineapple and Star brand. Its supposed to be coated so it can handle a little getting wet and supposed to be packable.

 

[DOGMAN]

Yesterdays flea market find Winchester by Stetson 3X.Gentleman was asking $10 I got it for $8.A little big on me but I can put some felt behind the sweat and wear it.Might be a candidate for a conversion,or maybe sell it.Will for sure change the hat band to a ribbon

 

[Frunobulax]

Yesterdays flea market find Winchester by Stetson 3X.Gentleman was asking $10 I got it for $8.A little big on me but I can put some felt behind the sweat and wear it.Might be a candidate for a conversion,or maybe sell it.Will for sure change the hat band to a ribbon

Good get, Chuck.

 

[DOGMAN]

Good get, Chuck.

Thanks,not a bad hat.I'm never mad when I can get a hat for under $10

 

[deadlyhandsome]

It seems as though half my straw hats have arrived in either a plastic mailing envelope or in a box way too small. On this hat, the seller responded that she intentionally ships them this way “to maintain the brims natural curve.”

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[AbbaDatDeHat]

It seems as though half my straw hats have arrived in either a plastic mailing envelope or in a box way too small. On this hat, the seller responded that she intentionally ships them this way “to maintain the brims natural curve.”

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Ha ha
Best BS line ever!!
Sadly some people probably believe that.
I guess she was out of Stratoliner boxes.
Darn!!
B

 

[Pellie]

It seems as though half my straw hats have arrived in either a plastic mailing envelope or in a box way too small. On this hat, the seller responded that she intentionally ships them this way “to maintain the brims natural curve.”

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Stupid people!!

 

[deadlyhandsome]

Stupid people!!

That about sums it up.


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[AbbaDatDeHat]

It seems as though half my straw hats have arrived in either a plastic mailing envelope or in a box way too small. On this hat, the seller responded that she intentionally ships them this way “to maintain the brims natural curve.”

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Things like this always make me want to tell the story of the hat i got (a gorgeous 67/8 virgin Borsalino) packed in a decrepit, crumbling hat box not worth a nickel, lovingly wrapped in Saran Wrap.
I’ve kept it that way just to remember how impressed i was that it survived unscathed. I guess the Ace Ventura delivery man was off that day.
On the other hand...it was an easy open!
B

 

[DOGMAN]

A little late but this was my Labor day flea market hats find.4 hats $4 each.Need some work but that's half the fun.

more pics to come.

 

[DOGMAN]

Bond Imperial Ten.Pretty cool wide ribbon back bow hat.Needs some work.

 

[drmaxtejeda]

Lion Hats 20X Hundred Percent Beaver, from Bob Hufford.

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[Just Daniel]

Awesome. How do you find the felt? I have a Bond that is one of my favorites!

Daniel

Bond Imperial Ten.Pretty cool wide ribbon back bow hat.Needs some work.

 

[DOGMAN]

So far so good.I started to steam the wrinkles out.Nice felt.Brim has the felted edge(like a Cavanaugh edge).2 1/2" ribbon.Think I'll like it.

 

[deadlyhandsome]

Good for a laugh (asking almost $300 for this used Stetson):

The first text is from a potential customer, the second is the response by the seller:

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[Hurricane Jack]

Lion Hats 20X Hundred Percent Beaver, from Bob Hufford.

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Looks very familiar!

 

[Tukwila]

Thanks for the suggestion. I do like the idea of posting a "heads up" X amount of days ahead of time. I am under the same impression as @deadlyhandsome, however, in that soliciting cash offers is frowned upon here and violates the Classifieds rules. (Pretty sure I even pointed this out once to a newbie in the past who engaged in this practice. Then I'd be a hypocrite as well.) I don't want to pit people against each other like that.

I think right now I'm leaning towards initially listing a hat for trade and using that as a precursor to a sale X days later if no suitable trade comes about. After that I'll use a random number generator to determine which hour of the day I'll open the listing up to a sale format.

I guess one could argue that this is unfair to those that don't have hats to trade. Also, is soliciting multiple hat trade offers really any different than soliciting multiple cash offers? I guess I need to reflect on this some more. Listing on eBay simplifies things but they don't need a cut, and I'd prefer to keep the hats in house. Then again, maybe I'm making a bigger deal out of this than it really is and I should just post them for sale first come first serve.

Have you made a decision on selling any of these? I think eBay listings with a link from fedora lounge classifieds would work best. You'd find out how much a fella likes a certain hat, for sure.

 

[TheOldFashioned]

Have you made a decision on selling any of these? I think eBay listings with a link from fedora lounge classifieds would work best. You'd find out how much a fella likes a certain hat, for sure.

Right now I only have the Boegel's two-tone Milan listed. (I also have a Stetson boater listed in the Classifieds as well.) I'm still in the process of giving each a light steam and brush, taking measurements, photographing, etc. I'm trying to photograph each outside in natural light so I'm a bit limited by schedule availability and weather.

I have one of the Adam Executives all lined up ready to go, I just need to create the post. It'll probably be up this evening or tomorrow. After that my plan is to get some more straws and the stingy brim Resistols listed.

For the time being I'm going to keep eBay out out of the loop. I'd prefer the hats stay here within the Lounge. If there's no market here then I'll throw them up on eBay.