warbird
One Too Many
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Art Fawcett said:Clay, I understand basically that you are trying to put a "rating" or somehow quantify what makes the good/perfect hat but from the perspective of this side of things, it cannot be done beyond the obvious ie: weave count. Color, even with a pantone chart is STILL subject to each eye and is NOT as clear as you seem to believe. Evenness of the weave means alot when it comes to musuem or highly rated hats, but to who's eye is it uneven?
What this feels like is a setup for failure, period.
Beauty, evenness, color consistency, virtually everything can be argued when talking panama's and most of it is in the eye of either the "complaintant" or the "vendor", each seeing different things. These are not machine made items Clay, they are hand woven by human hands, hand bleached, hand blocked, hand finished. Of course each hat is going to vary and each vendor is going to place a value on each hat as he or she believe to be fair to all. To set up an artificial "scale" of some sort only gives the lawyers in us argument points. Panama's, from the lowest weave count to the highest are pieces of art to be enjoyed and worn with pride, not to argue about .
This is why Robert, myself, and any other hatter or vendor will probably balk at this thread. Artwork cannot and should not be minimized to a widget chart.
Well said Art. The very idea of grading art by a numbering system. It really is simple, you go by your trust and respect for who you buy hats from. It's reputation for the business or the hatmaker. I have found they will send pics and tell you this is what I have or what this person's work looks like. Especially in panamas the deviation from one hat to another in so many ways would make a standard nearly impossible.
I see no need for this type of system.