Great find, Randall. Dates from the 1936-1953 period. Solid advice from Bowen on the stretching part. The Augusta line of hats was likely rabbit felt. I find on Borsalinos it doesn't seem to matter which type of felt it was: they could do miracles with anything. I am thinking though this could be a coffin box homburg. The hats that were sold and sent in those little white boxes included homburgs (which is mindboggling, really) and this could be one of those. The model name is a first: we've never seen a "Nizosca" model before. so for that alone it's unique. Super find.Okay, just got this Borsalino homburg today. It’s my first Italian, or foreign hat. Never been near one either, so my only impression comes from this one lid.
From the onion skin tip and sweat blocker I suppose I can assume it’s from the late forties, early fifties, if they used the product over there the same years we were.
The felt is ultra supple, thin and feather light. One question is, were they strictly using hare or rabbit fur during this time period? Probably so, which would explain the felts wispy lightness. It still holds any crease very well. Impressive. As far as the hat’s components go, I’d say it’s no better or worse than any other hat I’ve owned from this era. The crown is relatively short on this hat, 4 1/8 at the front crease.
The seller said the hat measured Eight by six and a 1/4, so I thought it would fit perfectly. But, it really measures seven and 3/4 by six and 3/8, so it’s a little small for me. The BIG question is this: Do these vintage Borsalino reedless hats take a stretch as well as our Reeded hats? The rear seam on the sweat is merely taped , so I’m a little worried about that. The way it nearly fits my head, if it were an American made hat I know it would take the half size stretch with no problems, but on this one I’m not sure. Can anyone that knows for sure help me out?
I’ll include all pics of the important features so the oversea folks can tell me what all this writing means, ie: Steve, Stefan and Daniel. [emoji1]
There is a code embossment on the front of the sweat, meaning, what? View attachment 203416 View attachment 203415 View attachment 203414 View attachment 203413 View attachment 203412 View attachment 203410 View attachment 203408
Ps: Is there anything about this particular hat that makes it outstanding from other homburg Borsalinos of this era?
In other words, I got this hat cheap and may resell it if someone here tells me it won’t stretch well and if there is nothing remarkable about it.
Don’t get me wrong, I like this hat very much. It’s very appealing, but I already have a Stetson exactly like it from this time period.
Be glad to keep it .... if it’s a keeper![emoji6]
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