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[Hurricane Jack]

Can anyone help me date this Bradford Ltd western fedora? My wife bought a large number of vintage women's hats at a yard sale and this was among them. It's too large for me to wear, and besides, I'm just not a cowboy. My son-in-law actually is, so I'm going to give it to him for Christmas. I did some research on Bradford Ltd. but I wasn't able to date it. I had it cleaned a reshaped, probably a mistake from a collectors point of view, but my son-in-law isn't a collector so if it fits reasonably well he'll probably use it. Any help you could give in dating it would be appreciated.

Before and after cleaning and reshaping
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Older than you think. One of the Resistol brands, I made note of the Art Byer name. 2-cord ribbon. Michael R has/had Bradfords in his collection & would know more if we can get him to come back & post.

 

[BobHufford]

Was Art the progeny of Edward R.?

 

[Hurricane Jack]

Was Art the progeny of Edward R.?

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Yes. Most of those brands weren’t around long originally, because of the buyout ~1968.

 

[Blare]

Took me a while to jump on this one. Shame on me, because these rarely show up. Finally put in an offer and it was accepted.
Blum velours fedora hat in black for the French market. Size 56 with the raw edge brim at 6cm and the crown at a imposing 12cm at the center dent. I have another Blum hat and that made me hesitate, but if this quality comes along you have to get it. There seem to be some differing opinions on Blum. The 150 year existence of the Wels Hutfabrik (formerly Carl Blum) was celebrated this year, which would date them to 1874. Their advertising had 1834 as the year of origin though. Could be they were founded in 1834 and had the factory built in 1874. It was in operation until 1935 under the management of Carls' son Robert Blum. His daughter Roberta Blum inherited the already closed factory and bequeathed it to the Catholic Church in 1967.
No labels under the sweatband unfortunately. Fairly lightweight for a velour: 124 grams.

It works well both as a fedora style with the brim down as a more "camber" style with the brim up.

An advertising postcard from this brand.

Beautiful velour, Stefan.

 

[steur]

Beautiful velour, Stefan.

Thank you, Joe. I have too many of these black velours, but I can't resist them.

 

[Steve1857]

Thank you, Joe. I have too many of these black velours, but I can't resist them.

Nor should you, Stefan. They are somewhat irresistible

 

[steur]

Nor should you, Stefan. They are somewhat irresistible

They are indeed! A high quality velour just waiting to be petted!

 

[rhenry]

Older than you think. One of the Resistol brands, I made note of the Art Byer name. 2-cord ribbon. Michael R has/had Bradfords in his collection & would know more if we can get him to come back & post.

Thanks Hurricane Jack.