Post New Hats Here!

[Blare]

Hey Joe where are you going with this hat on your head?
it is a splendid example of Borsalino made before the second world war and probably immediately after the first.
The brim edge is a specialty of the "old" Borsalino and of the mastery of the craftsmen of Alessandria.
Keep in mind that at that time the quality in Italian hatters was made of unusual and elegant construction solutions.
Third point is a Borsalino made for a European market, Thessaloniki is in Greece, not as large as other countries and probably the shape was suggested by the fashions of the moment in the port on the Thermaic Gulf of the Aegean Sea.
Exciting hat and a rare or very rare historical find.
Congratulations Joe

Thank you Daniele. Unfortunately yesterday it only made it around my house and backyard. I do plan to get it out and about soon! I had suspected it was made for the Greek market based on the store name. Excited to add one as rare and unusual as this one. That said.. it can take some adjustment Getting used to wearing something as different as this…. But it is growing on me rapidly. So no worries there.

All credit is due to Stefan for keeping tabs on this gem.

Thank you again for your assessment, historical and geographical context…. and compliments. Very much appreciated.

 

[jeffgarf]

This was (and still is) in a bit of a condition. I did have a go at cleaning and steaming it, but it still needs work. With some moth damage it's a beater anyway, bit nice enough to bring it back.

Borsalino Feather in a grey colour called Lupo (wolf). Size 58 (but curiously enough it fits me) with the overwelt brim at 6cm and the center dent at 10cm. They were not kidding when calling it feather, because it is indeed very lightweight at only 67 grams. Sweatband is grosgrain ribbon with the liner sewn onto it. All reducing weight.

Do you have any idea of the age of this hat? I have an offer to buy one in my size for $80 that looks to be in pretty good condition, but I'd like to know more about its age.

 

[steur]

View attachment 693816

Pre War Borsalino - Black
Approx 4 1/2 Crown as shaped (about 6 inch open)
1 7/8 brim with very tight curl
2 1/8 black grosgrain ribbon

Stefan @steur had posted this old Borsalino sometime back that was listed on eBay for a king’s ransom. Aside from its age.. the it was very notable for the unusual tight brim curl treatment. However at the price it was listed it didn’t look like it was going to be rescued by anyone on the lounge.. and kinda drifted off my radar. Luckily Stefan continued to keep an eye on it and when its asking price plummeted to within range, he kindly alerted me. Being it was still slightly out of my comfort zone I attempted to put it aside…. However after a fairly sleepless night.. I knew HAS had taken its hold and I put in an offer I was more comfortable with and was accepted. So it appears this interesting hat is rescued after all.

Dating wise… I will leave more specifics to Stefan and Daniele. Though I think I feel comfortable enough to say pre war. (If I’m wrong… my apologies and no worries). I’m generally thrilled to find per war hats of any make.. of European make maybe even more so for obvious reasons. Also amazing to see hats this old with most of their basting stitches still in tact. It does need a stitch or two to fully reattach the front half of the bow.. but for now a teeny bit of double sided tape is doing the trick.

OK. The million dollar question. What is the deal with the brim treatment?? As near as I can tell it is actually just a very tight brim roll the ends precisely where it touches back to the brim. I believe it is attached with some kind of hidden stitching as it does appear to be attached… you can’t just unfurl the curl. In playing with it to see if I felt anything inside the curl… I did not detect anything other than air however, I believe I did hear/feel a thread pop… kinda confirming my suspicions of stitching. I’ve not seen anything quite like it… almost makes the look of a comically large hand felted edge. Very unusual.

The tight brim curl leaves the brim fairly stingy at around 1 7/8… so I had to do some playing around with the bash to come up with something that didn’t look too stovepipe-ish proportionally. I arrived at this kinda wide diamond crease. I tend to think hats of this era.. often favor a deep center dent with wide side dents ala cowboy/bankers crease. This was no exception…. but I just felt it looked a bit tall on my head that way and I shifted to what you see.

A Big Thank you to Stefan for not abandoning hope on this old gem! And also for thinking of me. To diminish any regrets on not pulling the trigger himself… the 4 1/2 punti size that should equal size 7 US felt a bit more like a snug 6 7/8.. though it is loosening up a bit with wear.

All said.. combined with age and having never seen a brim treatment like this on any other hat… makes this one a fairly special addition to the collection.

View attachment 693817
View attachment 693825
View attachment 693818 View attachment 693819 View attachment 693820 View attachment 693821 View attachment 693822 View attachment 693823 View attachment 693824

So glad you saved that one, Joe. It is a gem and like Daniele said a very early one. Somewhere in the thirties hatmanufacturers got together to reduce the number of leftover hats due to the vast number of models they produced. They decided to limit the number of models introduced and this blindstitched overwelt style hat was unfortunately one of the models that disappeared.
From what I see the model name is something like cronacono (?). We already know of a model called cronaca, so it would make some sort of sense to have a similar name.
It could well be that that bow ends never were stitched to the ribbon, but were meant to be loose. We've seen hats finished like that before.
You wear it well and all credit to you that you were willing to keep it in the family.

 

[steur]

Do you have any idea of the age of this hat? I have an offer to buy one in my size for $80 that looks to be in pretty good condition, but I'd like to know more about its age.

The one I posted is from the sixties, based on the label.

 

[Blare]

So glad you saved that one, Joe. It is a gem and like Daniele said a very early one. Somewhere in the thirties hatmanufacturers got together to reduce the number of leftover hats due to the vast number of models they produced. They decided to limit the number of models introduced and this blindstitched overwelt style hat was unfortunately one of the models that disappeared.
From what I see the model name is something like cronacono (?). We already know of a model called cronaca, so it would make some sort of sense to have a similar name.
It could well be that that bow ends never were stitched to the ribbon, but were meant to be loose. We've seen hats finished like that before.
You wear it well and all credit to you that you were willing to keep it in the family.

Thank you for the insight Stefan. I was having a tough time making out that name. I believe you are correct on the bow ends being loose originally. I thought that was simply the case at first till half the bow flipped back past the knot. One or two stitches back there would secure it in place. Blasphemously or not however the tiny pieces of tape I placed in there are holding quite well for now. I’ll probably forget and some day down the line a next generation lounger will speculate why Borsalino was using little bits of electrical tape to attached the ribbon.

So if we are thinking pre WWII and Post WWI what date range do you think it may be.. 20s in general?