Post New Hats Here!

[ScottF]

A factory reject!

Is that a date at the top? (1942?)

 

[ScottF]

Good job on that one Scott!

Thanks Bill - it sort of got lost in a plethora of posts last night. I'll move it over to the pre-40 Stetson thread.

 

[BobC]

One last project...

This is one Bill sent me. It started off as a 7 3/8 - soaked and scrubbed it, then 're-formed' on a full-size vintage stretcher to 7 1/4 + 1/16.

fftopic: but I'd like to see that one, Scott, if you get a chance. It sounds like a tool I could use. Did it come from the bay or somewhere else?

Thanks.

 

[ScottF]

fftopic: but I'd like to see that one, Scott, if you get a chance. It sounds like a tool I could use. Did it come from the bay or somewhere else?

Thanks.

Hi Bob, Yes - got it off ebay. They go for $150-300. It's great for hat brushing and scrubbing, but I've used it to re-block hats as well (such as the Stetson Fifteen I posted in the ebay thread), just trickier because there's an opening in the middle.

I have re-blocked several hats recently and got this one confused - I did NOT re-block this particular one on the stretcher. The taper was way too straight, so I had to let it air-dry and work it with my hands (and a huge softball I use as a tool) to keep the original shape. That's it on the right - I don't use the small stretcher at all anymore.

 

[ScionPI2005]

And this Stetson Royal De Luxe for $50.

That Royal De Luxe is great! Though I like both of those "new" ones, thunder!

 

[thunderw21]

Is that a date at the top? (1942?)

Don't know. Were they still using the white sweatbands by then? The crest seems to be right for the '40s.

 

[ScottF]

Don't know. Were they still using the white sweatbands by then? The crest seems to be right for the '40s.

Imperial quality Stetson fedoras are rare, so don't know much about them. But I agree - it looks like early '40s.

 

[thunderw21]

...I'll try to get some better ones after work.
...

Color is blue-ish silver.

 

[Mario]

Color is blue-ish silver.

I said it before over in the Ebay thread and I'll say it again here: This is such a fantastic hat! Sheer, goregeous beauty in what seems to be immaculate condition. You did very, very well with that one. May you wear it with confidence and pride (and I'm sure you will )! :eusa_clap :eusa_clap :eusa_clap

 

[thunderw21]

I said it before over in the Ebay thread and I'll say it again here: This is such a fantastic hat! Sheer, goregeous beauty in what seems to be immaculate condition. You did very, very well with that one. May you wear it with confidence and pride (and I'm sure you will )! :eusa_clap :eusa_clap :eusa_clap

Thanks, I will!

 

[Mr. Paladin]

thunder21, those are really nice hats. The Imperial Stetson in particular is interesting to me. I thought Imperial was a designation of quality that was fairly modern but I did not know it was also a hat model. I really like it though! :eusa_clap

 

[ScottF]

thunder21, those are really nice hats. The Imperial Stetson in particular is interesting to me. I thought Imperial was a designation of quality that was fairly modern but I did not know it was also a hat model. I really like it though! :eusa_clap

Stetson was really funny about that - I have a 1941 catalog that features "The Premier" western model, but then also mentions Premier quality hats. Very confusing.

 

[Big_e]

I picked up a few hats here and there around the end of the year and I am slowly breaking them out. Someone had posted about a Sears Roebuck and Co. hat they had received and I had replied, thought I would now post pics along with a sweet little Dobbs stingy. The Sears doesn't seem to want to be snapped down in front:

I love that Sears Stingy, sir!
Ernest

 

[Scott Wood]

I love that Sears Stingy, sir!
Ernest

lol
I was thinking of you Ernest when I gave in to it's propensity for frontal lift

 

[Big_e]

lol
I was thinking of you Ernest when I gave in to it's propensity for frontal lift

Where did you say you lived and when is feeding time for the guard dogs?
Ernest

 

[Chinaski]

Color is blue-ish silver.

Yes. To quote Burgess: Gorgeousness and gorgeosity.

 

[jimmy the lid]

I thought Imperial was a designation of quality that was fairly modern but I did not know it was also a hat model.

You are correct in thinking that "Imperial" was a quality designation, Mr. P. It is not a particular model, however. And, in tw21's lid, "Imperial" is used as a quality designation.

As a marketing/quality designation, the "Imperial" inhabited the same price point as the "3X" in Stetson's fedora line. So, for example, you can find "Imperials" that were priced at $15 in the late 40's. It appears that, by the early 50's, the "Imperial" had been replaced by the "3X" at that particular price point.

So, as best I can tell, the "3X" designation in Stetson fedoras began sometime in the very early 50's -- and essentially replaced the "Imperial" designation. [That being said, I believe that "Imperial" was re-introduced in more modern Stetsons, as you suggest, Mr. P.]

As always, these opinions are subject to change as we learn more over time...

Cheers,
JtL

 

[jimmy the lid]

Stetson was really funny about that - I have a 1941 catalog that features "The Premier" western model, but then also mentions Premier quality hats. Very confusing.

I'm not so sure that that particular phenomenon is a function of Stetson, as much as it is a function of the retailers responsible for creating particular ads or catalogues (is your 1941 catalogue for a particular retailer, or is it Stetson's own catalogue?)

From what I've seen, retailers commonly used marketing/quality designations as model names in advertising -- particularly where ads were already focused on a particular style of hat. For example, in an ad focusing on Open Road hats, a retailer might call an Open Road at the $20 price point "The Sovereign." Of course, "Sovereign" was a quality designation, but, in context, it was used to distinguish the hat from the other Open Road models being advertised in the same ad.

Cheers,
JtL

 

[Mr. Paladin]

Jimmy, many thanks for the information on the Imperial designation. I didn't know it was replaced by the 3X mark in the '50s. My modern Stetson Humphrey has the "Imperial Felt" mark on the sweatband and it seems to have some of the nicest felt of any of my modern Stetson dress hats. I wonder what the equivalent X mark of current Imperial felt is?

 

[Yimmy]

Good morning all! I just wanted to share a secondhand store find that my girlfriendD ) made for me this past weekend. It's also my first post. Can anyone tell me more about it? I've searched Portis, and read some interesting things about the company, just don't know much about this specific lid. Have a wonderful day!