Pre- 1940s Stetson dress hats.

[splintercellsz]

Vic, two great finds!!

 

[carouselvic]

even the old blind sow will occasionally find an acorn

 

[Joshbru3]

no production labels in the leghorn...

old black and gold size tag

Thanks, Vic! Does the Block number read 751? And the height 5 1/2?

 

[carouselvic]

I believe that is right...but that 7 might be a 3, but 7 is my best guess when magnified.

 

[alanfgag]

Super. The 8XXX Lot number on the Leghorn seems unusual for 1934... could it be 3? My Photoshop look/see is inconclusive.

 

[carouselvic]

It sure could be, just too faint for me to be 100% certain either way.

 

[Joshbru3]

I believe that is right...but that 7 might be a 3, but 7 is my best guess when magnified.

Thanks so much!

 

[Joshbru3]

1915 Stetson THE EVENT (Part 1 of 3)

I just received this hat this past weekend and it really is spectacular. The felt on this hat is 100% mint. There isn't one moth nibble, bite, stain, etc. The finish is very soft. The felt is dense but very light and creases like butter. This hat was only made in 1915 during the fall/winter season, making it EXTREMELY rare. Aside from the broken sweatband ribbon, the hat is practically brand new. The sweatband is very soft and pliable with great stampings. There is no indication that this hat ever had a liner. My Pacemaker didn't appear to have a liner either, and possibly the linerless/wide sweatband combo was very popular in the middle 19-teens.

 

[Joshbru3]

1915 Stetson THE EVENT (Part 2 of 3)

 

[Joshbru3]

1915 Stetson THE EVENT (Part 3 of 3)

 

[hatsRme]

Spectacular, Josh!

 

[buler]

Well groomed and documented, Josh!

B

 

[mayserwegener]

Josh, Amazing find and great supporting historical documentation! When I was looking at the auction photos you previously posted I thought I saw where there might have been a crown patch. Here is the photo (see shade change at center of crown).

http://i1312.photobucket.com/albums/t539/joshbru2/event5_zps42dcaa2a.jpeg

 

[alanfgag]

Fantastic find and documentation, Josh - thank you! I tried to process the LOTXXXX number but the first digit remains elusive - 3, 5, 6, 8? I'm not certain. The numeral font seems unique amongst the others that have been posted. I am intrigued to see the small round size sticker. Was the larger scalloped sticker earlier or used concurrently? Just great to have the advertisements to place this in the timeline. Thanks for warming a snowy morning. I look forwarding to adding a boss raw edge to this thread in a few days.

 

[Joshbru3]

Spectacular, Josh!

Well groomed and documented, Josh!

B

Josh, Amazing find and great supporting historical documentation! When I was looking at the auction photos you previously posted I thought I saw where there might have been a crown patch. Here is the photo (see shade change at center of crown).

http://i1312.photobucket.com/albums/t539/joshbru2/event5_zps42dcaa2a.jpeg

Fantastic find and documentation, Josh - thank you! I tried to process the LOTXXXX number but the first digit remains elusive - 3, 5, 6, 8? I'm not certain. The numeral font seems unique amongst the others that have been posted. I am intrigued to see the small round size sticker. Was the larger scalloped sticker earlier or used concurrently? Just great to have the advertisements to place this in the timeline. Thanks for warming a snowy morning. I look forwarding to adding a boss raw edge to this thread in a few days.

Thanks so much, Gentlemen!!

Steve, at first I thought there might have been a crown patch as well. Upon further inspection once I had it in my hands, it doesn't appear there was one. It must have just been a weird shadow. The inside of the crown is just as smooth ad the outside, leading me to believe (along with the absence of stitching, residue, or felt color fading) that the hat never had a liner or tip sticker. My Pacemaker is the exact same way. [huh]

Alan, I have tried to make out that Lot number for a few days now and I truly believe that the first number is a 3. I could be wrong, but I am 99% sure. It appears to read LOT-3688. I was always under the impression that the larger scalloped size sticker was only on early Stetsons (pre-1910) and that around the early/middle-teens they went to the round stickers. I could be wrong there as well, but I also believe in another theory purposed here on the lounge once. It is reasonable to believe that if Stetson decided to use new round size stickers, if they had overstock of Scalloped ones, they would have used both concurrently. That's why we see sweatband, liner, and size sticker crossover many times in the Stetson timeline. I would have to assume that being as large a company as Stetson once was, they made or ordered sweatbands, liners, size stickers, reorder tags in great numbers and would therefore continue using that stock until it ran out.

 

[alanfgag]

I think your assumption makes a lot of sense - without carbon darting, our archeology into hat parts and stamps and numbers creates only a rough timeline. The realities of inventories and the vagaries of fashion defy most attempts to zero in on a specific example. That said, this rosetta stone hat makes me think that some of the Stetson examples I'd thought to date from the 1920s might actually be older. Thanks, as always, for your great research.

 

[Joshbru3]

I think your assumption makes a lot of sense - without carbon darting, our archeology into hat parts and stamps and numbers creates only a rough timeline. The realities of inventories and the vagaries of fashion defy most attempts to zero in on a specific example. That said, this rosetta stone hat makes me think that some of the Stetson examples I'd thought to date from the 1920s might actually be older. Thanks, as always, for your great research.

It's my pleasure, Alan. :yo:

I'm just glad that "THE EVENT" had a fairly readable Lot number. Now, we have another piece to add to this very large Stetson puzzle.

 

[Joshbru3]

Here's another piece to the puzzle....

I uploaded pictures of my 1916 Pacemaker a couple years ago. Unfortunately the lot number was completely unreadable, but I never tried manipulating it on photobucket to try and see if I could make out the numbers.......

Behold!!!

Before:



After:




The numbers seem to read 3853

Like "The Event," The "Pacemaker" was only made for one season as well.......Spring of 1916. Literally right after "The Event." There is only 165 LOTS between the two hats. It could be 8 months to about 3 months between these two hats depending on exactly when they were made, but we have narrowed the lot numbers down to within a year.

 

[mayserwegener]

Thanks so much, Gentlemen!!

Steve, at first I thought there might have been a crown patch as well. Upon further inspection once I had it in my hands, it doesn't appear there was one. It must have just been a weird shadow. The inside of the crown is just as smooth ad the outside, leading me to believe (along with the absence of stitching, residue, or felt color fading) that the hat never had a liner or tip sticker. My Pacemaker is the exact same way. [huh]

Josh, I could see it's finely finished inside the crown. Crown patches really don't make sense on soft felts. I have an old Wegener where the patch is off center so it doesn't interfere with the crease. Again congratulations on a fantastic find!

 

[Joshbru3]

Josh, I could see it's finely finished inside the crown. Crown patches really don't make sense on soft felts. I have an old Wegener where the patch is off center so it doesn't interfere with the crease. Again congratulations on a fantastic find!

Thanks again, Steve! I believe you have one or two hats with original crown clips, don't you? Those have always fascinated me. I have seen advertisements for them in the American Hatter publications, but have never seen one in person.