Pre 1940s Stetson Westerns

[Landman]

Beautiful hat Alan!

 

[splintercellsz]

Not mine, but a beautiful example

 

[Studebaker Driver]

That distant thud we all heard was Joao fainting.

 

[TheDane]

It won't attract any birds with no water in it

 

[Joao Encarnado]

That distant thud we all heard was Joao fainting.

Yes it was!

 

[Honez]

Boss Raw Edge

Hi, new member to the forum. I've been visiting for years, and I've learned a TON about vintage clothes, but finally had a question that prompted me to register.

I just found a Stetson Boss Raw Edge with a Fray sweatband that's in pretty nice shape. Reading blog posts about dating old Stetsons has left me a little confused about the age. I thought that an orange reorder tag meant it was from mid-late 20s, but the retailer "E.G. Barnaby & Co." disappears from Minneapolis city directories after 1921. Can anyone offer any insight as to the age of this beauty?

 

[Joao Encarnado]

That hat is a beauty!!

 

[job]

+1.

 

[fedoracentric]

Stetson was using the orange and red tags as early as 1900. Maybe even a little earlier. The V stitching on the sweat puts it before the 30s. "The Fray" designation went away by the mid 30s at least I think. They started sewing the sweatband ends together in the 30s, too--yours is paper taped. Stetson also stopped using the glued on size sticker sometime in the late 20s or early 30s. Seems to me you can safely assume that hat was made between 1900 and 1921 (if the store really did close in '21).

 

[Lefty]

Fantastic first post.
Great hat.

 

[RJR]

Very nice hat!

 

[carouselvic]

What Warner said.

 

[hatophile]

Wow!

 

[alanfgag]

Exciting find... thanks for sharing it here. The three digit LOTXXXX imprint and large scalloped size sticker are consistent with an early hat from the second decade of the 20th century. Great fortune to find such a beauty in that large a size.

 

[Landman]

Great find Honez and in a large size too!

 

[Honez]

Thanks everyone. I'm an avid "thrifter," so I find vintage hats all the time but almost never buy them. This one just screamed "I'm special, buy me!"

It is just a little tight (but may be wearable) on my big head. I looked like to total dork when I tried it on wearing a polo shirt, but when I got home I paired it with a Filson Double Mackinaw jacket and it looked much, much better.

How rare are the bigger sizes? Why? Have our heads really become so much larger over the past century? I can imagine why clothing sizes have been influenced by changes in nutrition and physical activity, but it hadn't occurred to me that skulls would change very much in such a relatively short time.

 

[fedoracentric]

How rare are the bigger sizes? Why? Have our heads really become so much larger over the past century? I can imagine why clothing sizes have been influenced by changes in nutrition and physical activity, but it hadn't occurred to me that skulls would change very much in such a relatively short time.

Yes, we all have fatter heads than the old days. It seems to me that the average male head size today is 7-1/4 or 7-3/8. Maybe the guys at DelMonico can tell us the sizes they sell the most??

At the turn of the last century sizes 6-7/8 and 7 were the most common head sizes with 6-7/8 being very universal. (Ronald Reagan was a 6-7/8 according to that book on stars head sizes). The larger sizes were made at 1/2 and even 1/4 the rate of the smaller ones. So, fewer large hats were around in the first place to make the journey from then to now.

And since hats were made to be worn until they were thrown out for a new one, few of the hats from the old days exist. After all, not many people paid good $$ for a hat they never wore in those days when money was hard to come by. People didn't have the disposable income they do now. Also, fashion trends were not as often in the "fad" mode as far as hats go. For instance, when that "Urban Cowboy" movie came out it was a fad to buy western hats. Few people actually wore them, though, even after they bought them. So, they had a hat they paid good money for sitting in a box and never used. Tom Mix aside, there really weren't many fads like that in the old days when money was at a premium (at least not for adults, anyway).

Finally, as to why the vintage hats at larger sizes go for such high dollars on ebay... well, there are fewer vintage hats around in the big sizes first of all. Then, since more people have the larger sized melon today the competition is fiercer and that drives up prices, too.

So, the upshot is, while you can get a fantastic vintage hat in size 6-7/8 for $30, the same model hat in the same condition in size 7-1/2 could go for hundreds!

 

[alanfgag]

At the turn of the last century sizes 6-7/8 and 7 were the most common head sizes with 6-7/8 being very universal...

Do you have a source for this information?

The celebrity head size resource you mention can be found here.

 

[fedoracentric]

Do you have a source for this information?

The celebrity head size resource you mention can be found here.

We had here that Stetson ordering key document. I wish I could remember what page here it was posted on, but it showed that 6-7/8 and 7 was the most ordered.
Also, one post here mentioned that the army had 6-7/8 as an average size pre 1960 and today it is 7-14.

 

[TheDane]

It seems, like there are more 7-3/8, 7-1/2 and 7-1/8 than 7-1/4 on TFL. The question is: "How much more 6-7/8 and 7 were ordered back then". Was it significant enough for an explanation?

It truely amazes me, if the average American head really has grown three (3!) hat sizes since 1960! That is nothing less than an evolutionary explosion of unseen dimensions. What a pity, I don't live to see the fabulous balloon-headed Americans three or four generations from now lol