Nice find.I've wanted to join the "Pre-1940s Stetson Westerns" club for years, and I'm finally able to with this one.
1930s Stetson Real Nutria Quality:
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The ribbon appears to be a replacement, and I'm contemplating having it replaced with a wider one closer to how I suspect the original looked.
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Ho-ly crud....We've seen this mark in old Stetson literature, but I don't believe we've seen a hat with it. Anyway, this was sold thru an online auction service.
B
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Keep your eyes peeled Andrew, they will come up on Ebay or Etsy now and then.This thread irritates me.
Because I haven't been able to find one of these cool old hats, yet. Haha
- Andrew
Is the nutria considered a better felt than beaver? There are lots of SA nutria running around the farmland here in the Willamette Valley. People thought they could raise them like mink and make tons of money doing it, but then released them when they lost their shirts in the endeavor.
They're rodents. Which causes the pelts of those that survive long enough to be harvested to be smaller than pelts were 100 yrs or more ago.It makes a nice sturdy hat and was popular in western hats for awhile and prized by collectors now as they seem to be fairly rare. I was happy to find one.
Nutria are such a nuisance in Louisiana, the Orleans Parish Sheriff's Dept. SWAT team cruises along the canals late at night shooting them with .22 rifles from the bed of pickup trucks for nuisance control and target practice for their team members.