Prices Gone Crazy !!!!!!!!!!

[AlanC]

Honestly, it would be awfully hard to decide what to get on ebay if I was a size 7. It's probably well that I am a 7 3/8 or I'd have even more too many hats.

 

[Squaresville]

Borsalino "Monlov" Homburg

I have come into a 7 3/8 Borsalino Homburg recently. The thing is near mint. It has "monlov" (which I understand is the color, a "taupe" sort of; I'm color blind so don't ask me) written on the tag. It also has the serial # 28 23885. There is a Rogers & Peet price tag of $20.00. Anybody venture to guess how old this is? Thanks in advance from a first time poster.

 

[HarpPlayerGene]

Welcome, Squaresville.

This (somewhat silly ) thread is probably not the best place for your post. May I suggest that you take and upload photos of your hat and introduce yourself in the New Hats thread?

 

[Al Niente]

I have practiced tracking various listings of "interesting" hats, even if I was not personally interested in bidding just to get a feel for the market. I have been astonished on both sides of the spectrum in terms of price. But, an item is worth what someone will pay for it.

I have bought two hats off Ebay, a Courtney and a Mallory. Both are very nice hats and are among my favorites. The Courtney had a few nap problems that were undisclosed in the listing. Not really bad and you cannot see them. Now I ASK before I bid. My rule one: No flea bites. I asked next time and the Mallory is perfect.

Both hats needed new sweatbands. I just mentally add $17 for a new sweatband, block and spruce-up. I have given up worrying about the sweatbands. Most do not survive cleaning in my experience. Got two that I actually saw in a vintage store.....both needed sweatbands once you start working with them. Didn't like either, so I gave them away. (they were cheap. A Dobbs and a Champ with brims too stingy for me...ok, ok...it was an experiment that failed.)

We are all looking for the free pot of gold. Good luck to all...except those bidding on the hat I want.

 

[ScottF]

Honestly, it would be awfully hard to decide what to get on ebay if I was a size 7. It's probably well that I am a 7 3/8 or I'd have even more too many hats.

If you were a size 7, you would probably change your view of what a "good price" was for a hat. If my head all of a sudden was a size 7 5/8, I would probably have the same number of hats I have now, and of about the same quality - I would just be poorer.

 

[Mr. Paladin]

If you were a size 7, you would probably change your view of what a "good price" was for a hat. If my head all of a sudden was a size 7 5/8, I would probably have the same number of hats I have now, and of about the same quality - I would just be poorer.

Amen to that! If I was a 7 5/8, I would have to consider bankruptcy or commitment.:fing28:

 

[PabloElFlamenco]

Ah, the Bay! I've read this thread with considerable interest, because -and let me explain- eBay is my prime source for hats.

I've read, with a tinge of envy, those who state having "won" marvellous hats for a mere $25 or so. I've paid more, yet I'm very happy with most of the hats I bought on eBay. My vantage point is less advantageous as an American's: there are just not enough hats to be found in Europe! If you don't believe, Google "eBay UK" and have a look at the offerings...(yet, and this is incredible, that's exactly where I found my "Stetson 100" for around $85!).

Some of you might cringe when I say I've paid $100 for hats that didn't even have a clear photograph to show for them. Not only did I pay that much, I won them, and the hat is a beauty. A real lottery!

The current rate of exchange -which has been around for, now, two years or so, and counting- is extremely favorable for holders of Euro's. Would you spend $150 for a good vintage Borsalino when the new ones go for $375 (€250) in the shops? I do! But Borsalino is a bad example: they tend to be expensive, because "mythical" in the USA. Stetsons are a much better deal: "merely" American! To me, this side of the pond, Stetson is a giant. The old ones are soooh good... Stetson 20, Sovereign, not to mention the 100... that one I even went to the length of risking it by mail to Optimo in Chicago, paying something like $150 for a full revamp: resizing, cleaning, sweatband...Optimo box...airmail (the risk of losing it and of whatever these Customs people over here might come up with!)...the hat ended up costing me $300 or so, and was it worth it?

YES!

Can you believe we, in Europe, have to send a darn hat to CHICAGO to get it put back in shape?! That ain't cheap. But there is no viable alternative... Europe is really, hideously expensive! So expensive that American prices look like a fantastic deal!

Pablo

 

[Zemke Fan]

Hey PBF...

This is a real flattering photo of you. And, is that a Lee Storm Rider jacket??

 

[billysmom]

Ah, the Bay! and was it worth it?

YES!

Definitely worth it, in my opinion! Wonderful hat, wonderful image.

Sue

 

[gtdean48]

Amen to that! If I was a 7 5/8, I would have to consider bankruptcy or commitment.:fing28:

I am on the brink of both...my wife says well passed the brink of the latter!!!

 

[PabloElFlamenco]

The hat must thank you for the compliments (the rest would be vanity, and I'm not good at camouflage).

Zemke Fan, the jacket is ..ahem.. used to be my wife's, luckily the buttons are "male" oriented (I said...vanity), the jacket must date from the late 1970's or maybe early 'eighties. The brand is "Rifle"; it appears to be an Italian brand http://www.riflejeans.com/ It's good quality denim, with the outside of the collar in corduroy. Very nice jacket, short on the hips, good for summer weather.

Billysmom, I'm very flattered, your hats not gone unnoticed these parts...

Paul

 

[cptjeff]

If you were a size 7, you would probably change your view of what a "good price" was for a hat. If my head all of a sudden was a size 7 5/8, I would probably have the same number of hats I have now, and of about the same quality - I would just be poorer.

As a size 7, that's very true. I try to buy value hats. That means spending around $30 at most for any one hat, shipping included. Expensive ones are $50 or so.

When I see people trying to charge $60 or $70 at a buy it now for a size 7 I laugh. Just because that hat goes for that much at a larger size doesn't mean it'll go for close to that at size 7. I saw a hat identical to the one I bought for $3 and shipping listed as a buy it now for $45. Good luck with that.

As a poor college student, if I had a larger hat size I wouldn't own a decent hat unless I found one locally at a thrift store.

 

[Squaresville]

Much Obliged

Welcome, Squaresville.

This (somewhat silly ) thread is probably not the best place for your post. May I suggest that you take and upload photos of your hat and introduce yourself in the New Hats thread?

Thank you, Gene. I was feeling a bit overwhelmed with where to post soze I just stuck it there and relied upon the kindness of strangers. I tip my hat to you!