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Side By Side/ Hat Comparisons

moontheloon

I'll Lock Up
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8,592
Location
NJ
I was shown to this thread by its originator ... my man Alan ... who suggested I put a few Stratoliner pics here ... gladly


These range from early '40s to mid '50s.... I have two more Strats that are not pictured

one is being borrowed by a friend for a band photo shoot in Los Angeles and the other is one that belonged to my grandfather and is in climate controlled storage ... that is the one with the 50 dollar bill in the sweat that has been there since the 1940's ... I'll get a pic of that one day ... it is gorgeous

as for these ... there really is not much difference in quality throughout ... all just beautiful

the brims vary in size slightly from hat to hat as Strats do

one thing I've noticed is ... at least with mine... the older they are the lighter and softer the felt is ... but they are all very soft

the dark brown Strat that you see unlined is probably the earliest and is a Vita-Felt ... suuuuuper soft

the top left , bottom left, and bottom right in the first pic are also 40's and very very soft ... but the robin egg blue from the very early 50's is also among the softest and lightest of the bunch.
the top left 40's Strat has a really nice burgundy tip to the liner.... really nice touch

the others are all early to mid 50s and just a touch heavier ... but equally beautiful ...

sweat bands are extremely important to me when buying and all of these have nearly perfect sweats... a couple of them have absolutely mint sweats

all are extremely pliable and hold a dry crease with the greatest of ease ... you bash it ... it stays ... great great hand on every one

as a matter of fact every bash you see in these pics are dry

Hope you enjoy

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40Cal

One Too Many
Messages
1,689
Location
California
Beautiful collection of Strats there Moon! I too enjoy the thin ribbon and wide brim look. Have several Strats but not nearly as many as you! Excellent.
 

moontheloon

I'll Lock Up
Messages
8,592
Location
NJ
thank you all for the kind words

I'm glad you enjoy the pics of my children .... I mean my hats ... yeah my hats ... my hats
 

bowlerman

I'll Lock Up
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6,294
Location
South Dakota
Those stagecoaches look great, Joao.

Moon, amazing strat collection. I have yet to find one of those.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 

Short Balding Guy

I'll Lock Up
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9,871
Location
Minnesota, USA
A vintage Stetson Playboy is an intriguing fedora. In the beginning the Playboy fedora sold for a modest price. In a 1940 Advertisement Stetson touted that over 2,000,000 men had paid over $10,000,000 for Playboys. It is "Extra Light" and comes in "30 attractive shades." Imagine that Stetson advertised that over 2,000,000 of the hats sold. Amazing.

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I have been fortunate to gather 4 of the vintage hats. I would like to share them on this thread. As usual Stetson had oodles of variants on the model. I present 2 of each with 2.5" brim and 2 3/4" brim. The brims of 3 have a single row of stitch and 1 no stitch. The leather sweatbands, certainly showing their age, are of different qualities. Three of the hats are vintage felt and 1 is Vita Felt. The Vits Felt I have been curious about since watching the forum postings of other Vita fedoras. This felt is extraordinary thin and maleable. It has a very soft feel to the touch.

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The ribbons have aged differently than the hat bodies or leather. The gray felts have ribbons that vary significantly in color. When turning the ribbons over, as much as they allow, the ribbons have obviously faded.

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Eric -
 
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Messages
19,425
Location
Funkytown, USA
Super post, ERic, thank you! If over 2M were made, certainly there's one out there in my size!

Without going through a bunch of threads, I need to ask, does the Playboy ever have a bound brim? Most seem to be raw edged or stitched, like Eric's above.
 

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