Side By Side/ Hat Comparisons

[steur]

I have posted different Stetson Playboy pics in the past. Apologies to those who see these as repeats. These two hats are newer to my hatrack since the post here - https://www.thefedoralounge.com/threads/side-by-side-hat-comparisons.65983/page-25#post-1993050 . I was curious this morning. Someday in the future I need to gather all the Bon Vivants together and take a family shot.

This morning I was steaming some hats and took a couple of the vintage Stetson's out for a couple of comparison pics. I was just curious as to how the 2 Playboys (unlined and lined) compared. Your eyes will tell the results.

Both hats are a lovely light gray hue. Gray with not a lot of blue hue to the felt. I have a blue Playboy of similar age and the blue hues are much different. Indeed both hats have ribbons that match the hat felt color. The hat in the above pic left is lined. The other is unlined.

For reference here is a gray hat were the ribbon has aged (patina) that shows a different hue. It is a lovely "electric blue hue" that is a stunner. Not a match, just patina.

A closer pic of the insides. Both hats brims measure the same. Both hats crowns measure the same.

Lined hat at the bottom in this pic.

Thanks for letting me share my visual investigation today.

Best, Eric -

Excellent comparison, Eric. Thank you for that. Makes me want one (but that's usually the effect pictures of good looking hats have on me).

 

[Short Balding Guy]

I am sharing another comparison pics this morning.

This morning I found myself selecting between two vtg. Lee All Americans. Gray or buckskin, buckskin or gray. It was 6:00am and still sleepy I mused about it for a bit. I chose the buckskin felt.

Both hats were sold from the same store- Hirsch's. Same time frame.

I hope you enjoy the pics.

Best, Eric -

 

[splintercellsz]

two great comparisons, Eric!! thank you for sharing

 

[RJR]

I am sharing another comparison pics this morning.

This morning I found myself selecting between two vtg. Lee All Americans. Gray or buckskin, buckskin or gray. It was 6:00am and still sleepy I mused about it for a bit. I chose the buckskin felt.

Both hats were sold from the same store- Hirsch's. Same time frame.

I hope you enjoy the pics.

Best, Eric -

Great looking;I can't imagine the odds against your finding two like these.

 

[Short Balding Guy]

Excellent comparison, Eric. Thank you for that. Makes me want one (but that's usually the effect pictures of good looking hats have on me).

Thanks sir. I am glad you enjoyed my post. This is one of my favorite threads.

two great comparisons, Eric!! thank you for sharing

Thanks. Not as vintage cool as your last contribution to this post, but my more humble hats are glorious. The vintage Lee's while having a factory crease and a low price point are really grand hats. The felt, sweat/reeding and ribbon work are well executed.

Great looking;I can't imagine the odds against your finding two like these.

RJR; Good fortune for sure. Thanks for looking and allowing me to share.

 

[steur]

I am sharing another comparison pics this morning.

This morning I found myself selecting between two vtg. Lee All Americans. Gray or buckskin, buckskin or gray. It was 6:00am and still sleepy I mused about it for a bit. I chose the buckskin felt.

Both hats were sold from the same store- Hirsch's. Same time frame.

I hope you enjoy the pics.

Best, Eric -

I do enjoy the pics and yup: same effect as before. Thank you, Eric.

 

[Short Balding Guy]

I have a difficult time choosing between the Mallory Dallas and Stetson Stratoliners.

Startoliner on left above and Stratoliner on right on bottom.

Early today I wore the Mallory Dallas. An later model than the compared Stetson, but the dimensions, blocking and ribbon work are all nearly the same. The felt malleability, feel and hue is nearly the same.

This evening I am wearing the Stetson. The ribbon shows a bit more patina from age. I have to look carefully to pick it out.

Peering inside shows the lineage.

These hats along with another Stetson Stratoliner are stored in a stack. I stored them by style and felt hue. Bad inside shot below.

You need to really look close to see the ribbon difference. I am deliberately not sharing which is which in the pic below.

Sharing my intrigue this evening.

Best, Eric -

 

[ofcoursemyhorse]

30's/40's Panama at 250 wpsi vs 80's Panama at 1,600 wpsi

 

[Short Balding Guy]

Good morning. I was hoping to update my post #https://www.thefedoralounge.com/threads/side-by-side-hat-comparisons.65983/page-40#post-2418548 . I have been fortunate to aquire another Lee All American.

Pictured below are (l-r) Lee All-Americans in Buckskin, tan and gray.

Quoted from the a 1953 magazine advertisement for the Lee Adventurer - "Americans Love Adventure. Americans finest lightweight hat."

The All-Americans will get head time this week in celebration of America's Four of July festivities.

Best, Eric -

 

[Hurricane Jack]

Pictured below are (l-r) Lee All-Americans in Buckskin, tan and gray.

I really like the Buckskin. Seems like it would be very versatile. Very nice hats, one & all!

 

[steur]

Good morning. I was hoping to update my post #https://www.thefedoralounge.com/threads/side-by-side-hat-comparisons.65983/page-40#post-2418548 . I have been fortunate to aquire another Lee All American.

Pictured below are (l-r) Lee All-Americans in Buckskin, tan and gray.

Quoted from the a 1953 magazine advertisement for the Lee Adventurer - "Americans Love Adventure. Americans finest lightweight hat."

The All-Americans will get head time this week in celebration of America's Four of July festivities.

Best, Eric -

I really like the Buckskin. Seems like it would be very versatile. Very nice hats, one & all!

+1

 

[steur]

30's/40's Panama at 250 wpsi vs 80's Panama at 1,600 wpsi View attachment 124676 View attachment 124677 View attachment 124679 View attachment 124680 View attachment 124681 View attachment 124682

Super looking panamas. I'd be very nervous wearing that 1600 wpsi hat for fear of damage.

 

[RJR]

Good morning. I was hoping to update my post #https://www.thefedoralounge.com/threads/side-by-side-hat-comparisons.65983/page-40#post-2418548 . I have been fortunate to aquire another Lee All American.

Pictured below are (l-r) Lee All-Americans in Buckskin, tan and gray.

Quoted from the a 1953 magazine advertisement for the Lee Adventurer - "Americans Love Adventure. Americans finest lightweight hat."

The All-Americans will get head time this week in celebration of America's Four of July festivities.

Best, Eric -

Beauties,Eric.Lots of conversations locally about Liang Chow leaving to coach China.

 

[Short Balding Guy]

Beauties,Eric.Lots of conversations locally about Liang Chow leaving to coach China.

Chow will be successful wherever he lands. Since he is departing to "home" I suspect the motivation to do the hard, "dirty" work is present. Having the passion to do the hard work is difficult and in my opinion is the art. He is a grand coach and cares about the long term development. That should stead China's system well. Cheap talk is those who comment " if the athlete had straight legs and hit hit handstand on bars you would have won." Thanks, but not helpful to us folks who know the challenge, but are knee deep in the solution. Liam knows from intimate experience the challenges of working to challenge perfection. I think he is a good guy and an expert in elite sport coaching.

Thanks for the positive comments. You have been sport'n some grand hats in the oppressive heat of late.

Knee deep in hard work, Eric -

 

[Short Balding Guy]

+1

Thanks sir.

 

[Short Balding Guy]

I really like the Buckskin. Seems like it would be very versatile. Very nice hats, one & all!

Thanks Jack. The buckskin felt is a hue that is really easy to match in the attire that I choose to wear most days. It works for "country" and surprisinlg well for "city" wearing.

Still dreaming of a blue NW hat like yours. Best, Eric -

 

[steur]

Three German hats side by side. The Hückel chamois (above), Mylord Rein Haar (left) and Chisnall Nutria. More or less from the same time period. A nice illustration just how different grey hats can be.

The Hückel appears to have the tallest crown, but it is in fact the lowest. The way it is blocked makes it more sleek looking and makes the crown look taller than it actually is. Its centre dent is a bit more pronounced too, which adds to the impression of a tall crown.
In colour the Mylord is almost blue in hue (which I find very attractive). The Chisnall (lower right) has a much warmer grey tone. The Hückel is lighter grey and sits in between the other two as a more neutral grey. All of them can vay quite a bit under different lighting.
The crowns are quite square looking for German hats (ore other European hats for that matter), which have a bit more taper in general. The side view shows the differences a bit more clearly. Viewed from the front the Hückel displays some taper, while the other are more square looking.

This side view shows the differences better and it shows that the Hückel does have great straight lines front and back with a lovely high arch or dome (I tend to avoid rake on my hats). Great shape. The Mylord on the left is fairly straight in the back but slopes a bit inward in front. The Chisnall shows a bit of taper both front and back and has a bit more rounded shape to it in general.
The felt on these is excellent, the Hückel being the clear winner here. The Hückel and the Chisnall are both chamois finishes and the Chisnall is a nutria felt (the others are rabbit). European hats have less shellac in them compared to American made hats and are softer and shaped more easily. The felt on the Hückel and Mylord is fairly thin. The Chisnall has a bit mor weight. The Hückel felt however is quite springy and doesn't take a crease as easy as one qould expect (getting this shallow pinch in it took some steaming). It looked like it was quite happy without any pinch.
Finishing on all three is excellent with the Hückel again the clear winner. The ribbon work on the other two are so alike that I suspect it could have even been outsourced and done by the same finishers.

Three different ways of brim finishing. The top one is the Hückel with the very narrow brim binding and a very attractive stitching line. The narrow binding is done sewing the complete ribbon on as close to the edge as possible (leaving the entire ribbon on top of the brim), then folding the ribbon over the stitch to the underside and attaching it there. I love these.
The middle one is the Chisnall nutria with a more common underwelt edge with a double stitching line. Sturdy, but not nearly as attractive.
The bottom one is the Mylord with a more traditional brim binding with top stitching. Very narrow and very neat. Nice work.

Viewed from the underside of the brim they look like this. The Hückel ribbon which is extremely narrow on top has to go somewhere of course and ends up here. The Chisnall underwelt shows why it needs a double stitch, just to keep it in place. The Mylord has the brim binding evenly spaced top and bottom. Very neat work.
Now you know why you can never have enough grey hats.

 

[Short Balding Guy]

Three German hats side by side. The Hückel chamois (above), Mylord Rein Haar (left) and Chisnall Nutria. More or less from the same time period. A nice illustration just how different grey hats can be.

View attachment 126773
The Hückel appears to have the tallest crown, but it is in fact the lowest. The way it is blocked makes it more sleek looking and makes the crown look taller than it actually is. Its centre dent is a bit more pronounced too, which adds to the impression of a tall crown.
In colour the Mylord is almost blue in hue (which I find very attractive). The Chisnall (lower right) has a much warmer grey tone. The Hückel is lighter grey and sits in between the other two as a more neutral grey. All of them can vay quite a bit under different lighting.
The crowns are quite square looking for German hats (ore other European hats for that matter), which have a bit more taper in general. The side view shows the differences a bit more clearly. Viewed from the front the Hückel displays some taper, while the other are more square looking.

View attachment 126774
This side view shows the differences better and it shows that the Hückel does have great straight lines front and back with a lovely high arch or dome (I tend to avoid rake on my hats). Great shape. The Mylord on the left is fairly straight in the back but slopes a bit inward in front. The Chisnall shows a bit of taper both front and back and has a bit more rounded shape to it in general.
The felt on these is excellent, the Hückel being the clear winner here. The Hückel and the Chisnall are both chamois finishes and the Chisnall is a nutria felt (the others are rabbit). European hats have less shellac in them compared to American made hats and are softer and shaped more easily. The felt on the Hückel and Mylord is fairly thin. The Chisnall has a bit mor weight. The Hückel felt however is quite springy and doesn't take a crease as easy as one qould expect (getting this shallow pinch in it took some steaming). It looked like it was quite happy without any pinch.
Finishing on all three is excellent with the Hückel again the clear winner. The ribbon work on the other two are so alike that I suspect it could have even been outsourced and done by the same finishers.

View attachment 126775

Three different ways of brim finishing. The top one is the Hückel with the very narrow brim binding and a very attractive stitching line. The narrow binding is done sewing the complete ribbon on as close to the edge as possible (leaving the entire ribbon on top of the brim), then folding the ribbon over the stitch to the underside and attaching it there. I love these.
The middle one is the Chisnall nutria with a more common underwelt edge with a double stitching line. Sturdy, but not nearly as attractive.
The bottom one is the Mylord with a more traditional brim binding with top stitching. Very narrow and very neat. Nice work.

View attachment 126776

Viewed from the underside of the brim they look like this. The Hückel ribbon which is extremely narrow on top has to go somewhere of course and ends up here. The Chisnall underwelt shows why it needs a double stitch, just to keep it in place. The Mylord has the brim binding evenly spaced top and bottom. Very neat work.
Now you know why you can never have enough grey hats.

Thanks for the post! I know a lot more about and have a greater appreciation for the German hats. The pics do help me understand the crown dimensions and blocking.

Thanks, Eric -

 

[steur]

Thanks for the post! I know a lot more about and have a greater appreciation for the German hats. The pics do help me understand the crown dimensions and blocking.

Thanks, Eric -

Thanks, Eric. My pleasure. Seeing your posts made me realise I don't do enough of these and they are fun to do.

 

[mayserwegener]

Stefan, Great comparison. It's amazing the density of the Hückel Weilheim (especially) and Mylord Rein Haar. It's possible they have Hare content or might be mostly Hare. I see some very high density felts like this that are not Velours so this is my guess.