Some of my newest acquisitions!

[havershaw]

I thought it was high time you fellows had a look at some of the newest additions to the family. I have a whole bunch of exciting things coming (including a 1950s Herbert Johnson which the seller claimed was marked 100% Beaver), and I'll post some more of those a bit after they arrive.

Sorry in advance for the ugly pool equipment in the background. this just happened to be where the light was the best in my backyard today.

I'll throw in some descriptions, so you know what you're seeing.

Here's my 30s/40s Cocoa Borsalino (worn on my recent trip to the Ambassador). The felt is the thinnest yet densest I've owned. It's incredibly creamy felt...provided you can accept "creamy" as a description of felt. But like I said - the thinnest I've ever touched - way thinner than any Optimo I've handled, plus a cool Cavanagh edge:

Next is another vintage Borsalino, I would guess 1940s. the felt here is great also, although not as nice as the one above. Still thinner felt than most hats, even vintage hats. It has a very thin bound edge and a lot more stiffener in it than my other Borsalino:

 

[havershaw]

more stuff

Next is another vintage Borsalino (I was apparently gripped with a fervor for Borsalinos earlier in the month). According to the previous owners, the hat was purchased in Italy in the mid 1930s and was worn by their grandfather who worked a farm in Australia throughout the late 30s and 40s. Look at how straight these sides are! I've never seen sides that straight that didn't come from a Fedora reblock, or maybe on some of the new Optimos. I didn't do anything to this hat when I got it, except put the dents in the front (actually, of the hats we;ve seen, I haven't reblocked or otherwise altered them since I got them). It has the thinnest bound edge I've ever seen, if you can even call it a bound edge. The felt is soft here, but there's a fair amount of stiffener. It's a pretty durable hat, and it doesn't really show a lot of signs of having lived a life on the farm (a Dobbs Twenty I bought from the same sellers did, however). Anyway, the felt thickness is somewhere near Optimo's, though with more stiffener:

Here's a Mallory Fifteen (pre-Stetson). this is some nice felt. Very floppy, though not super thin:

 

[havershaw]

Here's another Mallory Fifth Avenue. This one's NOS, never worn. (I've showed this before, but the photos kind of sucked, so here it is again.) this is one of my favorite ribbon colors ever. Sort of a copper color:

This next hat is a Knox Twenty. This felt quality is probably among the three finest felts I've ever handled. Super thin, super dense, super tight. Really nice felt. (The color's a lot darker than what it looks here.) The size is marked a mind-boggling 7 4/16 with a factory tag. Weird. (Yes, I have to use foam under sweatband for this one.) It probably needs a brushing:

 

[havershaw]

This next hat is my prized 1954 Cavanagh with the hole in the crown. I've shown this one before, too, but I always thought the pictures were lousy (I'm not sure these are a lot better). This is maybe my favorite of all my hats. It just has a certain something. The felt is super thin, super dense. I used spray stiffener to hold those great fingercreases and crumples in the dents! I reblocked it using the size 7 block made by Fedora. The ribbon is an Akubra Federation Deluxe ribbon. The liner and sweatband were stolen from another vintage Cavanagh I bought whose felt was beyond repair:

Here's another Cavanagh I acquired. The felt is great, though it's clearly not a summerweight like my other Cavanagh. It's got a great Cavanagh edge and the felt is sort of oatmeal-colored. I got this on eBay for ten bucks. It looked like a total mess in the auction. I got it for the purpose of practicing my powers of reblocking, but when it arrived, I reshaped the crown dry, set it with a little steam, and also steamed the ribbon where it was wrinkled, and it looks good as new now:

 

[havershaw]

You know, it's times like this...makes you realize you've got a lot of hats. Probably too many.

OK, it's time for some Stetsons. This first one is NOS, never worn. It used to be a homberg, a problem the mighty Fedora (from whom I purchased the hat) kindly took off my hands. The felt is pretty nice, about what you'd generally expect from a vintage Stetson. Only thing I don't like is that the brim has SO much stiffener. I think all hombergs are that way, or at least, the ones I've run across have all been. The color is a rich brown and it still has the original wine-colored ribbon on it, which I'm sort of on the fence about. If I steamed the crown, it would probably have some more heavy-duty creases in the crown, but I kind of like how unsevere it is. Kind of look TOD-ish to me:

This next hat is a weird one. I bought it because it looked like a basket case, a prime candidate for a reblock. The liner was also really uinique and not something I'd ever seen before. But when I got it, a little dry bashing, followed by a little steam to set it, and I thought the hat looked great, and kind of unique to the hats I own. It has a Philadelphia tag in it, meaning it's at least 1940s, maybe earlier. The ribbon is some kind of weird stretchy stuff. Weird. The felt is very thin, soft, and dense. Super floppy, too:

 

[havershaw]

More Stetsons:

This one is a Custom V. The felt is pretty soft and pretty dense. I love the little fingerdents at the top of the front dents in the crown:

This next hat is sort of a mystery to me. The seller claimed it was an early 30s hat, which is possible. There's no liner, and the sweatband is sewn directly to the hat. You can see the stamp in sweatband below which certainly makes me think this one's the oldest I've got. It was in terrible shape when it arrived. I soaked the hat in cold water and then reshaped it by hand. I haven't been able to bring myself to rip that sweatband out to reblock it. I think the crown is probably too pointy, so I'll probably have to break down and reblock it. I think Art mentioned that he had a machine that could resew these types of sweatbands. I may need to send this one to him (along with the five other hats I've reblocked which need his millinery skills). The felt color is a really great chestnut brown, and the ribbon is wine (I'm on the fence about that, too). It has a bound edged brim, which is really thin on top and very thick on the bottom. Felt is medium weight and not quite like any of my other vintage Stetsons...but very nice:

 

[havershaw]

This one is a Royal Stetson Playboy. The felt is very very thin and floppy. There's no liner (though it looks like there once had been one). There's not quite a bound edge, but it has a thinly stitched border around it:

Last but not least is a sentimental favorite of mine. It's a superold Resistol. Marked "The Pacesetter" on the sweatband. It's seen better days, to be sure, but there's just something about this hat that I love. Pretty much no matter how you wear it, it looks tilted on your head, and that's something I can dig. The "Self-Conforming" sweatband in this hat is the most comfortable I've ever worn. Somehow, this original bash, while crooked, just had so much character that I decided to leave it as-is. Yeah, it's got a big ol' moth bite right on the pinch - you wanna make somethin' of it, punk?

That's all for now. took me three hours to put all of this together. I have four or five more hats I'm anxious to share - plus I'm hoping that HJ will be a cause for celebration - so hopefully I'll be able to post some more photos in a week or two (I have two more Mallorys coming, along with a couple of Royal Stetson Deluxes). Hope you all enjoyed the photos.

 

[Nathan Flowers]

Good grief man, you have some really nice hats. My favorites are those Mallorys.

 

[Canadave]

Originally posted by havershaw
...That's all for now. took me three hours to put all of this together.

Hey, it was worth it...cool pics and descriptions. I guess I'll soon learn all the terminology!

Keep 'em coming,

David

 

[MK]

DANG!

Nice hats. I agree that the mallory is the king.

 

[fedoralover]

Fantastic collection Havershaw. Are all of these from ebay? How many are you up to now?

regards fedoralover

 

[STHill]

Those hats are gorgeous--every single one of them!

 

[Wild Root]

Havershaw, those are some really swell lids! My goodness I cant even believe that Mallory! You know, I have a Mallory very much like that one you pictured! Same color, same bound edge but has a navy blue band on it! Mallory?¢‚Ǩ‚Ñ¢s are one of my favorites! I always get complements on the one I have. MK knows the one I?¢‚Ǩ‚Ñ¢m talking about. I was wearing it the first time I went out with Matt Deckard and the other boys to the Pub.

Just for kicks, here is a nice ad that I grabbed off of eBay. This I would say is from the early 30's.

Enjoy.

 

[havershaw]

Thanks for all the kind words, fellows. Glad to share 'em with you.

Wild Root, that advert is awesome! All my Mallorys are "Cravenette Processed." I haven't worn them in the rain to find out, though.

I'm up to 47 hats, I think. Probably more if you count the handful I got for "reblocking" purposes, for really cheap, which didn't have felt worth reblocking and are now sitting in a pile in my closet.

All of my hats are eBay purchases. I've gotten pretty lucky. The two most expensive ones there are the first two Borsalinos, which cost me $80 and $55. That Mallory with the coppery ribbon was $12!!! hard to believe no one else bid on it.

I gotta start thinning out the herd. No one can wear all of these, although I do wear a different hat every day, so at least they all see some use.

I'll post more when I get the rest this week (I'm especially excited about that HJ. I hope it's as great as I suspect it will be.)

 

[Andykev]

Havershaw....wow!

Dang...Im at 54 hats now as I have "disposed" of some. Oooooooo! Is your wife like mine? If I buy another hat (I will) she's gonna flip! I told her flipping is good exercize!LOL

 

[havershaw]

My wife is indeed on the brink of flippage. Actually, I think she passed it last month, but since then, I have been sort of conservative about what I buy...and careful to "intercept" the mail before she gets home. The breaking point came after I visited LA last month for the "Casablanca" screening. There were five hat-sized boxes waiting for us when we returned. When the hats sort of "trickle in" it's not as big of a deal...when they arrive en masse, it sends her into a fury.

The big problem is that I've bought seven new hats in the last two weeks, and none of them have arrived yet. Inevitably, they will arrive all on the same day. That's how stuff like this works. I just waited for a good time a couple days ago when she was in a particularly good mood, then broke the news to her, and it looks like I may live to see another day. (I don't think those seven hats cost me more than $50 total, anyway.) So hopefully in the next couple of days I'll receive two Royal Stetsons, two Mallorys, a 1950s 100% beaver Herbert Johnson, a Romer 100% Beaver, and some other weird brand I never heard of (it came with the HJ, so I didn't really worry about it too much).

Has anyone ever heard of Romer?

 

[Kilgour Trout]

Made my day!!!

I must be really weird but your pics just made my day . It's funny how something like the beauty of a hat can lift you out of the doldrums. I really do appreciate your collection Bob. It shows what is possible in refurbishing and collecting. Now..if you could only grow 47 heads to wear them all LOL .

Warm Regards
Kilgour Trout

 

[havershaw]

Kilgour -
Glad to be of service, my friend.
I'm working on the "47 head" thing as we speak. Those mafia scientists (because you obviously can't use the legitimate scientists for these kind of projects, what with 'ethics' and all that) can really work some wonders.

 

[farnham54]

Very nice collection, Havershaw. I particularily like the Mallory and the Cavanaugh's.

Thanks for the pics

Regards,

Craig

 

[STHill]

And I quote, "...(I'm) careful to intercept the mail before she gets home...there were 5 hat-sized boxes waiting for us when we returned...I've bought seven new hats in the last two weeks...."

Havershaw, the first step is to admit you have a problem.