The $10 Panama

[photobyalan]

I was somewhat surprised to be the only bidder on this vintage Panama

It was claimed by the seller to be circa 1900, but I am very doubtful of that claim. The hat is definitely vintage, but I have no idea what vintage. Anyone care to take a guess at the real age?

The hat is in decent shape, one small crack in the crown and it badly needs to be cleaned and reblocked and the sweatband is, well, toast. The brim is stitched, not backwoven. It has (or had) an Optimo block.

On one side of the sweatband is "Luxtone Genuine Panama - Trade Mark"

On the other side of the band is the name of the hatter from whence it came.

Here is the underside of the crown:

And a close up of the weave on the crown...

...and the brim...

Is this a llano ar a brisa weave? Looks to be about 300 WPSI. It also appears to have been shellacked or had some sort of stiffener applied as it is fairly stiff and the crown "crackles" a bit when handled, although this may be just the age of the hat.

Hopefully a cleaning and blocking will restore this hat nicely. If not, then I'm only out 10 bucks and shipping charges.

 

[Panamabob]

The criss cross action is the llano weave. The center rosetta is the oddest I've ever seen. The small number of vueltas screams Cuenca.

I do think you have a bargain, though, no doubt.

 

[Art Fawcett]

Alan, your not gonna like me much...but don't bother trying to clean this. What you are seeing in the weave is a baking powder mix done way back in the 20s-30s that was a substitute for real cleaning. After the bleaching process the hatter would make a paste up with it, smear it on the hat, let it dry, then brush it off. I've never been successful at duplicating the process and once you try to clean it, it becomes blotchy ( is that a word?) and looks worse normally that what you start with.
Maybe one of the other hatters have had success. How about it folks?

 

[photobyalan]

Art, I think you're right about the baking powder mix. I couldn't figure out what that stuff was, I thought it might be some sort of starch or similar. Maybe that explains why it has such a high crown . I will say that it softened up nicely when I put a little steam on it and the hat is closer to its intended shape than when it first came out of the box.

At any rate, for $10, I'm not going to cry if the hat gets ruined, but it would be a shame. Whoever made this hat obviously knew what they were doing, the weave looks nice and tight and even, at least to my untrained eye. If any of the hatters here want to take a shot at cleaning and rehabbing the hat, I won't hold it against you if it fails.

One other thought...and maybe I'm crazy here...but what about using vinegar to clean that baking powder residue out? Vinegar is fairly gentle at household strength and it would almost certainly react with the sodium bicarbonate of the baking powder and loosen it up. My only concern is what would it do to the palm fibers? Since this hat was very cheap, it might be a good candidate for experimentation. Any thoughts?

 

[Art Fawcett]

Couldn't hurt at that price. I've tried soaking them, scrubbing them with toothbrushes, geeze, everythign I could think of and never got them clean enough to please me. Soaking DOES weaken the toquilla but if it means saving a hat it's better than the alternative.

 

[photobyalan]

OK, in my usual spirit of "If it jams, force it. If it breaks, it needed replacing anyway", I decided to give cleaning the hat a try myself. I removed the leather sweatband (if the truth be known, it had pretty much already removed itself, so no loss there) and left the tattered ribbon on the hat, partly to help me remember which end was the front.

I basically followed the cleaning directions on panamabob's website. I got a large bowl and put warm water and a few drops of dish detergent in. I got the hat good and soaking wet and swished it around followed by a couple rinses in clear water. The water got pretty dirty, but the hat wasn't looking much better, still had all the white stuff in the weave and soil on the crown and brim.

Too stupid to admit failure, I went and got my shaving brush and repeated the process, this time carefully scrubbing the whole surface of the hat with the brush, followed by more rinsing. A good deal of the white gunk was gone, but there were still a few stubborn spots and soiled areas.

An aside here...the weave is tight enough that I can fill the crown with water and it only leaks through in dribs and drabs.

Throwing caution to the wind, I went for the vinegar. I emptied the water out of the bowl and put about 2 cups of vinegar in and went at the hat with the brush again. After the vinegar I rinsed the hat several times with deionized water, letting it soak for about 15 minutes.

Right now, the hat is drying on my stretcher. Most of the stains are gone and 98% of the white gunk is washed away. The unnatural stiffness seems to be gone, too, but I'll wait until it's completely dry before I get excited about that. There are a few frayed fibers around the crown, and the one spot on the edge of the crown where a small split had formed over the years is only a tiny bit worse.

My questions: Can this split be repaired? Is it worth the cost to reblock this hat and replace the ribbon and sweatband, keeping in mind that I have only $10 invested so far? I have no illusions that this hat will ever be "perfect" again, but if I can get a serviceable, decent-looking hat out of this, I'd be willing to put some money into it. Any opinions?

 

[feltfan]

How much do you love it?

I think that center rosetta is cool.

I didn't quite follow the cleaning description.
Sounds like only the vinegar was effective?
If I were to try something similar, would you
recommend skipping the other steps and
going straight to the vinegar?

Personally, I suspect I'd keep a dirty hat
with a cool old block shape and vintage look over a clean
hat with no block shape. I note that Optimo
cleans and blocks Panamas, so I guess I'd
just send it to the expert. Then again, your hat
looks clean and new...

 

[photobyalan]

I would say that the initial washing in water was partially effective but, in this case, the white gunk and the fairly bad soiling around the edges of the crown needed something more. If it had been only lightly soiled and without the gunk in the weave, I think sudsy water would have done the job.

Again, I want to stress that I would not have attempted this if the hat had cost much more than it did, or if the sweatband had been intact. If you could have touched the hat and felt how unnaturally stiff and crinkly it was, I think you might have come to the same conclusion.

 

[Twitch]

Good going! Ebay is weird sometimes. Stuff you think will bid up gets away at rock bottom prices and vice versa. I gotta find me a straw of somekind to use when I sit outside at car shows.

 

[SHARPETOYS]

Quote.

My questions: Can this split be repaired? Is it worth the cost to reblock this hat and replace the ribbon and sweatband, keeping in mind that I have only $10 invested so far? I have no illusions that this hat will ever be "perfect" again, but if I can get a serviceable, decent-looking hat out of this, I'd be willing to put some money into it. Any opinions?


I don't think so unless you do it yourself. A reblock is $35.00 plus ?? (I'm guessing) shipping say $5.00 each way total $45.00 or so. Now you have $55.00 in the hat.
The split really can't be fixed. If it were mine just fix it yourself the best as you can and wear it.

PanamaBob has Montecristi blocked in country for $55.00 I think.

 

[Panamabob]

I know people who could weave in the new paja, but the color would take years to match and you will be able to tell that a "patch" was woven in. I'll send pictures down for a quote for kicks.

 

[photobyalan]

Thanks, Robert. It would be nice not to have the split there, but if the repair would end up being obvious, then it might not make sense.

Now that hat has dried completely, it appears as if the cleaning was a complete success - all the stains are gone or so light as not to be noticeable, the hat did not get any sort of blotchy appearance, and the final color is a beautiful golden straw color. The fibers are still reasonably supple.

Looks like it's going to be worth reblocking and replacing the sweatband, so it's off to the hatter's and hopefully I'll have it back in time for warm weather.

 

[Mr. 'H']

Bravo!

:clap

 

[Zemke Fan]

$10 goes a long way, doesn't it, Alan?

Looks like it's going to be worth reblocking and replacing the sweatband, so it's off to the hatter's and hopefully I'll have it back in time for warm weather.

Is this the hat in your avatar? Did I miss a thread where you posted the hat with new sweatband and blocK?

I was out with the family today and scored a nice hat similar to yours but of a newer vintage I believe. It's a "Knox Genuine Panama" from the old Washington, D.C. store "Raleighs-Haberdasher." Not only does it fit my mellon-sized noggin perfectly, but it came with TWO ribbons (the outer one is a hideous burgundy). I will try and get some photos up tomorrow. The condition is EXCELLENT. It's not soiled at all, no tears or rips... and like yours, the price was only $10!!!

 

[photobyalan]

Is this the hat in your avatar? Did I miss a thread where you posted the hat with new sweatband and blocK?

No, that one is a Panamabob. The $10 one is at Art's shop right now.

 

[Twitch]

Since this thread began I scored this vintage import for $16. The top side of the brim is dirty but I could care less and don't plan to attempt a like new clean up look.

 

[photobyalan]

Offering more evidence that good things come to those who wait...

Art turned the hat 180 degrees so the split is now in the back. It's reinforced with tape and is hardly noticeable. He also installed a new leather sweatband and added a nice ribbon.

I now have a 75-year-old Panama with a lot of character that is in nice shape. The total cost including several shipping charges is about $75.

 

[carebear]

Offering more evidence that good things come to those who wait...

Art turned the hat 180 degrees so the split is now in the back. It's reinforced with tape and is hardly noticeable. He also installed a new leather sweatband and added a nice ribbon.

I now have a 75-year-old Panama with a lot of character that is in nice shape. The total cost including several shipping charges is about $75.

That's why the pros get the big bucks. They find the efficient solution on the first try.

Beautiful hat. Nothing wrong with character.

 

[Panamabob]

That looks great. Great work. Nice hat. Character. One liners!:eusa_clap