The Allan Quatermain Hat Thread - Where oh where

[MDFrench]

Yes - Paul Robeson played Umbopa - the mysterious African

 

[BellyTank]

Double brim...

Look at some of those thick brimmed Gurkha hats- those brims that are almost 1/4 inch is actually 2 layers of felt- have a look.
BT.

 

[SHARPETOYS]

I sent you a pm message :cool2:

 

[Matt Deckard]

Look at some of those thick brimmed Gurkha hats- those brims that are almost 1/4 inch is actually 2 layers of felt- have a look.
BT.

True, they were two layers of felt and from the looks of it not the same hat as the Aussie slouch hat or "Digger". I saw some of those double brimmed hats in store a few years back though never thought much of it until I noticed that in some movies where you see safaris taking place the adventurers wore the odd two brimmed hats.

 

[SHARPETOYS]

Digger

David Morgan Digger $115.00???
http://www.davidmorgan.com/proddetail.html?product_number=1601&ticket=996277-7676080

 

[BellyTank]

Yep, it looks like a contemporary Australian or NZ hat might suit- the Gurkha ones are kind of a nice shape but very thick. The Aus ones have the pugaree too.

This one-
http://www.qcmilitaria.com/drums/aushats.jpg

This one's looking good> http://www.lawranceordnance.com/new/images/hats/current-issue-puggaree.jpg

...here's the page>
http://www.lawranceordnance.com/new/hats-akubra.html

one of these would be a good choice- maybe just re-block or bash to your own design spec.

...maybe I already posted these...
Anyway, I've looked into something that I'd been meaning to.

BT.

 

[BellyTank]

...some Sheriff, Trooper and Border Patrol, etc... hats aren't looking too bad either- centre dent/wide brim- olive/khaki
http://www.strattonhats.com/felts.html
...and some of the old Civil War Cavalry hats too- plenty of repros
http://www.dirtybillyshats.com/acw.htm
http://www.dirtybillyshats.com/

BT.

 

[Ken]

You need to see the one Halliburton/Paul Denton has! I cant find a picture of it but its awesome!

ken

 

[gandydancer]

Actually, it is the classic movie jungle/safari/white-huter hat of that period. Modern so-called safari hats never looked right to me. Then I realised that all the old movie hats I had seen had either a light colored pleated, or an exotic animal fur hat band. My old Stetson Safari from Eddie Baurer (bought about 1980) had the pleated band (wish I could get a new one like it). All the new ones seem to have narrow leather hat bands, and of course the felt is crap. The Aussie Digger hat Bellytank mentions is different in that the dip of the puggeri is in the front, all the movie hats I have seen have it at the side. I keep thinking that the British had a jungle hat like that but have not been able to find a photo.

I just bought a new old stock cowboy hat (halfway decent felt) and had the brim cut down to 3-1/4 inchs (may have another 1/8th taken off) and reformed into a flat snap. It is now a 5-inch pinch crown 30's looking hat. I just put a khaki pleated band on it. That band (made in Taiwan) was crap poorly folded, hot glued together, and evendently made by a poorly trained monkey. I redid it and at least he pleats are now fairly even. However it is only three pleats and looks too dressy to look like the ones in the movies, seven pleats would be better but you may have to make your own to get it (if anyone knows a source I wish they would share it).

 

[BellyTank]

...thanks for that clarification- it was my intention to illustrate that.

Pictures Gandydancer!!!, pictures!!!

...let's see it.

I think we have established so far that the Gurkha style is thick and heavy- or double/double brim and has a Pugaree- The 'British' and commonwealth ones(non-Gurkha) are mostly single layer slouch hats- floppier, some (Aust.) with Pug.. The 'British' style Safari/Hunter could be viewed as the 'Chindits' style as worn by Wingates Chindits in Burma in WW2- as seen on the central figure in the 1st image of post 7, above.

This is still fun!

BT.

 

[gandydancer]

...thanks for that clarification- it was my intention to illustrate that.

Pictures Gandydancer!!!, pictures!!!

...let's see it.

I think we have established so far that the Gurkha style is thick and heavy- or double/double brim and has a Pugaree- The 'British' and commonwealth ones(non-Gurkha) are mostly single layer slouch hats- floppier, some (Aust.) with Pug.. The 'British' style Safari/Hunter could be viewed as the 'Chindits' style as worn by Wingates Chindits in Burma in WW2- as seen on the central figure in the 1st image of post 7, above.

This is still fun!

BT.

Yes, the guy in the background in the bottom Chindit photo you posted seems to be wearing a hat similar to the jungle hat I was talking about. However, the movie still MDFrench posted looks like one of those Ghurka hats, indeed.

Not having a digital camera it will take a few days to get a photo of my hat up. However remember I am trying for something similar the white hunter hat of in those 30-40-50's movies not a specific hat style, and of course one that looks good on my big round faced head, modern hats usually don't.

This thread has taken off in a hurry hasn't it? As you say it's fun!

 

[BellyTank]

Listen to this then...

The hats are definitely of British Colonial origin with national peculiarities- Aus. NZ, India/Nepal/Gurkha- dating back to the turn of the 20thC and earlier. Remember the old pointed Pith helmets worn by the British in India and Africa in the Zulu and Boer wars. They had a Pugaree too- then we get the felt hat- an educated guess would be that the 'felt hat' is a less formal, more functional piece of headwear stemming from the use of floppy felt hats in early Australia and NZ and other Commonwealth territories....or possibly Canada/N.America and the ranching, western world of headwear...

Here's some interesting sales descriptions of 'double' hats>

***10th Gurkha Rifles Brimmed Hat, double thickness of fine khaki fur felt, w/ tan pagri, size 6 5/8, new condition, has Hunting Stewart tartan flash and badge on left side, lacks chin strap, $85.00

***British WW II Jungle Hat, double thickness of khaki felt, 1942 dated, leather chin strap, left side of brim snaps up, tan pagri w/ dk green top fold, w/ locally made cloth badge of green Maltese cross on khaki serge (Wiltshires?), size 6 7/8. These have gotten very scarce, even rare, especially in excellent condition with an original badge, $200.00

***NZ “Lemon Squeezer� Hat, post WW II, fine quality khaki fur, infantry pagri band w/ K/C General Svc badge, 6 5/8, $100.00

..more later... gotta do something in the real world.

BT.

 

[BellyTank]

...exactly, didn't I mention that?

The whole Colonial Afric, India, Aus, NZ........ thing.
I found a great picture of some wild Boers yesterday...let me find it...

BT.

 

[MDFrench]

OK, guys - When I get home this afternoon, I am going to grab more screens from King Solomon's Mines which show the hat on profile with the "underbrim" flapping around and basically more detail in general -

Until then - there's this page -

www.geocities.com/indyfrench/grangerhat

Cheers,
Mike

 

[BellyTank]

Wild Boers!

...that's them, the Good, the Bad and the Ugly ones.
Check the Swashbuckler, third from the right.
Hey, nice Mortar!

BT.

 

[BellyTank]

...see the hats but check the guy at bottom right.

BT.

 

[MDFrench]

Hey! Here's that photo of our pal Halliburton! This is his Indygear Club Obi-Wan avatar!

I Pmed him and he told me that it's a old photo and that he's been searching for a hat like that to replace the one in the photo for years and cannot find one suitable.

He told me that it was a Gurkha hat. He said he bought it years ago at, get this of all things, a Banana Republic back when they actually sold outdoors/safari clothes.

Crazy...

 

[Matt Deckard]

I have a couple of those Aussie slouch hats, and actually gave one away to one of the members at a fedora lounge meet we had at the pub a while back... I thought it just suited him better.

 

[MDFrench]

OK, all - here are the photos to study and, in my case, drool over. I grabbed these off my DVD. See what you make of 'em. This first collage is of random shots from a few scenes, but they show the hat from top angles and such.

 

[MDFrench]

This next one shows clearly a nice rear quarter shot and profile.