The best 1930s fedora I never had.

[Marc Chevalier]

I'm new to this fedora thing, but back in 1999 I nearly entered the fray.

While looking around eBay, I spotted a mint condition, dead-stock, early 1930s "Disney Hats" fedora, size 7 1/4. There's a photo of it below. (Yes, I've kept that photo for over six years!)

I bid $76, a big sum at the time for a vintage hat on eBay. I lost. The winning bid turned out to be $112.

To this day, I yearn for that hat ...


And here it is (or was):

 

[photobyalan]

Here's hoping it didn't turn out to be some yahoo's Halloween costume!

 

[budward]

Yes, that's a beaut. I cry with you. Of course, I'd cry harder were it a 7 3/8 LO.

Bud

 

[Wild Root]

I'm sure it wasn't part of a costume. Most people I know who go searching for vintage for a costume are tight as an Indian?¢‚Ǩ‚Ñ¢s drum! They don't even want to spend 20 or 30 bucks let alone 112! I'm sure a collector bought it and it's well cared for.

Yes, that's a great hat! Wish I had one like it. That's the kind of hat you should have Marc.

It's all about Tall Crowns! Straight, Tall Crowns.... Mmmmmmmmm Ahhhhhh, so nice!

=WR=

 

[Matt Deckard]

There can never be too many threads about straight tall crowned hats... WHY CAN"T MODERN HATTER GET IT RIGHT?

 

[Matt Deckard]

Here's hoping it didn't turn out to be some yahoo's Halloween costume!

We all know it did.

 

[Bassman]

Noooooooo!

 

[Hercule]

Indeed that is a wonderful looking hat, my size too. The proportions are fantastic! And I agree with you Matt, why can't modern hatters get it right. But that leads me to wonder about the modern fedoras market. Is there really that small of a market for tall straight crowned hats that they seem to be only the domain of custom hatters? Is there no one who makes such a hat that can be had off the shelf and is affordable? Mad money is damn hard to come by these days so I'd love to come across a genuine 30s styled hat that won't break the bank. Dare I say (risking the jaundiced gazes of the fur snootenistas), even wool would be perfect for me!

 

[Aureliano]

WHY CAN"T MODERN HATTER GET IT RIGHT?

They can. A Cervo I bought in Biella, Italy in 1999. Amazing quality and minus the cav. edge and with a slightly wider ribbon than Marc's lost Disney, pretty much the same style.Very tall crown which I have creased with a deep center dent.
One of my favorite hats. It's a much colder gray, this is a quick shot with poor lighting.

[/QUOTE]

 

[scotrace]

I have carefully preserved Marc's photo from the first posting. It is THE hat.

 

[DJH]

I'll bet that swapping out the ribbon on Matt's Powell Fedora could result in a hat that looked very much like the lost Disney too.

 

[alanfgag]

Looks lovely, but I wonder whether it would have turned out to be a 1930s hat.

1950s Borsalino.

 

[rlk]

Looks lovely, but I wonder whether it would have turned out to be a 1930s hat.

1950s Borsalino.

I would agree with this observation. Shares the characteristics of many HCA produced $15 or $20 models from c. 1940-55 as well as other competitive manufacturers. 1930's was a decade with a very broad and changing range of styles, only a few of which began to resemble this hat toward the end of the decade.

 

[Marc Chevalier]

I would agree with this observation.

Alan and rlk are right. I made this thread and its first post more than six years ago, when I was a vintage hat newbie. 1930s was my best estimate at the time, but "best" and "newbie" don't add up to much.