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Alanfgag, which are you calling the Colombo (by my numbers)? I thought I had posted all of the labels I can find. Also late 50's seems late for the one I have as #3... Is there any way to tell by the numbering?
I'm sorry, but I'm not sure which photos go with which hats. The Colombo (Columbus) is the liner illustration with the ocean scene - one of the hats from Salvatore Balbi's shop in Napoli. There is a theory that this velour line originated at the 500th anniversary of Columbus' birth in 1951. I do not know how long the mark was used. The manufacturing label that shows the color Amiata is typical of the later 1950s into the early 1960s. The label in the hat I just posted with Borsalino logo was used earlier in the 1950s, perhaps back into the late 1940s when Borsalino began producing hats again after WWII. Borsalino hats are notoriously difficult to date. I do not believe that any of the hats you've posted are earlier than 1950.
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