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The BORSALINO BROTHERHOOD

Purplesage

One Too Many
Messages
1,995
Location
Boulder, CO
Borsalino Alessandria

One of my favorite Borsalinos. 2 1/4" raw edge brim; 4 3/4" crown as shown (5 3/4" open) which is wrapped in a 1 1/8" grosgrain ribbon with wind trolley. I assume the faux wind trolley did not originally come with the hat.


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'AORPE
 
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bond

My Mail is Forwarded Here
Messages
3,535
Location
Third coast
David, how does the quality of this FU Lazzaro compare with the other Borsalino label ?
Never owned one from the FU Lazzaro line but have been curious about their quality?
This one looks very nice , I like the color , and looks like a nice quality.
 
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Geldoc

One of the Regulars
Messages
290
Location
North Carolina, USA
David, that's a spectacular hat. Ordinarily my taste in brims is at least 2 1/2" but the proportions on this one are spot on. These old Borsos really can be elegant.
 

mikespens

Call Me a Cab
Messages
2,913
Location
Tacoma, Wa
Very nice Ps, I have a similar Lazzaro liner in a borsy made long after the Alessandria firm bought out the G.B. firm. Also interesting to see the Alessandria model name on the sweat combined with the Lazzaro brand. Seems to be a lot we still don't know about borsy history. Looks like the brim on yours may have been trimmed down. When I went to the modern borsy dealer in Seattle and tried on an Alessandria model the first thing the salesman offered was "we can trim the brim down". Believe the brim is about 3" on the current Alessandria. Like Alan, I'm also curious about your faux wind trolley statement, looks like it's attached to the hat?
 
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Messages
15,083
Location
Buffalo, NY
A brief history posted by RLK in the Fu Lazzaro thread.

"The Borsalino story in brief. Giuseppe Borsalino and his brother Lazzaro founded Borsalino Giuseppe e Fratello in 1857. Giuseppe died in 1900 and Teresio Borsalino took over. In 1905-6 cousin Gian Battista raised money and founded another company G.B. Borsalino fu Lazzaro & C. During the Depression business became a challenge and G.B.Borsalino fu Lazzaro & C. was absorbed by the original(Antica Casa) Borsalino Giuseppe e Fratello SPA which continues to this day although the family sold the business in the mid 1980's.

http://www.teatrodelrimbalzo.it/narr03b.html (in Italian)"

Borsalino won the survival of the fittest contest and carried forward a number of Italian maker brands (such as Vanzina) as style lines within their large product offering. This hat dates from the later era (1970 +) and does appear to have had the brim trimmed at some point.
 

Purplesage

One Too Many
Messages
1,995
Location
Boulder, CO
Alan looking at it more closely the brim probably was trimmed down. I personally like this size of a brim (2 1/4") as long as it has a high untapered crown to go with it like those of the 20s and 30s. How can you tell the hat dates from 1970 +. To me it looks and feels older then then that. I would have guessed from the 50s. It seems to be of exceptional quality. Does Borsalino use unreeded sweatbands, or if they no longer do, when did the stop making them. I've seen more Borsalinos sold on the European market that have reeded sweatbands.
 

besdor

Vendor/Sponsor
Messages
1,727
Location
up north
If the hat is from the 1970's , then its pre 1976 as Borsalino changed the body sticker that year to a somewhat computerized version. I think the hats is more 1960's.
 

Purplesage

One Too Many
Messages
1,995
Location
Boulder, CO
besdor - It looks more like a early 50's or late 40s hat to me with the high untapered crown and unreeded sweatband. Brim may have been trimmed down to 2 1/4" so I don't know what the size the original brim was. I would guess 2 1/2" but I don't know. I'm not too familiar with the particular model.
 

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