The BORSALINO BROTHERHOOD

[tropicalbob]

Hello everyone and sorry to interrupt the flow, but I was wondering if there is a name for that particular shade of brown, or if anyone might know if other hatters still use it. The reason I ask is because the last time I saw that shade it was on one of Bertie Wooster's trilbies in the Laurie/Frye series, and it completely blew me away.

 

[The Wiser Hatter]

Hello everyone and sorry to interrupt the flow, but I was wondering if there is a name for that particular shade of brown, or if anyone might know if other hatters still use it. The reason I ask is because the last time I saw that shade it was on one of Bertie Wooster's trilbies in the Laurie/Frye series, and it completely blew me away.

Every maker of hat bodies has their own formula's for colors in fur felt.
Here is Vintage Silhouettes fur felt colors.
http://www.vintagesilhouettes.com/Fur_Info.htm

 

[tropicalbob]

Thanks, W.H. Is that particular shade of dark brown, with the red highlights, very common, though? I've been looking for it for some time, but it's often hard to tell a hat's true color from an advertising photo.

 

[jlee562]

Borso often put the names of their colors on tags under the liner. As Ed mentions, different manufacturers had different formulas. Also, in the heydey of hat making, the variety would be relatively unfathomable compared to modern production hats. Stetson advertised the Playboy to be available in 30 different colors. We can really only draw inferences from what examples survive to the present day; likewise, absent a specific tag, it's probably not possible to give this shade an exact color name.

 

[Purplesage]

Mother of All Borsalinos

The tag says "Grano" and another word in cursive that looks like "Oldouva" or "Aldouva"! I've probably got it wrong so maybe someone else can tell me what the word is. I picked this up a couple of moths ago. When it arrived, the sweatband which appeared pretty well intact just fell apart like it had been discovered in a cave with the Dead Sea Scrolls. Everything else on the hat is in good shape. It has the largest brim I have ever seen on a Borsalino 4". The crown is 6 to 6 1/4 (open). The satin or silk liner is bright red. A very unusual hat. What would this be considered, a fedora or a Western Fedora or something else? Someone said it would go well with a zoot suit. Looks like it is pre-1950, maybe someone can narrow down the age a bit more. Actually, I don't think it would have been worn with a zoot suit but who am I to know. I know the hats they wore with zoot suits had very wide brims but I think they also had lower crowns.

 

[mikespens]

Wow, that's a lot'o brim David. The words on the label may not have a literal meaning other than the first "Grano" is the color and the second is the model name. Your age guess is probably as good as anybodies as there is no set in stone dating methods if you follow this thread. Unusual color liner for sure. One borsy fact is for sure though, they made great hats. Must have been some serious storage issues considering the sweatband condition.

 

[Purplesage]

Yea Mike, at least the rest of the hat was preserved. I think it would look good on you.

 

[hatophile]

Wow, that does look like a Zoot hat.

 

[mikespens]

Yea Mike, at least the rest of the hat was preserved. I think it would look good on you.

I couldn't pull off that brim David, not to mention I'd be knocking things over if I tried

BTW, as I suspected, Google translate was no help.

 

[Landman]

Great find! Now that is a very unusual Borsalino. With that tall crown and wide brim you could crease it into a Borsalino Tom Mix western hat.

 

[Purplesage]

Mike you probably could. It holds any type of crease. I just put it in a diamond crease for the photos. Never could figure out how that big hat Tom Mix wore never fell off his head. I'm eventually going to have a new sweatband put in when I have the money. One of my favorite Western movie hats is the one John Wayne wore in The Searchers. It was black flat crown hat with a wide brim. He kind of played against type and the hat more suited his bad side. In most of the movies he was in he usually wore a light colored tall crown western hat like the good guys usually wore. So much for movie trivia.

 

[Purplesage]

Mike I also tried the google translate and came up with the same results. I'm not really sure what the word on the tag is or if I'm spelling it correctly. The word "Grano" was pretty clear. I'll try to through some more Borso work at you. Did you see the gray one I posted that I bought from a lady in Greece.

 

[mikespens]

David I follow this thread so have seen all your recent posts. They are all sweet examples of the brand, you've got some stellar hats. It's been pretty much established here that the paper label names are nonsensical borsy speak. Adds to the overall mystic of the brand I guess. Dating them is particularly difficult. Your label with Borsy trademark vertically on the left is believed to be earlier than labels w/o that. I can't remember the decade that changed is believed to have occurred though.

 

[alanfgag]

It would be interesting to examine the shards of the sweatband to see if the hat was made for the American market or sold in Italy. Borsalino and the other European makers had a wide diversity of styles after WWII. Zoot suits were, if I understand correctly, an American fashion phenomenon of the late 1930s-early 1940s. Perhaps this hat was a Borsalino reflection on that style from the post war era.

 

[tropicalbob]

I've been trying to remember where I saw that big hat before, and then it struck me: Curious George's master!

 

[Purplesage]

Close but no banana.

 

[carouselvic]

Cuter than a Bug's ear

 

[Chepstow]

Nice Borsalino brush, Vic!

 

[alanfgag]

ultra cute!

 

[mikespens]

I've watched a few of those brushes on Ebay and the prices weren't so cute!