The Cavanagh Club

[Brad Bowers]

Any paticular reason for this price structure, such as raw material or finishing cost, that you are aware of?

Splendid and scarce Derby that looks great on you, by the way.

Thanks, delectans.

That's funny, I was just posting something about this in another thread. You have to remember that in the '30s, most felt hats didn't cost anywhere near $20. Most Derbies (those few being sold, anyway) probably went for $10 or less. With Cavanagh, you're paying for the name. John Cavanagh liked to joke that the LTD in John Cavanagh, Ltd. stood for "Lay Twenty Down," which pretty much explains his pricing structure. The final cost of the Derby has no relation to the cost of the materials or labor, though Cavanagh hand-picked the best employees for the Cavanagh division, so they probably earned more than their counterparts elsewhere in the company, but that's only my guess. I think it's just that the Derby was a signature hat for Cavanagh, so there was really only one price level. The men that bought his Derbies didn't really care about the price.

In the soft hats, though, he even offered some as low as $15, reflecting, perhaps, that this was the current style favored by men around the world, and would become the best-selling of all the Cavanagh hats. Thus, they would have a pricing structure that better reflected real-world trends.

My best conjecture.

Brad

 

[delectans]

Thank you as always, Brad, for the light you shed on this remarkable era of American hat manufacture. :eusa_clap

Every anecdote or additional piece of information adds to our collective knowledge as well as the enjoyment and pleasure we derive from our vintage lids.

 

[DRB]

I will never get tired of looking at those pleated liners. my my.

 

[rlk]

Chocolate Cavanagh wide brim

 

[Brad Bowers]

Wow, what a beaut! A rare wide brim, and even more rare tip protector! Fantastic color, too. I'm envious.

Brad

 

[rlk]

Newer Charcoal Cavanagh Stingy

1-3/4" brim with very nice felt up to traditional Cavanagh standards.

 

[buler]

Wow, what a beaut! A rare wide brim, and even more rare tip protector! Fantastic color, too. I'm envious.

Brad

RLK, its great to see a wide brim Cavanagh. They just don't show up much.

B

 

[rlk]

Thanks Brad and Bill. The stingies don't show up much around here either.

 

[DRB]

Love the black AND the charcoal cavanagh!!

 

[hatophile]

Nice Cavs rlk, I especially like the chocolate one.

 

[150719541]

Nice hats¡¡¡

Hi Robert, greetings from SLP, Mex., I like your hats, all have something special.:eusa_clap:eusa_clap:eusa_clap

 

[Dreispitz]

I recently checked under the sweatband of my Cavanagh 20ies/30ies Homburg. There are metal buttons right and left under the sweatband. Did anyone spot such a thing, too? What was the purpose?

 

[Brad Bowers]

I recently checked under the sweatband of my Cavanagh 20ies/30ies Homburg. There are metal buttons right and left under the sweatband. Did anyone spot such a thing, too? What was the purpose?

How's it going?

Sounds like a Carter Sweatband. It made the sweatband easily replaceable, as well as minimizing sweat traveling through to the felt. I don't think they lasted much beyond the '30s.

Brad

 

[Dreispitz]

Hello Brad, thank you for the information! Interesting how inventive they were in the times.

I am fine apart from a bad cold that I cought last weekend in Athens :smow:

 

[mayserwegener]

I would like to see photos of them (please).

 

[Dreispitz]

It looks pretty much like in the link, Brad posted. I will see to maneuver the camera around the band the next days.

 

[mayserwegener]

I just checked the link so no photos needed.

 

[Brad Bowers]

You'll get a photo anyway. lol

Brad

 

[delectans]

'30s-'40s Homburg

I often wonder about the previous owners of our vintage lids, and most often they are known to us only by their initials. Once in a while, however, a hat comes along with provenance and history, and a name and face all of a sudden reaches across the decades to the here, and now.

Arthur I. Appleton was a Chicago industrialist, scion of the Appleton family whose patriarch originally immigrated to the United States from Sweden, and who started the family electrical company in Chicago in 1903. The younger Appleton eventually took over the reins to the company in 1947, eventually selling it to Emerson Electric in 1982.

Mr. Appleton married the Hollywood actress Martha O'Driscoll in 1947, and later went on to become one of America's most successful thoroughbred race horse breeders and owners, as well as donating his entire art collection to found the Appleton Museum Of Art in Ocala, Florida.

In 2008, Mr. Appleton passed away at the age of 92, and this hat remained in the possession of the family, who recently gave it to a family friend, and from whom I acquired it, via the 'Bay. I will be obtaining more history specifically pertaining to the hat in the near future.

The hat is a very dark, ink blue, and exquisitely made of lovely felt. I have left the hat creased as Mr. Appleton left it.

 

[mayserwegener]

Delectans, That is a real beauty! Also a very unique / rare color combo (felt / ribbon & binding) for a Homburg. Super!

Brad, Belated Thanks!