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The Cavanagh Club

rlk

I'll Lock Up
Messages
6,100
Location
Evanston, IL
Another Cavanagh Milan economy brim

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Brad Bowers

I'll Lock Up
Messages
4,187
Cavanagh Cavorter

Just had to win this one! It's a casual Cavanagh model I haven't seen before, but similar to other hats we've seen, including some circa-1930 C&K hats.
Cavorter1.jpg


Very soft, thin felt, little stiffener. Concentric stitching on the brim, in two different colors of thread.

Cavorter2.jpg


Standard Cavanagh 5 1/2" crown, even in this size 7 hat. Brim is 2 1/8".

Cavorter3.jpg

The sweatband is either silk or rayon, I'm not sure which, but it's been rubberized. Additionally, there is a separate leather strip behind the sweatband that has also been rubberized. Gotta keep that sweat off of the hat! There is also a strip of felt underneath the leather that runs the circumference of the hat.
Cavorter4.jpg

Cavorter5.jpg


Size tag is gold, though it was loose under the sweatband. There is also a square of paper backing stuck to the underside of the sweatband, which might possibly have been a Union label. That would make this hat a post-1946 hat. I can't tell either way, though my gut feeling is that it might be early-'40s, in which case, I don't know what that other tag might have been. It's not the block and size tag, which is buried under the sweat in this hat, too hard to photograph.

All in all, a nifty little Cavanagh, quite the gem to add to my collection.
Brad
 

GWD

One Too Many
Messages
1,642
Location
Evergreen, Co
And now for something completely different!

I stopped by World Hats in Pasadena to purchase a new newsboy and this is the one I picked out. When I turned over I was very surprised to see the Cavanagh Label.

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Brad Bowers

I'll Lock Up
Messages
4,187
It's good to be different.

That's a nice looking cap, GWD. I've been wanting to get one of those from the recent Cavanagh Revival. From what HATCO has told us here, those are the only items in Cavanagh headwear available from Hatco today, as they discontinued the felt hat line.

Brad
 

LordBest

Practically Family
Messages
692
Location
Australia
Cavanagh Homburg

This just arrived on my doorstep:
CavanaghHomburgBlackFront.jpg

CavanaghHomburgBlackBowside.jpg

CavanaghHomburgBlackLiner.jpg

CavanaghHomburgBlackSweatband.jpg

I have wanted a Cavanagh since first reading Mr Brad Bowers splendid posts about the company when I first joined the Lounge, and I love homburgs so I am doubly chuffed with this hat. There is a price tag on the inside of the sweatband, it reads:
$20 6202 73/8 BLACK, the price is in red along with the border and lines of the stamp, but the size and colour have been printed on later in black ink. There is also another tag behind the liner which reads:
Reg S 71776 5205 55/8 73/8
Oval To Duplicate Block Size
All printed in black.
Can anyone hazard a guess as to date? I'm assuming 50s as it is almost identical in size and shape to my 50s Mallory homburg.
 

Brad Bowers

I'll Lock Up
Messages
4,187
'50s is a safe bet, but I wouldn't judge it by comparing it to your Mallory. Cavanagh didn't follow the style trends of other manufacturers.

That's a really nice homburg. I love Cavanagh's minimalist edge binding.

Brad
 

rrog

A-List Customer
Messages
430
Location
East Tennessee
Brad Bowers said:
Just had to win this one! It's a casual Cavanagh model I haven't seen before, but similar to other hats we've seen, including some circa-1930 C&K hats.

All in all, a nifty little Cavanagh, quite the gem to add to my collection.
Brad


It does look very nice. Not saying that it's the same, but that stitching on the brim looks similar to some of the modern cloth hats I see today. I don't see that sort of stitching on very many fur felt fedoras. Of course, my experience is very limited, so maybe this is normal/common stitching for a Cavanaugh. Feel free to point that out if that's the case. But it looks classy.

rrog
 

XPLSV

One of the Regulars
Messages
215
Location
Colorado Springs
Cavanagh Disappointment

I won a light colored Cavanagh on ebay last fall...it had been a very long day and I actually won it bidding from my blackberry while my wife was pheasant hunting (it was a lady's hunt, so I was just there for support). Anyway, this hat looked to be in great shape (similar to Handlebar Bart's beauty), I did not own a light colored fedora, and while the hat was not listed as a long oval, I was able to make out such info from the postings. Won it for $46 or so, I think...and I was elated. Then I waited and waited for it to arrive...and it didn't. The seller told me he had shipped it...so I waited some more. Eventually, the seller refunded my money. This perhaps ranks as my biggest ebay disappointment of all time, trumping things I have received that were misrepresented, etc. Didn't lose any money on it, but... :(

I am now waiting on another Cavanagh that I recently won on another auction site...so I hope to finally get my first Cavanagh and have something to post in the next week or two :)
 

cookie

I'll Lock Up
Messages
5,927
Location
Sydney Australia
I lost a burgundy Borsalino hood with a bad address from the seller. I was told AussiePost send them back straight away to the USA and 3 months later no sign of it.
 

XPLSV

One of the Regulars
Messages
215
Location
Colorado Springs
A Permanant Addition

My Panama Cavanagh arrived the other day and I was very pleased when I opened the box :) It is going to be a keeper. I bought this off a small auction site, didn't have much info, never got a reply back to my questions...it wasn't even listed as a Panama hat, although it looked to have a quality weave and to be in pretty good shape. Well, the weave exceeded my expectations, coming in at 600+ wsi, nice backwoven edge, no damage to the straw. A little dirty here and there, but not enough to keep me from wearing it comfortably in public. It's a 7 1/4 and rides a bit high on my 7 3/8 LO head, so I'm thinking of sending it to Graham at Optimo to see about a cleaning and a reblock...see what he recommends. I've got one Borsalino that has been sitting around waiting to get sent and I think this Cavanagh just leapfrogged to the front of the line ;) Hopefully, this is a good candidate for a reblock. Not sure how hard it is to clean such a hat, but we'll see what he says.
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Bernie
 

feltfan

My Mail is Forwarded Here
Messages
3,190
Location
Oakland, CA, USA
XPLSV said:
That panama looks to be treated/painted with something?
If memory serves, Dinerman recently cleaned up such a panama.
You might ask him what that was all about before sending it
on to Optimo.
 

XPLSV

One of the Regulars
Messages
215
Location
Colorado Springs
feltfan said:
That panama looks to be treated/painted with something?
If memory serves, Dinerman recently cleaned up such a panama.
You might ask him what that was all about before sending it
on to Optimo.

I checked with Dinerman...appears to be a bit different coating. I hadn't even noticed it at first (haven't had a straw before), so at least I know whatever treatment was done, it is uniform and appears to be as intended. I'm guessing something to lighten the color. Anyway, I shipped it off to Optimo this morning, so we'll see what Graham has to say.

Bernie
 

buler

I'll Lock Up
Messages
4,382
Location
Wisconsin
Newer Derby

Brad wanted to see pics of this one. Black derby with 1 1/8" ribbon. Top is somewhat soft for a derby. Bound brim. Too bad the sweatband is dried up and pulling away at the stitches.

B

cav_derby_4.jpg


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cav_derby_7.jpg
 

Brad Bowers

I'll Lock Up
Messages
4,187
Thanks for the great photos, buler!

This is an interesting hat, almost a derby/homburg hybrid. It has the narrow fornt and rear lip of a derby, but the sides are curled horizontal like a proper Cavanagh derby, they're more like a homburg. Also, the edge binding is stitched all the way through the brim as on a homburg. On a derby, the edge binding was stitched on by hand, so that the stitches from the underside didn't show through.

The ribbon is a derby-sized ribbon, not homburg. The liner and tip is also for a derby, not a homburg.

How soft is the crown? Homburg soft, or just slightly softer than a regular derby?

I'm not sure what to make of this hat, so I'll keep calling it a hybrid for now.

The $15 price point is a homburg price point for Cavanagh, as the derbies started at $20, even in the early days. This hat is maybe late-'40s into the '50s. Because of some of the details, I'd almost say it's from the 1959 derby revival, but I don't know if the $15 price lasted that late. Something to find out, for sure.

Great find!

Brad
 

buler

I'll Lock Up
Messages
4,382
Location
Wisconsin
Brad Bowers said:
Thanks for the great photos, buler!

This is an interesting hat, almost a derby/homburg hybrid. It has the narrow fornt and rear lip of a derby, but the sides are curled horizontal like a proper Cavanagh derby, they're more like a homburg. Also, the edge binding is stitched all the way through the brim as on a homburg. On a derby, the edge binding was stitched on by hand, so that the stitches from the underside didn't show through.

The ribbon is a derby-sized ribbon, not homburg. The liner and tip is also for a derby, not a homburg.

How soft is the crown? Homburg soft, or just slightly softer than a regular derby?

I'm not sure what to make of this hat, so I'll keep calling it a hybrid for now.

The $15 price point is a homburg price point for Cavanagh, as the derbies started at $20, even in the early days. This hat is maybe late-'40s into the '50s. Because of some of the details, I'd almost say it's from the 1959 derby revival, but I don't know if the $15 price lasted that late. Something to find out, for sure.

Great find!

Brad

The top of the crown is just slightly softer than a regular derby. The sides of the crown seem slightly softer too, but that may just be because they have some "give" due to the top not being as stiff. The brim is stiff like most derbies I've handled.

B
 

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