The Dobbs Diner...

[Brad Bowers]

Nice Dobbs, and a good find. It's a '50s hat, though, not '60s. Does it have OPS information on the oval size tag sticking out from underneath the sweatband? If so, it's '51 to '53. If not, it's probably no later than mid-'50s, I should think.

Additionally, it was priced at $10, but Dobbs never had a model named the 10 or Ten. It would've had some other name, and going back through ads from that time we might be able to find it. I didn't run across it in any of the newspaper ads, though.

Brad

 

[Alive'n'Amplified]

Standard brown oval tag w/ size only.

 

[Alive'n'Amplified]

How do you explain the welt stitching?

 

[Brad Bowers]

There were special sewing machines that were used to make hidden or blind stitches that didn't go all the way through the brim at least as far back as the 1920s. They were cousins to the sewing machines that did blind stitches on unreeded sweatbands for soft hats. Here is an example. Figure 9 shows the cross-section of the brim edge with the blind stitch.http://www.google.com/patents/US1585665.pdf

 

[Alive'n'Amplified]

Very cool! I didn't know such things ever existed.

 

[Miamibruno]

Gents,

Just purchased the following and wondered if you could date this hat from the liner. I've seen half brown and white, half blue and white design, and the older 20s/30s all blue design, but in my hasty research did not see the following liner. Any suggestions? Thanks for your input.

 

[Brad Bowers]

Miamibruno, that's a '60s liner style.

Brad

 

[Miamibruno]

Thanks, Brad. I appreciate your keen eye.

Adrian

 

[splintercellsz]

Nice Dobbs, Miami!

 

[Miamibruno]

Thanks, Splintercellsz! I'll try to get some photographs of it when I get it.

Adrian

 

[bond]

Vintage 40-50s Dobbs Westward , added a wider ribbon and a rebash for this style . Felt is real nice.

 

[randooch]

Very, very nice.

 

[bond]

Hey Randall, how's London life treating you?
Thanks for the comment
Best
Scott

 

[Miamibruno]

Brad,

I'm wondering if you've heard of this hat I just acquired, the "Roamer". I tried to research it but found nothing. Unfortunately, it is marked 7 1/8th but is much too big. It has to be a 7 3/8ths at least. Still, before I give it up I'd love to know something about it.

As always, I thank the Lounge for their input.

 

[Brad Bowers]

This is the first Roamer I've seen. The model name was used in the late-'40s for a cloth porkpie-style hat, but by the late-'50s, it was a felt hat with bound edge and around a 1" ribbon, similar to the earlier Cross Country, or a Stetson Playboy. The ribbon on yours doesn't look original, just judging by the way it's tacked to the crown, but I would still say it circa 1960.

Brad

 

[Miamibruno]

Brad,

Thank you. Hard to believe you've never seen one. It's still a pretty cool looking hat. Just too darn big. But thanks for info.

Adrian

 

[JonnyO]

It appears that I have forgotten to post pictures of my Twenty VVL. The sweatband is cracked all around but is still solid. This is a fantastic hat. The ad in the picture is from March 1955.

 

[splintercellsz]

Aquired these two ads in a lot that I was recently given.

March 1928

Nov. 14, 1931

 

[rlk]

Dobbs w/ Improved Cavanagh Edge

Ultra-light weight with thin, but shape-holding felt and an equally thin button-off Carter type sweatband. Small and tidy Improved Cavanagh Edge on a 2-1/4" brim and about 6" open crown. Sorry no head shot as its a skimpy 7 rather than the listed 7-1/4-7-3/8. No body paperwork remains.

 

[Lefty]

beautiful