The Dobbs Diner...

[Purplesage]

Thanks Harv

 

[1mach1]

Dobbs Fifteen

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[job]

Very nice. Looks like it was hardly worn.

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[1mach1]

Thank you, John!!

 

[Ordinary Guy]

Nice Dobbs, they make a great lid......

 

[Asmo]

I posted this hat in the New Hats thread as well. I hope that's okay.
New-to-me Dobbs Twenty

With filter.

Without filter

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[Brad Bowers]

1930s Dobbs for O'Melia

Here's another curiosity that arrived today, a late-1930s Dobbs for a mysterious retailer.
It's actually a very rich, dark brown, but my flash washes it out. The brim in the second photo is close to the actual color. This seems to be the crease it's lived most of its life with, as this is what it defaults to. The front top is tightly creased. Very pleasing dimensions, with a 5 ¾" crown and a 2 ⅜" brim. The felt is quite thin and light, but firm.



This outdoors shot shows the color the best.


Open crown height of 5 ¾". The ribbon appears to have shrunk slightly in circumference at some point, and also perhaps had the back of the bow tacked down again. It appears to be original to the hat. 21-ligne, 1 ⅞" ribbon, unless it has shrunk in height.


One oddity about this hat is the sweatband. Rather than featuring the usual Dobbs debossment on the right side of the sweatband and the retailer's mark on the left side, this hat has the Dobbs and the retailer's mark incorporated into the same die, and stamped in gold on the right side. Again, stamped, not debossed, which is highly unusual. As for O'Melia, the only reference I can find is an O'Melia Company, Inc., incorporating in Pennsylvania at 1509 Chestnut Street in early 1937. The state of Pennsylvania shows the incorporation was withdrawn/dismissed/cancelled in 1923, so I have no idea what's up with that. PA also lists another O'Melia (No "Company, Inc.") incorporating in 1925 and withdrawn in 1937, but no address given. It is quite possibly related.

I can find no other mention of the O'Melia Co. It would appear to be a retailer, but it does not turn up in a newspaper or book search. Anyone out there have any more information on this store? Unrelated sidenote: the address is just down the street from the Stetson store.


The plain (no Dobbs markings) HCA 1930s factory label. There used to be a liner at one time, as evidenced by the remaining strand of ivory-colored thread by the upper right-hand corner of the label. Too bad it's missing. There are no other labels in the hat, though I can see a spot on the inside of the sweatband where the size tag used to be.


This hat was also a Factory Sample with a retail price of $5.00. It was probably meant to be a $7.50 hat, because the $10.00 Dobbs hats at this time usually came with a Cavanagh Edge. This one appears to have always been a raw-edge hat. Also strange is the reed tape is taped down in three places, left, right and back. I'm not sure why this was done, and can't remember running across it before on HCA hats. Was this a factory second that didn't pass inspection, or was it a case of the O'Melia Company closed (or never opened) before the hat could be delivered? I don't know.


Many thanks to Joshbru3 for the heads-up on this one!

Brad

 

[facade]

Coupla' Dobbs

Click the image for the larger version.

First is a 1950's Dobbs Forty. Some wag cut the Guild Edge off. :eeek: Also the hat appears to have been a factory second... had I known these things I wouldn't have paid what I did. Oh well, it is still a nice hat.





Second hat is a 1940's Dobbs, no fancy moniker. The felt on this one is paper thin.

 

[job]

Nice.

 

[Asmo]

Click the image for the larger version.

First is a 1950's Dobbs Forty. Some wag cut the Guild Edge off. :eeek: Also the hat appears to have been a factory second... had I known these things I wouldn't have paid what I did. Oh well, it is still a nice hat.

View attachment 15829 View attachment 15828 View attachment 15830
View attachment 15831 View attachment 15832 View attachment 15838

I love the color combination on this one.


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[1mach1]

Facade, that is a real gem!! :eusa_clap

 

[Lotsahats]

Dobbs Louisiana Planter

Picked up this Dobbs 20 off of OFAS sometime last week. It had been advertised as Never Worn! and Super Rare! You know the drill. Still, a Dobbs 20 with a 3" brim was too good to pass up, so I took the chance.

Got the hat when I got back to town recently. The first thing to say is that it had been worn, not hard, but it had seen head time. The seller (or someone) had given it a cleaning and block to open crown, but you could still see the faint shadow of where the hat had been creased before. There was a slight fray on the ribbon, too, but that was it. The felt is that clay-like density that just takes a little shaping but holds pretty well, and he color, a light tan, almost gray is nice. Based on Brad's great material, I'd place this hat squarely mid-50s. It's a nice hat, and I'm glad to have it!

Anyone hear of the "Louisiana Planter" style before?

A

 

[Brad Bowers]

Very nice! I've seen one other come up for auction, and looked just like that one. I'm trying to remember if Robert (rlk) won it.

Brad

 

[bond]

Nice one Aaron . Full size brim and good looking stature to that one.

 

[1mach1]

+1. That is a beauty!

 

[Lotsahats]

Thanks, guys! I found this picture of an ad for the "new" Louisiana Planter dated April 1954, but I can't make much else out.

A

 

[Joshbru3]

[
A

Fantastic! Beautiful Planter!!

 

[Brad Bowers]

Thanks, guys! I found this picture of an ad for the "new" Louisiana Planter dated April 1954, but I can't make much else out.

A

I hate Newspapers.com, just because I can't afford another subscription service. They have a lot of papers that Google Newspapers doesn't, though. I don't know if you saw it, but there was another page from Newspapers.com that had a similar ad for the Louisiana Planter from April 1958, so the model was around for at least four years. I've found very little over the years about this model. The trademark was first used by HCA in August 1949, but your hat has the Headspring sweatband, so it's definitely 1953+.

Brad

 

[Lotsahats]

Thanks, Josh!

I felt the same way, Brad, about the site. Oh, well. Thanks for filling in some details! I read extensively from your Dobbs dating guide (not for lonely hearts, of course, but for ascertaining dates) before I pulled the trigger on this one. Really appreciate your scholarship!

A

 

[Landman]

Beautiful hat Aaron!