The Dobbs Diner...

[vmtrevino2]

I recently won these on eBay, thinking they were ads cut from a printed source, but imagine my surprise when I discovered they are original artwork, most likely from Robert A. Holmes' advertising department at Crofut & Knapp. The time frame is 1917 to perhaps early-1927, though more likely early-1920s.

I'm not sure whether they were used in newspapers or magazines, or what was their intended audience. They may have been mockups, but I don't yet know enough about the early-20th century advertising process to be sure. The first one is ink and perhaps charcoal, with some white grease pencil. The second one is ink. Most C&K/Dobbs ads of this style also included a bit of descriptive text, and these don't have that. It's possible they may have been for generic advertising cards to be sent out to national retailers, but the address wasn't normally included on those. Another oddity is that on the first piece, "Company" is spelled out, instead of abbreviated. This is a rarity in the company advertising. I wish I knew the artist, but they aren't signed.
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This name and address is on the back of the large ad, but a quick Google search has not yielded any information. It could be the artist or just somebody in the approval process. Who knows?
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Brad
~The Hatted Professor

Very cool

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[moehawk]

I'll post this one here too.

Sweatband stamp looks to be an older one. White thing behind the Dobbs stamp is a paper size tag glued to the straw.

 

[ofcoursemyhorse]

Great straw Moehawk, the ribbon looks fantastic with the gold straw.

Dobbs Cross Country.

 

[RJR]

Love that Cross Country.

 

[Lt.hats]

+1. Great hat, Horse


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[moehawk]

Hey everyone!

I saw this one on the bay last week with a 10 dollar opening bid and 15 dollar BIN. In a moment of weakness for a good bargain (and having recently read the Hatted Professor's Cavanaugh Edge Primer, thereby gaining a deep appreciation for the amount of craftsmanship that goes into the making of a felted edge) I pulled the trigger on it.
When I pulled it out of the box first thing I noticed was some of these bits of stuff in the bottom of tge box.

My first thought was "Oh great. I just bought an old mouse nest with its winter stash of antique cat food." But, after inspecting the stuff, and burning a piece, it appeared to be a petrified piece of rubber. After turning up the sweat (mostly soft, but a bit crisp at the forehead) to get a peek at the taggage, I noticed that the back of the sweat had a kind of accordionlike fold to it, with more of the fossilized rubbery stuff on the back of it.

Kinda looks like the gum that used to be in baseball cards. I woder if it was intended to e a cushion or make the sweatband fit better. Maybe the Professor knows? The tags look 60's with no block depth number

The liner tip cover isn't plastic.

Nice stamps on the sweat.

At 1 5/8" brim, the stingiest that I own. Not sure if I want to go stingier.
The price tag says "black diamond"...I wonder if it originally had a diamond bash. Nice shade of brown, too!

The felt is super soft, the fit is great. I think I'm going to enjoy this one!

 

[Brad Bowers]

mohawk, that rubber is part of the Leisure Flex sweatband patent, which also includes the accordion folds in the leather. It's a 1953 patent, but used well into the 1960s. as you can see. It went by various names with the different Hat Corporation of America brands. Dobbs called it both the Spring-aire and Leisure Flex, Knox and Dunlap called it the Comfit.

Brad
~The Hatted Professor

 

[moehawk]

TY Professor! I had a feeling that you would know...

 

[moontheloon]

Great straw Moehawk, the ribbon looks fantastic with the gold straw.

Dobbs Cross Country.

gorgeous hat !!!

congrats

 

[moehawk]

I was able to get the sweatband on my Manilan Braid limber enough to get a pic of that white size tag behind it.

Not very exciting to look at, but at least this means the sweat is saved.

 

[Rogera]

Wow ofcoursemyhorse that Cross Country is sweet!

 

[moehawk]

This one has to go here.

Golden Coach in Canadian Beaver De Luxe finish. Color is Aluminum, style name is Parigi.
Not sure of date, my guess would be early 70's, as it still has a pomade shield on the liner tip but the size tag doesn't look like my 60's HCoA examples. Data tag also looks different.

Kind of hard to compare the feel of this one to anything else I have.

 

[RJR]

Quite a find,Moehawk.

 

[moehawk]

TY RJR. I hope I don't need to get a rabies shot. It has it's teeth and claws in deep!

 

[RJR]

 

[Hurricane Jack]

Mohawk, I love the color of that Golden Coach! Aluminum. That gives me a new search clue. I look for light gray and silver all the time but everything turns up charcoal gray. And silver belly is usually too white or cream color, depending on the brand. Nice hat!

 

[ScottF]

I just acquired a Dobbs Twenty Westward with the same exact sweatband as yours - any ideas as to vintage? I was guessing early 1950's because mine has the onion-skin cover, but the tag is rectangular gold with rounded corners. (Having problems with pics at the moment).

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[ScottF]

 

[ScottF]

Should I go back to lurking and posing my questions as private messages?

 

[Brad Bowers]

Scott, it could be any time in the 1950s or early 1960s, as that liner tip protector was used on Twenties (and up) during that entire period.

Brad
~The Hatted Professor