The Open Road Guild

[AlanC]

A Stratoliner clone and a refurbished Open Road 25 rescued from the dungheap.

Oh, man. :drool:

What's your brim width on those? We need interior shots.

 

[Justdog]

Soveriegn 20 25 and Royal Deluxe

Well I am enjoying these OR,s Just distiguishing the diferences and variations.
The 20 is real sweet and soft, self confroming Silver Belly, The 25 Is More Tan a bit stffer than 20 but perfect. The Deluxe I would not say was as good a quality but as it is more vintage that may account for the difference. The style is Old OR and it sits much higher than the 20 or 25 even with the same bash? Maybe it is the extra shrinkage from not being stored well It is still real nice though. No indication of felt quality on the Deluxe but it does have a union hatter label on the inside band with the number 125 in red?
None of the others 20, 25 have the Union label,

http://i34.photobucket.com/albums/d138/justdog/Hats/Stetson6.jpg 20
http://i34.photobucket.com/albums/d138/justdog/Hats/Stetson5.jpg 20
http://i34.photobucket.com/albums/d138/justdog/Hats/Stetson254.jpg 25
http://i34.photobucket.com/albums/d138/justdog/Hats/Stetson25.jpg 25
http://i34.photobucket.com/albums/d138/justdog/Hats/Deluxe2.jpg Deluxe
http://i34.photobucket.com/albums/d138/justdog/Hats/Deluxe.jpg Deluxe

I had this sent to me:

Some time ago all hats by Stetson were Beaver fur Felt, and they made several qualities of the different felts. A 3 X Stetson was $30.00 a 5X Stetson was $50.00 and a 10X Stetson was $100.00 Now to the best of my knowledge all rights to the X factor are grandfathered and X’s are determined by the people running the factories and the consumer has to be careful and have a watchful eye on their next hat purchase . Custom made hats from any hat shop are usually made from purer grades of fur and handmade is a lot easier to see the difference in the felt that ready made in the store.

 

[handlebar bart]

Can I join????????????????[huh]

Adam executive

 

[Justdog]

OR Date by price

My 3x beaver has a price tag of 15 dollars, research shows this to be correct.
Only thing missing is the approx year. anyone who might know? union-fashion glo-co 15.00 sticker inside behind wind tie

 

[Lefty]

I guess I better get in on this...

In ascending order of awesomeness:

Stetson 3x

Stetson 25

 

[Lefty]

Stetson 7x Clear Beaver

 

[GWD]

Those are gorgeous hats! :eusa_clap What do you call that last bash?

 

[Lefty]

A Stratoliner clone and a refurbished Open Road 25 rescued from the dungheap.

<a href="http://s17.photobucket.com/albums/b92/philschatz/?action=view&current=IMG_4828.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b92/philschatz/IMG_4828.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a>

I love the block on that stratoliner clone (or is it the 25?). It's not as deep as the cattleman's bashes I'm used to seeing, which I don't really like, but offers just the right balance of western hat vs. fedora. :eusa_clap

 

[Lefty]

Those are gorgeous hats! :eusa_clap What do you call that last bash?

Thanks. I take that as high praise from a guy with 3 pages worth of beauties.
Nice gallery.

I almost forgot to answer your question.
I posted all of these on my introductory post and Indycop noted that he hadn't seen such a bash.
I think JT may have referred to it as a Montana Peak in a previous post, but I'm not sure about that. (edit: I just checked that, a Montana Peak is more of a crushed cattleman's bash in old campaign hats). It's got sort of a campaign/fedora hybrid thing going on.
Here's the cut and paste of my response to Indy, which still holds true:

I call it "this hat is a little big for me, but it's so pliable, that I can shape it while it's on my head so that it isn't just the crown resting on my head." There's no way I could do this with any other hat. All of the hype about the 7x clear beaver is true.
It's really not a style.
It's more of a necessity.


Apparently, my head is shaped like a stealth bomber.

 

[Justdog]

In ascending order of awesomeness:

Stetson 3x
Bet that 25 is soft :eusa_clap
That gold logo is in my 20 and it is my softest hat.

 

[jimmy the lid]

Great lids, Lefty! :eusa_clap :eusa_clap :eusa_clap Just beautiful!

The 7X, in particular, is a real gem. It's interesting to see that it came in a presentation case. I've seen that before with Stetson 100's, but never with a 7X.


Cheers,
JtL

 

[Lefty]

I've seen all of the 100s in that leather(?) case, but hadn't seen this cardboard style case. It had the leather handle, but that rotted off years ago. The ebay seller included it, in case I had some use for it.
Of course, I've kept it.

Great lids, Lefty! :eusa_clap :eusa_clap :eusa_clap Just beautiful!

The 7X, in particular, is a real gem. It's interesting to see that it came in a presentation case. I've seen that before with Stetson 100's, but never with a 7X.


Cheers,
JtL

 

[Lefty]

The 25 is soft - compared to the 3x. It's as stiff as a board compared to the 7x.

As part of the ongoing attempt to date ORs, I'm curious about the introduction of the various numbers - not the Xs. 15, 20, 40, and 50 seem pretty uncommon and older. 25 and 100 seem to be more modern (late 50s to late 60s). Am I even close on this?

In ascending order of awesomeness:

Stetson 3x
Bet that 25 is soft :eusa_clap
That gold logo is in my 20 and it is my softest hat.

 

[GentlemanFarmer]

Wow

So the Shady Oaks came first? I didn't know that. Very interesting.

 

[frijoli]

As part of the ongoing attempt to date ORs, I'm curious about the introduction of the various numbers - not the Xs. 15, 20, 40, and 50 seem pretty uncommon and older. 25 and 100 seem to be more modern (late 50s to late 60s). Am I even close on this?



I was under the impression that was the suggested retail. Of, course that's just what an old man told me.

Clay

 

[Dinerman]

This one belongs to Douglas, but I saved the auction photos from when he bought it. This was the original open road.

 

[Rick Blaine]

Re: original open road

This one belongs to Douglas, but I saved the auction photos from when he bought it. This was the original open road.

Hmmm that fills in some gaps, or creates more_ this is a 7 1/8 ID'ed as an OR in the auction... I just knew it didn't look like any OR I had seen, 'til now, thanks Dinerman!

 

[jimmy the lid]

The original Stetson Open Road dates to at least 1937. The OR is the middle hat in this 1937 ad:

Sure looks a whole lot like Douglas' early OR:

Incidentally, the ad above also shows that the Whippet (on the left) has been around since 1937, as well.


Cheers,
JtL

 

[rmrdaddy]

Also notice the 3 fine rows of stitching on the brim of Douglas' hat in lieu of the ribbon edge binding. Rick, I see no stitching or binding on the brim of yours....
the plot thickens perhaps?

 

[Lefty]

That seems to be the going wisdom here, but I'm not sure that all of them were introduced at the same time. Many of the 20s appear much older than the others.

As part of the ongoing attempt to date ORs, I'm curious about the introduction of the various numbers - not the Xs. 15, 20, 40, and 50 seem pretty uncommon and older. 25 and 100 seem to be more modern (late 50s to late 60s). Am I even close on this?




I was under the impression that was the suggested retail. Of, course that's just what an old man told me.

Clay