The Resistol Roundup

[KC Capellor]

My purpose here is to learn to date Resistols better by liner and sweatband style and markings. I know that the earliest are the Melorol brown sweatbands but after that I see brown and black bands in fedoras and western hats. As noted, I see both dress hat and western hat liners in the San Antonio style hats over a number of years. I think there are several factors at play here. Not many true 1920's - 1940's hats circulate, mostly we see 1950's - 1970's hats in the vintage marketplace. Marketing tactics and production logistics probably affected some style features from year to year. Also, the Open Road style hat from Stetson, Resistol, and other top makers was so popular for so many decades it makes it difficult to tell similar ones apart. Texas and other parts of the Midwest and Southwest continued to buy western hats - including the OR hybrid-dress type strong into the 1970's while dress fedora sales had been plummeting for twenty years. (I still find it amazing that well dressed Mad Men of 1962 wouldn't be without their stingy-brim but ten years later fedora production had virtually ceased.)

 

[TPD166]

Landman, very cool indeed and practical. I think Ike was probably in a Resi too as he was born in Texas and raised in Kansas.

Questions for all resisteurs: when did mid to high grade felts on Resistol OR/San Antonio types go from "15" "25" "35" "50" "100" based on retail price to 5X 7X 10X 15X 20X etc. based on beaver content, or did this overlap for a number of years? How do they equate quality wise?
(The vintage hats in the "25" to "100" range are surely their finest. But is a vintage "35" finer felt than a newer 20X? I have seen this discussed in other threads on Stetsons and others but I would like to know what Resistol owners have found. I know at some point Resistol adopted Churchill as their luxury line and we see examples of Churchill OR type "35" "50" "100"s that are super fine. In my limited experience it seems that at some point Resistols went from a lighter fedora felt to a heavier, stiffer western hat felt.)
Are brown sweatbands definitely older than black ones or overlapping years? Any difference between ones with Byer-Rolnick dress hat liner and ones with Resistol Western liner, or just marketing?

I don't know if this is of much help or not, but "Byer-Rolnick" markings would be prior to the late 1960s as Resistol was sold around 1966-67 (I work with someone who is related to Harry Rolnick).

 

[Mark B.]

Thanks KC..glad to be here.....nice hats..:eusa_clap:eusa_clap

Mark, welcome to the lounge and especially to the Resistol Roundup, sounds like you scored a really nice 3X KF! My personal favorite is my 5X KF in Cinder Brown

but I've never met a Kitten I didn't like!



BTW, Imageshack is fairly easy for uploads if you need an image host site.

 

[Mark B.]

HEY kc.....the last picture in this set of the lining with gold shield and brown sweat is exactly like my brown Resistol lining and sweat. Do you know the dates of manufacture for this style Resistol lining?

Here I go again... late 1950's dove gray Resistol 3X Kitten Finish, crown 6" open 4 1/2" as creased, brim 2 1/4" Cavanagh type edge. Crown taller and and brim wider than my other Resi-stingies. Finish of felt very velvety, crown somewhat stiff, brim soft. Came with original center dent and mangled feather:

Gave it the quick bash into semi-diamond teardrop and couldn't be more pleased with the results, the tall crown taking on a very '40's swoop to the side profile and the wide (for a stingy) brim contributing to the full fedora look:








...gotta love those Resistol kittens!

 

[KC Capellor]

Mark, as far as I know these Resistol fedoras like your brown and my gray are mid-1950's from the post-Melorol brown sweatband. The brim width over 2" is typical of '50's, went down to 1 3/4 - 1 7/8 by 1960's. The B-R logo white satin liner was used 1930's - 1960's from what I have seen. The older ones (30's - 40's?) have the old style triangular shaped letter "O" in Resistol.
Cheers! KC

 

[KC Capellor]

Mystic, I think Double X indicates wool, not fur felt. Is it a ribbon bound brim or raw edge?

 

[Mystic]

Mystic, I think Double X indicates wool, not fur felt. Is it a ribbon bound brim or raw edge?

It's a raw edge. I don't wear it and forgot I had it until I put in a bid on a Resistol hat on ebay over the weekend.

I got it at a Humane Society sale. Just picked it up with some other stuff to look at it when i got home.

Wide brim and cattle mans crease is not my style. I pushed it out to a open crown, brushed it off and put it on the shelf.

It doesn't feel like wool. But, I don't have anything as stiff as this one to compare it with.



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[gtdean48]

Mystic, I think Double X indicates wool, not fur felt. Is it a ribbon bound brim or raw edge?

I've got XDoubleX Resistol & it is definitely NOT wool....

 

[Landman]

I've got XDoubleX Resistol & it is definitely NOT wool....

I've got a Resistol Saddler that is a xDoublex and it is definitely not wool either. Unfortunately I don't have any pictures of it but it is very nice fur felt hat.

 

[KC Capellor]

Sorry, didn't mean to misinform, maybe it is just some of the newer cowboy hats in Double X I thought were tagged wool too, I stand corrected if wrong. Which reminds me again how confusing the quality scale can be. I see Resistol fedoras and westerns without any X marking that are fur felt so I think of these as "1X" even though I've never seen a 1X marking.

 

[Mystic]

Sorry, didn't mean to misinform, maybe it is just some of the newer cowboy hats in Double X I thought were tagged wool too, I stand corrected if wrong. Which reminds me again how confusing the quality scale can be. I see Resistol fedoras and westerns without any X marking that are fur felt so I think of these as "1X" even though I've never seen a 1X marking.

I just found this Lounge thread about the Resistol Westerner.

http://www.thefedoralounge.com/showthread.php?23970-quot-The-Westerner-quot-by-Resistol/page4

Nothing really more than has been said here except; One lounger was told that if there were no x's on a newer Resistol it was probably wool. 2 x's probably a fur blend.

gtdean48 said the same on that thread as on this thread. So, he hasn't run into anything that has changed his thinking on the subject.

 

[TPD166]

Here is a vintage (Byer-Rolnick) Resistol I won in an auction a couple of weeks ago. The measurements were a little off and it was too small for me - I planned to get it cleaned & sell it, but Abe at Paris Hatters talked me into a stretch and a restoration. Here is end result - cleaned, re-blocked, new sweat, and stretched from a generous 7 to a generous 7-3/8! If you are interested, there are more pics and details in the "Post New Hats Here!" thread.

 

[KC Capellor]

TPD, looks nice, really like that color! Just curious, what were the liner and sweatband style? any X rating? I'm working on my newest old one right now, photos soon to follow...

 

[KC Capellor]

Okay, here goes, via USPS just in time for a Friday road trip so got rebashed in my lap along the way...
1960's Resistol San Antonio - Beaver "35". (Original stock tag): style San Ant, color Palomino, brim 2 5/8", price 35.00. Crown 5 1/2" open, (4 1/2 front 3 1/2 back as creased.) Dark brown sweatband with greek key edge design. White satin Byer-Rolnick liner. Satin ribbon hatband and brim binding are slightly contrasting light sage-tan color subtle yet striking in daylight. Arrived in unworn condition, no visible flaws, perfectly clean, cattleman's crease and upcurled brim appeared untouched, a little puff of hat powder flew off when I popped the crown open. The felt is very nice, feels slightly thinner than my 5X KF fedora, super velvety finish like very fine suede, molds like clay with a damp towel. (Note how Palomino color is slightly lighter sage-pearl gray than Silver Belly Dalworth behind it.) Before and after:













Cheers from KC!

 

[barrowjh]

KC, awesome San Antonio. I appreciate the slight differences in felt color also, I just presumed that Palomino and Sil Bel were just different names for the same basic color of felt. However, several folks have told me that some of my Resistols appear green to them; hats that I consider to be silver belly. I thought it was just a trait of Resistol during some years that their silver belly color looked like putty, maybe a bit of a greenish cast to it. Your pictures make an interesting comparison.

 

[Mystic]

Looking good, KC :thumb:

I'd say you have a definite talent for working with hats

 

[bowlerman]

+1. you do a heck of a teardrop! looks great, and congrats on the win.

 

[TPD166]

TPD, looks nice, really like that color! Just curious, what were the liner and sweatband style? any X rating? I'm working on my newest old one right now, photos soon to follow...

Thanks - the color is little different after a good cleaning! The original liner is still in it, but the sweatband was in bad shape and was replaced. The sweatband was a dark brown, marked for the store that sold it, and it also marked as a 2X ("XDoubleX") - I think said it was a 3X in another post. I took it directly to Paris Hatters from the post office, so the only "before" pictures are from the auction - http://www.ebay.com/itm/190680940489?ssPageName=STRK:MEWNX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1497.l2649 - if you want to see pictures of the original sweatband. I am not sure of the vintage - I have two "Byer-Rolnick" hats, and the lining is different in each one.

The full story and more "after" pics are in the Post New Hats Here thead:
http://www.thefedoralounge.com/showthread.php?28145-Post-New-Hats-Here!/page1842

Also, love the San Antonio - looks great!

 

[KC Capellor]

thanks guys, sweating and stretching in the new 35 tonight, a little hot for felt but...
Pushing 90 degrees today but wanted to sweat in my newly acquired Resistol San Antonio Beaver 35, so threw on the raw silk jacket for dinner at Cyndie's. She approved.


Cheers! KC

 

[KC Capellor]

Still working on the pinch of my Beaver 35 I got last week, appreciating the thin light felt in this weather. Cyndie and I celebrated the last day under 100F for a while around here with ginger teryaki salmon, stir fried broccoli with rice, and toffee ice cream brownie sundae with fresh peaches. So good just had to share!