THE STEVENS SPOTLIGHT

[Rick Blaine]

America's Comfort Hat
Sets The Pace
Stevens Pace Setter since 1917

Picked this one up in '05 from the 'bay ...

Light hat body w/ a lovely 2 3/4" bound brim. (sorry photo stinks) great proportions, a hat with really "wide shoulders" so to speak, high wide crown, muy robusto!
It also has this aces peach satin lining

And rather than a ribbon & bow, features this pugerree with graphic flourishes

And the model, I suppose

size & block

It was out of Sheridan WY.

From a long-standing Dept. store Stevens-Fryberger that was originally called "The New York Store" The term "New York Store" was utilized in many areas of the west as denoting a particular method of operation as opposed to being a part of a nationwide chain of "New York Stores".

$7.50 price tag...

The store went under in the merger mania in the 80s
...but at one time was the largest Dept. store in WY.
A wealthy retired couple purchased the 24,000 sq. ft. store and turned it in to a chi-chi residence, the hat dept. (according to HDTV) is now a laundry room

 

[Rick Blaine]

One more

 

[carouselvic]

Pace Setter


Retailed at Eddie Quinn @Spencer-Carroll, Iowa

 

[Joshbru3]

Those are BEAUTIFUL Stevens Rick Blaine. That pace setter is amazing with its tiered ribbon and edging/ribbon color contrast. GREAT HATS!!!

 

[danofarlington]

Wow, that's a great one!

 

[barrowjh]

Stetson / Stevens

here is a Stetson probably from the Stevens era, a white c'boy hat with a southwestern style hat band and pheathers. Fortunately, there was a regular white thin ribbon underneath.

Dare I reveal my true motive? Here is a 'go vols' hat (orange pug):

And this one is a Roll Tide Roll hat (crimson pug):

I presume this liner to be Stevens era, but others have told me that it was used after Stevens was absorbed into Hatco, so I am not sure of the age of the hat, but based on the hat band, I'm thinking late 1970s - mid 1980s, which was the Stevens era.

Yeah, the sweatband has issues, and if I can break free from parent duty and get over to Major Moore's, hope to deal with that maybe this fall.

 

[barrowjh]

Winchester Special

This hat was definitely in the Stevens era, 1981. The seller's pictures made the hat appear to be a relatively light tan, but when I got it, all of these were a medium-dark olive (hunting color).:

two shallow insect divots (wide, but shallow):

I located a copy of the ad and bought it too:

I like this liner, and often consider putting it in a different hat, but then, which one? So, it just stays in the olive green hat.

Should I buy a Winchester gun to go along with it, or try to sell the whole kit to Winchester gun collector (if I can find one that wears 7 1/8)?

 

[barrowjh]

honest-to-pete

here is a stevens-labeled hat that I picked up on ebay for a minimal amount, as it is only a 6 3/4 size - very sweet hat for my granddaughters to play with. It is an olive shade (my wife says it is tan). In really great condition, cleaned up and shaped up nicely. 2 3/4 bound brim OR clone, will make a super 'cowboy' hat for a 5-year old. It originally had a plastic tip, but that was almost all flaked out when I got it, and I removed the remainder. Such low-quality plastic probably dates this to the earliest use of plastics, maybe mid-1950s, but the sweatband looks more like the 1960s to me, so I am not sure which decade (maybe even early 1970s?).

 

[Joshbru3]

here is a stevens-labeled hat that I picked up on ebay for a minimal amount, as it is only a 6 3/4 size - very sweet hat for my granddaughters to play with. It is an olive shade (my wife says it is tan). In really great condition, cleaned up and shaped up nicely. 2 3/4 bound brim OR clone, will make a super 'cowboy' hat for a 5-year old. It originally had a plastic tip, but that was almost all flaked out when I got it, and I removed the remainder. Such low-quality plastic probably dates this to the earliest use of plastics, maybe mid-1950s, but the sweatband looks more like the 1960s to me, so I am not sure which decade (maybe even early 1970s?).

Thats a great looking Stevens, its too bad that its only a 6 3/4. If it were a size 7, I would most definately love to take it off your hands. The sweatband looks to be mid 60's to me. Judging by how clean the liner is, the fact that the plastic tip was flaking out would also tell me 60's. I think by the 70's, the plastics were already a lot beter. Nice find.

 

[barrowjh]

Liner logo crest

Thanks, Joshbru3. I just looked through the thread, and noticed that the logo crest in the liner of the 6 3/4 is very similar to the 7X posted by carouselvic, but the sweatband definitely does not match up very well. So, late 1950s to early 1960s might be a fair estimate. Also, it might have been from approximately the same time frame as the 7X, and the difference in the sweatband is because the 6 3/4 was only a 3X. Doubt we will ever know for sure.

 

[carouselvic]

The open side seam on the liner tells me it's newer.

 

[donnc]

older fedora

My only old fedora:

with liner stuffed back in for photo:

hard to see inscription on sweatband:
XXX
BEAVER TEN
MellowFeel

 

[donnc]

Tyrolean

 

[barrowjh]

Yes, donnc, I had noticed the side seam thing also. Its just odd that a more recent manufacture hat would exhibit the crumbling apart of the plastic over the liner tip, but that could always be attributed to maybe sitting it crown-down in the car too often, direct sunlight can weaken plastic like that. Another thing to speculate about.

 

[Joshbru3]

My only old fedora:

with liner stuffed back in for photo:

hard to see inscription on sweatband:
XXX
BEAVER TEN
MellowFeel

WOW donnc, great color combo on that Beaver Ten. Is the color like a real light orange in real life or a deeper red than in the picture?

 

[donnc]

Is the color like a real light orange in real life or a deeper red than in the picture?

I think the picture's pretty accurate, but it's direct mid-day sunlight, so relatively bright. It has some faded spots, and plenty of grime.

I like to talk colors. In terms of saturation, value and hue, this is indeed orange, but ... the way computer monitors vary, I suppose you might be seeing something quite different! If you believe there's such a thing as "brown", it's as brown as it could be. My image editor says the hue on the brim is 29 degrees, saturation 49%, value 83%. My match for the color out of the sun, sitting here by the terminal, is about that hue, more like 75% saturated and value 50%. Binding is about the same, ribbon is redder: 6 degrees and 41% saturated in full sun.

 

[Joshbru3]

Hasn't been any activity in this thread for a while. Ive seen some great STEVENS sell on ebay and I know at least a couple of loungers made some purchases. SO LETS SEE THOSE STEVENS!!!

 

[CitizenGenet]

When you are in KC and hunt in antique shops for fedoras only an hour away from the original Stevens factory, it is a Stevens extravaganza. Many of my relatives lived just across the river from St. Joseph where Stevens made their hats, and it's no surprise they wore Stevens. But my grandfather who lived in KC has told me he wore Dobbs. So clearly that Stevens appeal was not universal.

 

[Joshbru3]

When you are in KC and hunt in antique shops for fedoras only an hour away from the original Stevens factory, it is a Stevens extravaganza. Many of my relatives lived just across the river from St. Joseph where Stevens made their hats, and it's no surprise they wore Stevens. But my grandfather who lived in KC has told me he wore Dobbs. So clearly that Stevens appeal was not universal.

Well Dobbs is a quality hat, but a good amount of vintage Stevens that Ive handled have been of a very high quality as well. I wonder why your grandfather chose to buy a Dobbs, verses Stevens. I guess I will have to visit KC to find all those Stevens, because in Chicago they rarely come up at all at antique shops.

 

[Viktor]

Does anyone know if Stevens made any woollies prior to Stetson?