The Stratoliner Society {VINTAGE}

[Lefty]

especially since I paid a premium for it. Any thoughts?

For $36ish, including shipping, you did just fine. I'm pretty sure that an identical one was purchased within the past year by a member here for closer to $80.

 

[Baron Kurtz]

I don't think we're going to get to the bottom of the issue of the pin. None of the advertisements are large enough or clear enough to make out what the plane looks like exactly. There's no evidence even that the pin that came with the hat was TWA marked. The Stratoliner on the box is not so marked (though it does have the double-striped tail fin similar to TWA planes of the time).


Until anyone comes up with something more conclusive than "it's flying in the right direction" i have little faith in the notion that the DC-3 pins were the originals. Stetson seemed to go out of their way to get the planes right on the box and on liners and sweatbands - when they appear there - so why would they drop the ball and just go with a pin that was not a Stratoliner?

I'm of the opinion that these things are so damn rare (maybe they weren't popular and ended up being melted down) that it'll be a miracle for one of us to find one.

bk

 

[Lefty]

How about this one? It looks a bit more aggressive than the pin that Dixon and I have, but pretty different from the one that is generally thought of as the strat pin. Maybe it is the same as the one that Dixon and I have, but just seems different on its background, and missing much of the enamel.

It's described as a DC-6 Stratoliner, which, according to my 10 seconds of reading Google results, is conflicting - Douglas made the DC-6 and the Stat is a Boeing product. Is this just a bad caption, or is it another possibility?

 

[John in Covina]

All I can say is I'd like to stumble across a nice one sometime. These really are some fine lookin' lids!:eusa_clap

 

[WH1]

I own a Stetson Stratoliner Premiere grade. It doesn't have a liner other than that it looks very much like Gene's, similar color. I like the hat but it needs a good going over to recondition it. Unfortunately the pin is missing on mine.

 

[Baron Kurtz]

Does anyone have an Ad that actually says the hat comes with a pin?

bk

 

[jimmy the lid]

Does anyone have an Ad that actually says the hat comes with a pin?

Here you go, from 1940:

I wonder whether the graphic of the airplane in the ad is meant as a depiction of the pin?

Cheers,
JtL

 

[Lefty]

Air minded?

 

[Baron Kurtz]

Here you go, from 1940:

I wonder whether the graphic of the airplane in the ad is meant as a depiction of the pin?

Cheers,
JtL

Many thanks. I knew it was out there, just couldn't find it.

The graphic is certainly the plane that's on the boxes. I find it interesting that they describe it as a "miniature airplane" rather than a miniature Boeing Stratoliner.

bk

 

[jimmy the lid]

And, although, it's a bit hard to make out, it does appear as if the pin on the hat in the ad is oriented in the same way as the DC-3 pin...

Cheers,
JtL

 

[Baron Kurtz]

As, i believe, is the plane on the box.

bk

 

[jimmy the lid]

True enough. The Riddle of the Sphinx remains a mystery...

Cheers,
JtL

 

[Absinthe_1900]

I still believe that Stetson used the stylized airplane used on the Stratoliner box and print ads, not a DC-3 pin.

Using a DC-3 in place of a stylized Stratoliner as pictured in the ads just doesn't make sense.


I still believe the whole DC-3 pin thing is wishful thinking by modern hat collectors.

I'll be willing to bet the original pin is an inexpensive stamped pin, that looks just like the one on the Stratoliner box.

 

[jimmy the lid]

I tend to agree with you Absinthe 1900. It just doesn't make sense that Stetson would go to all the trouble of launching a Stratoliner-based marketing effort and then not have the pin on the hat be a Stratoliner...

Cheers,
JtL

 

[Lefty]

As long as we're just tossing out far-fetched theories, here's another.

There were 10 strats built, 9 for commercial use and 1 for Howard Hughes. They were built after the pretty widely reported crash of a prototype. They only flew (except for HH's) for 18 months before being "taken into the US Army" for use in WWII.

Maybe the tie-in had already been set, with the hats, boxes and ads ready to go. Then, after the crash, as the only possible damage control , or after the mere 18 months of the hat's commercial existence - "an airplane pin" replaced any mention of the words Boeing, TWA, or even Stratoliner - as the pin hadn't been marked.

 

[Absinthe_1900]

Stetson also wasn't in the business of advertising for Boeing, why should they mention another company brand in their own advertising.

 

[GWD]

Stetson also wasn't in the business of advertising for Boeing, why should they mention another company brand in their own advertising.

Boeing is clearly in this advertisement.

Here is the whole picture of the old advertisement,

The pins in these illustrations are a bit different.

 

[Baron Kurtz]

I still believe the whole DC-3 pin thing is wishful thinking by modern hat collectors.

I'll be willing to bet the original pin is an inexpensive stamped pin, that looks just like the one on the Stratoliner box.

My thoughts exactly. And the DC3 pin looks good and is relatively common (i've had 4) and makes a nice-ish looking hat pin for the Stratoliner - though i'm not really into ornamentation and don't wear it with my Stratoliner - so it's good as a plane pin for the hat. But to suggest that it was the original is, in my opinion, misguided *.

bk

*Of course, i'm willing to be convinced by solid evidence.

p.s. Note the woman in the Ad above. She is wearing the extremely rare ladies Stratoliner model. I've seen one of these for sale, but i didn't keep the pictures. It had the standard ladies 40s hat construction with Stratoliner beside the stetson logo on the inner grosgrain headband. It was on eBay quite a few years ago BIN.

 

[GWD]

It really is a shame that Stetson doesn't have a web site with this type of information. Stetson hats are a part of "Americana" and their official web site is for lack of a better word, crap!

You would think that a company that has been around that long would be proud of their heritage and have a library of information on their site. It's probably safe to say that there is more knowledge here on this site about Stetson history than the employees at Stetson have.

 

[Baron Kurtz]

Unfortunately when your heritage can be used as proof that your current offerings are garbage and overpriced, there might be a tendency to avoid bragging too much about the quality of past days.

bk