What did I buy?

[tonyb]

Vintage Mens Sovereign Stetson - 1950's - Grey - 7 1/8 (8253236627)

So I got this Stetson Twenty Sovereign Mode Edge for all of $19.99 plus shipping and insurance, which bumped it up to $31.84. It's every bit as nice as the seller said it was--just ever so lightly soiled, and the three or four dirt spots on it came out with just a little scratching with my thumbnail. The seller's description says it has a 2-inch brim when in actuality it measures 2 3/8. On the right side of the sweat band is embossed (without gold, so it's kind of hard to see) "Chestnut Street Philadelphia." Anybody know what model this is? Or most resembles? Any guesses as to its actual vintage?

 

[Marc Chevalier]

Well, it originally cost $20, a pricier sum for a hat back then. Must be good quality!

 

[tonyb]

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dl...&pfid=0&fsop=1%26fsoo%3D1&fcl=3&frpp=50&fvi=1


Might be a little easier to find it this way. I'll figure out this computer stuff before I die. Maybe.
Oh, and I just looked on the left underside of the sweatband and found a paper label that says--LOT Z 38 STYLE AMBASS PRICE 20.00 SIZE 7 1/8. The size is handwritten and under where it says AMBASS (short for "Ambassador," I presume) is SKY, also handwritten. Was "Sky" a color, or an abbreviated name for a color? The hat is a bluish gray. Near that label, stamped in blue ink, is 297020. And, as I'm typing this, I see stamped in black ink on the right underside of the sweatband DEC 23 1957. So I guess that establishes its vintage, huh? There are also a couple of round, red ink stamps which are too faint for my old eyes to decipher.

 

[varga49]

goes to show you

a good find is still out there in auction land!
I picked up what I presume to be a 50's open road the other day for $31.00 with a light brown sweat band. I haven't received it but if there are no moth divets I think I did rather well! The seller guarantees no moth damage! We'll soon see.
congratulations on your new hat!:cheers1:

 

[tonyb]

That must have the OR I had my eye on, Varga. I let it go 'cuz I already have my share and I'll get another only if I can get it for a screaming bargain or if it's a rare or unusually fine example. Glad that you got yours for a decent price, though. I look forward to hearing about it once it arrives.
We can be thankful for sellers who don't know much about hats. Had this seller given a better description, and been more careful in her measuring of the brim's width, I imagine she would have gotten more for it. She was easy to deal with, though--shipped it promptly and even included a vintage Stetson box--one of those kind that holds two hats, each in its own carrier. She didn't include a photo of the box or even a mention of it in her description. I figure it won't be long until the box alone fetches as much as I paid for it WITH the hat. This calls for a beer.

 

[Andykev]

You stole a bargain!

You have bought a very nice hat, and my favorite color, and ribbon color. This is a very very good quality hat, and it is the late 50's. My personal preference is for a wider brim, but this will look good if you have not too broad shoulders and not an overly round face. Good buy. You cannot beat that price.

 

[WEEGEE]

NICE VERY NICE

tonyb,


I think the color is great...i have a 50's knox with a custom edge that

color and it seems to do something to people ...lightens and brightens

interactions in the course of the day...very positive projection.

nice buy:beer:

 

[jeboat]

Good hat find

We all must be living right! Today I received a Stetson Twenty Sovereign Mode Edge that cost me $26.05 plus $9.95 shipping. It's in excellent shape and a beautiful Dove gray. It had a small black spot on the top of the crown as the seller stated which wiped right off.

It also has a 2 3/8" brim, a good choice for me as I am slender.

Sometimes you just have to be lucky!

jeboat:cool2: :cool2: :cool2:

 

[tonyb]

Thanks, Andykev, and WEEGEE and jeboat. This is as much fun as show-and-tell back in the third grade. (Do they still do that these days? If they don't, they oughta.) I generally prefer brims somewhere between 2 1/2 and 2 7/8 inches, 'cuz I'm kinda large, although not unusually so. This brim looks darn good on me, if I don't say so myself. The size, 7 1/8, IS a bit snug, so I've got the hat on the stretcher right now. I carefully applied shoe-stretching juice to the sweatband and then placed paper towels between the band and the onion skin before I dropped in the stretcher. I've successfully stretched up a few 7 1/8s this way before, although I've usually done it while they were still wet with naptha. It has always worked fine, and I trust it will again. I wouldn't bother if there were more old hats in my size (somewhere between a tight 7 1/4 and a loose 7 3/8), but it seems those guys of Grandpa's age tended to have slightly smaller heads. Stretching has become such a habit that I've been looking for a commercial-grade stretcher, the kind that look like a block split in two vertically, perpendicular to the long dimension, with a screw mechanism that pulls the halves apart, but I've yet to spot one for what I consider a reasonable price. Maybe I'll have to reconsider that "reasonable price" part.
Hey, jeboat, can you post a link? I'd like to see that hat.

 

[Snrbfshn]

A terrific find...

And the way prices have been popping -- especially on the better "name" hats -- you got what now qualifies as a steal.

tonyb, when you have stretched the 1/8s, have they kept their increase in size and does it disfigure or affect the taper of the crown when you push it to your almost-3/8 size?

 

[Fedora]

"Chestnut Street Philadelphia."

I seem to recall that the Stetson outlet was on Chestnut. Perhaps this came from the old Stetson shop that was there for decades. Perhaps, even longer than decades. Fedora

 

[tonyb]

Well, that makes sense, Fedora, seeing how this seller is from Horsham, PA, and how she said the hat had belonged to her grandfather, who, I assume, also lived somewhere near there.

 

[tonyb]

The hat was on the stretcher overnight and it fits just fine now. As to the hats retaining their shape and new size, Snrbfshn, I've had good results, although there are some 7 1/8s I wouldn't try to stretch. This is mostly due to "uneven" size conventions. I've plopped some 7 1/8s on my head and they were tight but just barely so, and others were so small I couldn't put 'em on without fear of damaging them. Stretching always has its anxious moments, though. I've seen brims get waves, but only while the hat was on the stretcher. And sometimes the back of the crown looks to taper forward a bit, but again, only while the hat is on the stretcher. And yes, the hats do tend toward wanting to get back to their former size, so sometimes I have to leave a stretcher in until the hat decides it's going to be a tad larger. An apparently NOS Stratoliner resides in its box in my closet. It is one of those unusually small 7 1/8s. I won't attempt stretching it until I'm more confident I can do it without damaging it in any way.