What is this hat?

[Altiori]

Greetings.

I received my grandfather's black vintage velour hat a few years back. I sent it to JJ Hats in NYC for re-blocking and cleaning; JJ did a beautiful job.
I am sure I share with many of you not only the pleasure of owning a fine vintage hat, but perhaps more importantly, the joy of the search, or hunt, for as much information about the hat as possible. In this case, it is also about getting to know a bit more about my grandfather through what he wore.
I regret I do not have much information on the specifics of the hat but what I do have I am happy to share in hopes that one of my fellow loungers might assist. I really do appreciate all of your experience and I learn a great deal from this forum.

Information follows:

The hat is a very flexible and malleable black velour felt (rabbit or beaver?)

with black band;
My grandfather passed away in 1978 at about 84 years of age; according to my father, my grandfather was wearing this hat at least in the mid 1930s;
It has the remnants of the Hatters of North America Union seal along the inner seam;
I am guessing that the original satin liner was replaced at some point;
There is no other identifying mark;
My grandfather lived in central PA, near Scranton and Wilkes-Barre.

Welcome any thoughts, recommendations, or advice and again, I very much appreciate it.
Joe

PS: The gentlemen at JJ Hatters really liked the hat.
My dog likes the hat as well.

 

[Joao Encarnado]

Without the important info it's really hard to tell.
Original liner is lost and JJ Hatters probably replaced the sweatband.

 

[Altiori]

Without the important info it's really hard to tell.
Original liner is lost and JJ Hatters probably replaced the sweatband.

Thanks.
As background, the original sweatband was brown leather.
Not sure if that helps at all.

The velour is amazing, btw.

 

[moehawk]

Your dog has impeccable taste in hats.
I am becoming a big fan of velour finishes myself. Apparently the best velours are made from hare fur, or a blend containing a large percentage of hare. Lounger mayserwegner has lots of knowledge of velours in general, he might not be able to tell you much about that particular hat with little info, but can certainly point you in the right direction to learn all about velours.

 

[Altiori]

Your dog has impeccable taste in hats.
I am becoming a big fan of velour finishes myself. Apparently the best velours are made from hare fur, or a blend containing a large percentage of hare. Lounger mayserwegner has lots of knowledge of velours in general, he might not be able to tell you much about that particular hat with little info, but can certainly point you in the right direction to learn all about velours.

Wonderful. Dogs and Hats....sounds like a new post...hope your guy is doing well...
Thanks for the info and I look forward to hearing from mayserwenger...

All the best,
Joe

 

[mayserwegener]

Congrats! It looks like a very nice Velour. It's possible it was made from a imported Velour capeline or finished hat. The Austrian Velour makers like JHS, BB, exported capeline and finished hats to American makers / jobbers/ wholesalers. For example here is a BB advertisement from the time period.

 

[Altiori]

Congrats! It looks like a very nice Velour. It's possible it was made from a imported Velour capeline or finished hat. The Austrian Velour makers like JHS, BB, exported capeline and finished hats to American makers / jobbers/ wholesalers. For example here is a BB advertisement from the time period.

Thank you very much; am still interested in what velour is and how it is made. Is velour only made from hare or rabbit, or beaver--or wool?

 

[mayserwegener]

The highest quality Velour was made from wild Hare and supposedly the Saxon Hare produced the finest Velour. I am not aware of any American hat company that made Real (manual hot wet brushed from Hare) Velour. This manual process was totally phased shortly after WWII. The finest pre WWII Velours that I have encountered came from Austria and German makers. Here is a really interesting article (a very good translation) from 1933 on what should be considered as Prime Real Velour. This article is very detailed (also very rare information) so you might have questions.

http://germanaustrianhats.invisionzone.com/index.php?/topic/216-hair-velour-real-echter-velour-prime-prima-velour-fabrikation-von-damen-und-herren-filzhüten-der-deustchen-hutmacher-zeitung-1933/

There are many examples of old Austrian and German Echter (Real) Velours on my website.

http://germanaustrianhats.invisionzone.com/

 

[Zombie_61]

probably a Nick Foquet custom, he seems to be the go to hat maker for Hollywood types

This was my first thought as well. The obviously artificial distressing and overall appearance of the hat looks like Mr. Fouquet's handiwork.

Welcome to The Lounge Black-Betty!

 

[BLACK-BETTY]

Morning Gents,

Thank you for the feedback very much appreciated. I like Nick's work, I'll do some more digging. The pencil roll, brim size and crown are what drew me to it. In some ways although different it reminded me of Eastwood's Pale Rider hat.

I'll keep you posted on how I go with this.

Thanks again.

 

[panos]

So i bought this hat but i cant find anything about the company or the price. It says boston trade mark i will have links with the photos

 

[panos]

So i bought this hat but i cant find anything about the company or the price. It says boston trade mark i will have links with the photos

http://imgur.com/a/k9JWq

 

[panos]

http://imgur.com/a/k9JWq

 

[Altiori]

The highest quality Velour was made from wild Hare and supposedly the Saxon Hare produced the finest Velour. I am not aware of any American hat company that made Real (manual hot wet brushed from Hare) Velour. This manual process was totally phased shortly after WWII. The finest pre WWII Velours that I have encountered came from Austria and German makers. Here is a really interesting article (a very good translation) from 1933 on what should be considered as Prime Real Velour. This article is very detailed (also very rare information) so you might have questions.

http://germanaustrianhats.invisionzone.com/index.php?/topic/216-hair-velour-real-echter-velour-prime-prima-velour-fabrikation-von-damen-und-herren-filzhüten-der-deustchen-hutmacher-zeitung-1933/

There are many examples of old Austrian and German Echter (Real) Velours on my website.

http://germanaustrianhats.invisionzone.com/

Many thanks for these links; quite interesting and I learned a lot. I never knew that a special hare produced the most desirable velour. As your post indicates, the quality of the German and Austrian product was superior. I have looked at many and even own a "modern" velour hat; these pale in comparison to that of my grandfather's hat. Thank you.

 

[RJR]

There is always a tremendous amount of information here,great learningprocess.

 

[Hurricane Jack]

Remember "Billy Two Hats" with Gregory Peck & Dezi Arnaz Jr. as Billy?

 

[Hurricane Jack]

And Bob Dylan has worn a lot of nice hats on stage & in a few movies thru the yrs. This is one from yrs gone by.

 

[Redshoes51]

Afternoon Gents, ...I have searched but just can not find this very specific hat. Any help would be very much appreciated. View attachment 39535

Hi there, Black Betty... to me, it looks like the 'Josie Wells' hat... but I could be wrong...

~shoes~

 

[RJR]

Agree it looks like a take off on Eastwood's "Josie Wales" hat.

 

[Hurricane Jack]

BB - you may recognize this as a movie hat & not his personal hat but I like this one. Maybe Moviehats can tell us.