A simple question

[BJonas]

My first fedora I found at a thrift store. It's a black Cavanaugh, and it's in surprisingly good shape. I've already found out about the "Cavanaugh edge", but now I'm trying to find out how much these things retail for. And is this company still around? Any way to date this thing? I've just recently got into wearing my Fedora and any info anybody could give me would be great.

 

[Marc Chevalier]

How old is it?

Cavanaghs fetch higher prices if they're from before the '60s. Does yours have a narrow brim and a tapered, not very high crown? If so, then it's from the '60s.


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[Hemingway Jones]

It would help to see a picture...

 

[BJonas]

Unfortunately, I don't have a way to post a pic, but I have noticed that the crown is a bit higher than most fedora type hats I have seen before (Indy Jones knockoffs, etc.) How high is high when it comes to crowns? The brim also doesn't look too narrow.

 

[Marc Chevalier]

Crown heights can vary, even within a particular era. Generally, though, if your hat's crown is over 4 1/2 to 5 inches, it's from before the '60s. If it's over 5 to 5 1/2 inches, then it's from before the '50s. Again, this is only a general rule of thumb. If your hat's brim is only 2 to 2 1/8 inches wide, then it's probably from the '60s.

How old-fashioned do the hat's lining and sweatband look? Is the lining silk, or rayon/acetate? Is the sweatband brown, or black? And is the sweatband leather of good quality, or does it seem somewhat stiff, rough and cheap? Generally speaking, the more artificial and cheap the lining and sweatband look, the higher the likelihood that it's a '60s hat.


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[Maj.Nick Danger]

So far I have found nothing but hats from the 60's.

Six of them in as many months of searching.
If the crown is about four and a half inches tall and the brim about one and seven eigths wide, then it's probably from the sixties. Especially when they look newer and are in excellent overall condition.

 

[Maj.Nick Danger]

What Marc said,...

All true. Also I would mention the fact that a lot of those sixties hats have a plastic covering on the middle portion of the liner.
And doesn't a brown sweatband indicate an older hat?

 

[Dinerman]

I have some hats I know to be much older than '60's that have a plastic cover though. But the plastic is either stiff and brittle or an odd fabric-y plastic stuff.

 

[Marc Chevalier]

... doesn't a brown sweatband indicate an older hat?

Usually, but not always. Darker brown was used in the '60s too.

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[Dinerman]

how 'bout texture. My older hats seem to have a fine grain leather in the sweatband. The '60's ones seem to be coarser grain.

 

[Marc Chevalier]

I have some hats I know to be much older than '60's that have a plastic cover though.

Plastic liners have been around for many decades. What has changed is the type of plastic. For instance, some earlier hats had glassine, which tends to shatter with time; few examples have survived with the glassine intact.

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[Marc Chevalier]

how 'bout texture. My older hats seem to have a fine grain leather in the sweatband. The '60's ones seem to be coarser grain.

Yes, this is true ... except for most Borsalinos, which had better quality leather even into the '80s.

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[Maj.Nick Danger]

Glassine

Is that the same thing as celophane? Sort of brittle as opposed to something pliable like vinyl.

 

[Marc Chevalier]

Right. Glassine -- which looks like very thin cellophane -- started being used in a BIG way in the '30s: dress shirts were sold wrapped in glassine, for instance. Problem is, glassine disintegrates upon prolonged exposure to light and dryness.

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[BJonas]

I'm at work and can't measure it now, but I can tell you that it has a brown leather sweatband and that the hat lining is silk.

(I know I'm hoping too much for the hat to be too old, but I can dream[huh] )

 

[Marc Chevalier]

Sounds good so far!


(If the sweatband is a rich brown, caramel, or saddle tan, then there's a good chance that it's pre-'60s.)

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[Maj.Nick Danger]

The lining in the Schoble I just cleaned turned out to be silk,...old silk as it is shattering as a side effect of the cleaning.

 

[Dinerman]

that's unfortunate.

 

[BJonas]

Sounds good so far!


(If the sweatband is a rich brown, caramel, or saddle tan, then there's a good chance that it's pre-'60s.)

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It IS a bit on the caramel colored side of brown. I just wish there was some kind of date on it

 

[Dinerman]

so why can't you post pictures?
i'd love to see the hat.

do you have photobucket? it's free if you don't already.