Dating Stratoliner

[Mark G]

About ten years ago I found this Stratoliner in a antique shop in Tucson. It was in perfect shape and only $20, so I snapped it up. I had been wanting this hat since I saw Robert Ryan wearing one in "Bad Day at Black Rock" Yeah, I know He was the bad guy, but he had the cooler hat. I was wondering if anyone could tell me the age of the hat. I also found this ad in a Life magazine in the same store. The Stratoliner sold for $7.50... 12.50 for the deluxe. P. S. all the sweat marks and sweat band damage are from me wearing the thing for ten years.

 

[The Duke]

Welcome to the Lounge! Marc G. I can't see the photos of the Stratoliner.

 

[RBH]

Welcome to the Lounge, Mark G!

Sorry but I'm unable to see the photos also.

 

[ideaguy]

Need glasses. Need a Stratoliner. Hmph.

 

[Mark G]

Sorry, tried Kodak, switched to photobucket

IMG]http://i137.photobucket.com/albums/q232/MarkG_photos/IMG_2796.jpg[/IMG]

 

[John in Covina]

You may wish to show all of the sweat band imprints, sometimes someone will know about a store imprint and such.

Truly a lovely hat, just so cool.

 

[deanglen]

I love EVERYTHING about this hat! Welcome to the Lounge!

dean

 

[astaire]

Welcome aboard, sir

I would guess the answer to your question lies on the liner. The Stetson logo seems older than mine, which i think is from the late 50's or early 60's, perhaps. I think the early ones from the 30's don't have any liners at all.

Here is the liner on my Stratoliner:

If I were to guess, your hat is from the 40's. But there are experts here who can pinpoint the exact date.

BTW, a Stratoliner for $20 eh? not bad at all!

 

[DOUGLAS]

That looks great. I have become a big fan of the Stratoliner. I notice that yours has a reeded sweat, Mine has the sweat sewn directly to the body. The one that I have does not have a liner either.For twenty dollars WOW .

 

[RBH]

Welcome to the 'CLUB' ...

Great Stratoliner, MG


<a href="http://imageshack.us"><img src="http://img176.imageshack.us/img176/7322/stratclubbh6rm1.jpg" border="0" alt="Image Hosted by ImageShack.us" /></a>

 

[Mark G]

Thanks guys,

I have to admit when I saw the twenty dollar price tag I was pretty bowled over... and it fit. The store brand as stamped in the sweatband is marked, B&F Men's Shop 7900 So. Halsted St. Chicago. Thanks again for the welcome.

 

[Baron Kurtz]

The fact that it's a Royal Stetson i believe puts it into the 1940s and onwards. That looks like the 40s liner logo. Does the liner have a plastic covering in the top?

Nice hat. Is the colour in the photos accurate. If so, that's a cool colour. Please describe the colour (never know if one's monitor is correctly rendering colours).

cheers,
bk

 

[The Duke]

That's a beautiful hat!

 

[Mark G]

The top of the liner has a plastic covering. The color of the photos is accurate, a light brown, I would say fawn.

 

[Baron Kurtz]

Ahhh, well from what i've read here, the plastic liner (clear, i presume) would date the hat to post-WWII. So, late 40s, early 50s for ye'r hat. I had - and sold - one that looks almost identical (though it was green). It was only $20 too!!! Land 'o cheap Stratoliners ...

bk

 

[Baron Kurtz]

The color of the photos is accurate, a light brown, I would say fawn.

See, i'm getting a definite light-purple tint from my monitor.

bk

 

[John in Covina]

COLORS, man!

We need a little color chart that is exactly the same for all of the pictures, you put it in the corner of the snap shot and it will show what the color shifts are!fftopic:

 

[Simon82]

Beautiful in any color!

Such a great looking hat! I'm thinking of something in the Stratoliner/Open Road category for my next hat, so thanks very much for the visual aid!

And yes, it's weird how the color varies from monitor to monitor -- at home, it's grayish, and at work the Strat looks purplish.

 

[Mr. 'H']

Ahhh, well from what i've read here, the plastic liner (clear, i presume) would date the hat to post-WWII. So, late 40s, early 50s for ye'r hat. I had - and sold - one that looks almost identical (though it was green). It was only $20 too!!! Land 'o cheap Stratoliners ...

bk

O yeah the sage green one!

 

[Mojave Jack]

That's a great Stratoliner, Mark! That's the sort of hat I'm constantly looking for: one that I will wear for ten years and still love.

As an aside, I also like the hat you have on in your avatar. I've seen one like it somewhere before...