Short Balding Guy
I'll Lock Up
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- 9,621
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- Minnesota, USA
Gorgeous early version of the Stratoliner. They wear light given the lighter felt weight and non-reeded sweat. Congrats sir. Wear it with pride.
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The Stratoliner Society {VINTAGE}
- Thread starter RBH
- Start date
Gorgeous early version of the Stratoliner. They wear light given the lighter felt weight and non-reeded sweat. Congrats sir. Wear it with pride.
Hagwood
Call Me a Cab
- Messages
- 2,017
- Location
- Fort Worth, TX
DOGMAN
One Too Many
- Messages
- 1,625
- Location
- Northeast Ohio
Thank you.Only tag was the one I showed,and it just came off.
DOGMAN
One Too Many
- Messages
- 1,625
- Location
- Northeast Ohio
Thanks.It's funny how excited I was to find this hat.
DOGMAN
One Too Many
- Messages
- 1,625
- Location
- Northeast Ohio
Thank you,Sir.I will start today.
Hagwood
Call Me a Cab
- Messages
- 2,017
- Location
- Fort Worth, TX
LOL, I know the feeling. I’m supper excited to receive mine. Supposed to get it tomorrow. It’s always exciting for me to find cool vintage stuff, let alone a great hat !!
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Hagwood
Call Me a Cab
- Messages
- 2,017
- Location
- Fort Worth, TX
Got my first Stratoliner last night and only my second vintage hat. Condition is amazing, with the original box and hat pin. I was a little nervous because it is a 6-5/8 and I am a 6-7/8, but I couldn't pass it up. After about 3 hours of work last night, misting, steaming and stretching, it now fits like a glove ! Love the color too, my wife says it matches my eyes.....
Hagwood
Call Me a Cab
- Messages
- 2,017
- Location
- Fort Worth, TX
Lot's of cool stuff under the sweat, but I can't make some of it out. Has a date stamp of Nov, 1941 - just a month before Pearl Harbor !
AbbaDatDeHat
I'll Lock Up
- Messages
- 8,647
Outstanding hat!
Not that often do you get a date stamp in an old Stetson.
Hat, box, pin, date....super find!
B
- Messages
- 15,023
- Location
- Buffalo, NY
A date stamp is the holy grail of hat ephemera, tying together the other parts into a really great reference piece. What a great find! I've increased the contrast of your reverse sweatband shots. The sweatband imprints LOT7710 and 1 7/8 Soft would disappear during the WWII era. You might post some pictures on this thread too.
Thanks for posting the detailed photos. Is there a size label present on the rear of the sweatband?
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Hagwood
Call Me a Cab
- Messages
- 2,017
- Location
- Fort Worth, TX
Great info, thanks for that ! No size tag on the rear, only the red sticker:
What would the '1 7/8 SOFT' refer to, the weight of the felt ?
- Messages
- 15,023
- Location
- Buffalo, NY
Sweatbands were stamped with several identifiers - their width (1 7/8" in this instance) and sometimes "stiff" or "soft", which likely refers to the type of hat, going back to when dress hats were predominantly stiff hats (derbies) or soft hats (fedoras). Other words show up too - "kettle finish" comes to mind.
Manufacturing details seemed to undergo change during the decade before WWII which we can guess at from the materials and markings that remain. The three panel manufacturing tag in your hat had a relatively short life, appearing in the late 1930s after the wider three part label that Stetson used for much of the 20th century (and perhaps earlier) and before the single panel narrow version that appeared shortly after your hat was made and continued through the war into the 1950s. You can see both and other subtle differences in two Stratoliners compared in this post. I have another early Strat with the same sweatband as yours (posted a page or so back from here) - mine has the later version of the manufacturing tag and no LOTXXXX number. I believe this one is earlier than the version with the embroidered tip liner... but I'm not really sure. Maybe both versions ran concurrently...
Rmccamey
I'll Lock Up
- Messages
- 5,667
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- Central Texas
Excellent find. Keep your eyes open for a 7 1/8 just like that! Wow, what a catch! Good luck to you and send pictures often!
Hagwood
Call Me a Cab
- Messages
- 2,017
- Location
- Fort Worth, TX
LOL, I’ll do it !
I’m always on the hunt for vintage items, right now I’m looking for a Ronson Touch Tip desk lighter as seen in The Maltese Falcon. Very cool !
Hagwood
Call Me a Cab
- Messages
- 2,017
- Location
- Fort Worth, TX
Man, you are a wealth of information, thanks so much. It was your previous posts with that similar Strat that made me pull the trigger on this one. When I first saw it I thought it was just missing the liner until I saw yours.
There is so much to learn on this site !
Hagwood
Call Me a Cab
- Messages
- 2,017
- Location
- Fort Worth, TX
I also found this cloth like emblem taped to the inside of the sweatband. I thought maybe it was the emblem inside the top of the crown that had come off and he taped it in there for posterity, but all the ones I’ve seen are round.
Hagwood
Call Me a Cab
- Messages
- 2,017
- Location
- Fort Worth, TX
Check out the great vintage ad I found.
In the September, 1941 issue of LIFE, and my Strat was made in Nov, 1941.
I’m trying to get ads for all the brands of the vintage hats I have to make a display area / hat rack.
In the September, 1941 issue of LIFE, and my Strat was made in Nov, 1941.
I’m trying to get ads for all the brands of the vintage hats I have to make a display area / hat rack.
M Hatman
I'll Lock Up
- Messages
- 4,364
Refers to the sweat.....1 7/8 origional width, made up for a soft felt hat rather than for a stiff felt like a Derby....
M Hatman
I'll Lock Up
- Messages
- 4,364
April and November 1945.......
M Hatman
I'll Lock Up
- Messages
- 4,364
1944......
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