Black Sheep Hat Works

Short Balding Guy said:

Jack; This is the second time tuning to re-visit your new hat postings. WOW! The hat is a Jack hat IMO. The heather felt and dimensions are dynamite. Wow, just wow to the felt. It is a felt not seen often and just eye catching. Great choice in brim, flange and crown choices. It will prove to be a frequent wearable hat on your worthy hat rack. The details are superb. Between the sweat and the loop nothing can beat the details. Well done. The ribbon fray work is well done as shown by your photos. Congrats.

Cheers for you Jack and the artisan. Your new hat is dynamite and I look forward to seeing it frequently on the What Hat Are You wearing Thread.

I tip my hat this evening in your general direction. Best, Eric -

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Thank you very much, Eric! I really appreciate such comments coming from someone with a collection of such fine vintage & custom hats as you have! As a 7-5/8 I don't often have a chance at many vintage & no heather felt hats so I am really going to enjoy this one. This hat represents the era & these are the specs that I like most.

All credit to Bob at BSHW for the tremendous detail, & to Jared for cloning the 1st hat.

Hurricane Jack said:

Thank you very much, Eric! I really appreciate such comments coming from someone with a collection of such fine vintage & custom hats as you have! As a 7-5/8 I don't often have a chance at many vintage & no heather felt hats so I am really going to enjoy this one. This hat represents the era & these are the specs that I like most.

All credit to Bob at BSHW for the tremendous detail, & to Jared for cloning the 1st hat.

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One of my new favorites, Jack... just beautiful, sir!!

Welcome to the flock Jack, a fine example of Bob's work to be sure. Congrats and enjoy!

Although I haven't documented here in a while here, Garrett and I have been fairly regular visitors to bug Bob at the Black Sheep factory. Seems there's always a project or future scheming for one. Last weekend we visited to pick up my latest project and enjoy extra curricular activities.

A couple of fine fellas, Garrett and Bob



Post business activity

The business that was finished was a solution to a problem, 2 fine hats with some issue that prevented me from exercising them regularly. A super fine Champ milan that was a bit too stingy even for me, and a Royal Stetson in a rare color that had some unsightly stains and finish problems on the crown. Both hats were shades of green but the obvious solution escaped me for a long time. That solution was Bob.

Before pics taken by Bob, bottom pic is of the 2 hats, top the finished result. There are more of these on his Facebook page



The pleasing to me result






The inside is all original Champ

Mike, You should be able to hear my loud clapping over on the west coast shortly. Man what a HAT!

Superb!

Congrats to you and Bob.

Thanks for sharing items out of your hat rack. Best, Eric -

Short Balding Guy said:

Mike, You should be able to hear my loud clapping over on the west coast shortly. Man what a HAT!

Superb!

Congrats to you and Bob.

Thanks for sharing items out of your hat rack. Best, Eric -

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Thanks Eric, your posts always inspire me!

mikespens said:

The business that was finished was a solution to a problem, 2 fine hats with some issue that prevented me from exercising them regularly. A super fine Champ milan that was a bit too stingy even for me, and a Royal Stetson in a rare color that had some unsightly stains and finish problems on the crown. Both hats were shades of green but the obvious solution escaped me for a long time. That solution was Bob.

Before pics taken by Bob, bottom pic is of the 2 hats, top the finished result. There are more of these on his Facebook page



The pleasing to me result






The inside is all original Champ

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INsane!!!! What a fantastic result, guys!!! Good to see Garrett's happy face, too!

mikespens said:

The business that was finished was a solution to a problem, 2 fine hats with some issue that prevented me from exercising them regularly. A super fine Champ milan that was a bit too stingy even for me, and a Royal Stetson in a rare color that had some unsightly stains and finish problems on the crown. Both hats were shades of green but the obvious solution escaped me for a long time. That solution was Bob.

Before pics taken by Bob, bottom pic is of the 2 hats, top the finished result. There are more of these on his Facebook page

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Beautiful hybrid Mike! (and good to see you posting again -- don't be a stranger)

I see whiskey & jars of pipe baccy. Sounds like my kinda people!

Very nice

Very cool, Mike, very cool.


Sent directly from my mind to yours.

mikespens said:

The business that was finished was a solution to a problem, 2 fine hats with some issue that prevented me from exercising them regularly. A super fine Champ milan that was a bit too stingy even for me, and a Royal Stetson in a rare color that had some unsightly stains and finish problems on the crown. Both hats were shades of green but the obvious solution escaped me for a long time. That solution was Bob.

Before pics taken by Bob, bottom pic is of the 2 hats, top the finished result. There are more of these on his Facebook page



The pleasing to me result






The inside is all original Champ

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Very nice work by Bob.

Perfect color combo for a summer hat. Congrats.

I'm am constantly and consistently amazed and inspired at the creative and super quality hats that Mr. Jesse puts out. Now you've got me looking for hats to get my own BSHW Duplex project!

Great looking hat Mike! And a great job on the rebuild Bob! I like it!

Hch. Klipper Offenbach a. M. "Extra Quality" early 1900s. I posted this old German Stiff Felt a few months ago. I took a real liking to it but the ribbon was damaged so I decided to buy some Mokuba (Japan) Silk ribbon which turned out to be a good match. I contacted Bob at Black Sheep Hat Works (BSHW) and he graciously accepted to install the new ribbon / bow. Unfortunately when the Stiff Felt arrived at BSHW the box had been crushed and the Stiff Felt had major crown dents. Bob did a masterful job of fixing the dents, cleaning up the felt and installing the new ribbon / bow. The bow design matches the original so of the time period. A big Thank You to Bob!









This is the original damaged ribbon / bow that Bob replaced.





Shipping damage and Bob's repair of the crown dents.



Bob had to remove the liner and discovered some writing on the top and sides of the liner (also on the sweatband).









I decided to investigate and I received the following information from Florian Hardwig of TypeDraws.com History of Typography forum. Florian, Thank you for this great information!

>I am a collector of German and Austrian vintage hats. I have an old Melone/Bowler hat and the following writing was found on the back of the liner.
I don’t see how the script could help with the dating. The first image includes a line saying “R. 1857”, but that doesn’t tell us much.
The sign on the inside is more revealing: “H[einri]ch Klipper Offenbach, a.M.” is in Behrens-Schrift, a typeface that was first cast by the Rudhard’sche Gießerei in 1901. The sign can’t be any older than that. Behrens-Schrift was immensely popular in the first and second decade of the 20th century, but it’s impossible to rule out a later date.

>Do you think the 22 1/2 might be Zoll?
That sounds plausible to me. I don’t know about hats in particular, but at least in some areas, Zoll remained a common unit until deep into the 20th century.

Also what about the single letter on the inside of the sweatband?
No Fraktur, but rather a bold Antiqua with ball terminals, as it was common in the time and period, cf. this piece of fascia lettering from Heidelberg. It could be either a ‘J’ with a spur, or bifurcated base (as in a Tuscan), or simply a minuscule ‘r’. A wild guess: Would the manufacturer have felt the need to denote the right-hand (rechts) side?

>Do you have any idea why "Extra Quality" was used on the liner? In most cases you see "Extra Qualität" (see below). Could this be time specific?
I assume the English spelling was chosen because it appears underneath the royal coat of arms of the United Kingdom.

http://typedrawers.com/discussion/2294/german-script-assistance-antique-melone-bowler-hat#latest

Excellent!

Thanks!

mayserwegener said:

Thanks!

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Bob's a magician. I'm amazed at the transformation.