2 more ebay beauties!!

[fedoralover]

I couldn't help myself. Another Stetson Playboy and a Borsalino.

Both these fedora's have very thin and dense felt. I got another great buy on the Playboy and a very good buy on the Borsalino. Dusty Rhodes picked up a nice brown Borsalino as well. These quality vintage hats are getting harder and harder to find. To get 2 hats of this quality new today would cost from 5 to 8 hundred dollars. Paying a little over $80.00 for both is what makes ebay so great.

regards fedoralover

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&rd=1&item=8146609854&ssPageName=STRK:MEWA:IT

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&rd=1&item=8146606155&ssPageName=STRK:MEWA:IT

 

[jamespowers]

Not a bad buy at all. I like it!
Darn you Dusty! I will get you next time. LOL

Regards to all,

J

 

[Kentucky Blues]

the Borsy's alright, but that Playboy is friggin awesome! I wish I had one just like it, but in my size. Good catch

 

[Dusty Rhodes]

OOOPS

Originally posted by jamespowers
Not a bad buy at all. I like it!
Darn you Dusty! I will get you next time. LOL

Regards to all,

J

Come on now, it's my first Borsalino! :cool2: Great finds Fedora lover! I would have bid on the 7 3/8 Borsy if had been a brwon or tan. I'm a more earth tones kind of guy!
Dusty

 

[Fedora]

Great hats fedoralover!! When you gonna start culling down? Fedora

 

[Strider]

Wow, quite a steal at those prices! Lucky you! Congrats

Regards,
Strider

 

[fedoralover]

Dusty, I was sure you would be bidding on the borsalino and did not expect to win it. It was a total surprise. I already have too many brown fedora's. I have 2 brown Borsalino's and wanted a nice gray one if I could get it cheap, which I did.

As far as culling down, I do have a couple I don't wear much but they are in such good shape I hate to part with them as they are getting harder and harder to find. One is a brown Cavanagh and one is a brown Stetson Vita-felt. Right now I don't mind them just sitting. Maybe I'll use them as trading stock for something different later on.

regards fedoralover

 

[Dusty Rhodes]

Originally posted by fedoralover
Dusty, I was sure you would be bidding on the borsalino and did not expect to win it. It was a total surprise. I already have too many brown fedora's. I have 2 brown Borsalino's and wanted a nice gray one if I could get it cheap, which I did.

As far as culling down, I do have a couple I don't wear much but they are in such good shape I hate to part with them as they are getting harder and harder to find. One is a brown Cavanagh and one is a brown Stetson Vita-felt. Right now I don't mind them just sitting. Maybe I'll use them as trading stock for something different later on.

regards fedoralover

Fedora Lover,
I did think about getting it but like i said, I got too many grays! LOL Are you looking for anything in particular? Once I get moved to Panma City, FL on Dec 2nd, I could pull something out for possible trading and/or cash material. GO here: http://public.fotki.com/formerblueangel/felt_fedoras/
and look at all my gray hats and tell me what you think as far something you might be intrested in as far as trading some of you brown for gray. I might like to part with the Mallor Homberg (Hat names/brands are in the picture file neame).
Dusty

 

[fedoralover]

Thanks for the offer Dusty, but with the addition of these 2, my gray wish list is now full at 5. That Mallory is a great looking hat though. Besides, if I remember correctly, don't you wear a 7 3/8ths? All of mine are 7 1/4, I usually can either stretch up one size or reduce by one and still make it work. I have several hat stretchers and a few techniques I''ve developed to accomplish this. A while back I found a vintage brown Borsalino in near new condition at Goodwill for $4.49. I was a size 7 1/2, but there was NO WAY I was not going to bring it down to my size. It is one of my favorite hats and fits perfect.

What I'd really like to find now is a vintage Black Borsalino with the wide brim and high crown. A new one is on ebay right now, but I've seen too many new borsalino's and I'm totally turned off by the felt quality and shoddy workmanship. I enjoy the hunt so I'm in no hurry. The only question is, will I be able to outbid YOU when I find it. ha ha!

regards fedoralover

 

[K.D. Lightner]

Thanks for showing the two hats you scored off ebay. They are both great looking. I had noticed them, too, but I am a 7 1/8, so could not bid.

I have been bidding on a few of the Indy hats they have on there and I lose out everytime.

I did score a great Dobbs 15, which had been styled like a Stetson Open Road, but I took it to a local hat shop and he restyled it as a classic fedora. Looks great and is a staple in my hat collection.

Congrats on the two hats.

kdl

 

[fedoralover]

K.D. did he reblock it or just reshape it? Almost all of the hats I get I reshape myself with a teapot on the stove. It's actually the fun part of getting a different hat. Besides wearing it of course.

regards fedoralover

 

[jamespowers]

Originally posted by fedoralover
A while back I found a vintage brown Borsalino in near new condition at Goodwill for $4.49. I was a size 7 1/2, but there was NO WAY I was not going to bring it down to my size. It is one of my favorite hats and fits perfect.

Oh man, Now I have competition from "hat shrinkers." Ahhhhhh!
LOL LOL LOL

Regards to all,

J

 

[K.D. Lightner]

Fedoralover -- I took the Dobbs 15 to the Hat Store because I had been bashing it myself, and could restyle it a little, but could not get rid of the "ghost" of the original crease, which was one of those "Open Road' creases. Also the brim rolled up a bit on the sides and there was not much snap in front. It looked like an LBJ cowboy hat. And, it was a bit dirty.

So, he cleaned it and I believe reblocked it -- the sides are now perfect, the brim snaps down in front and back, and the crown was changed to a standard fedora crease.

I know about the tea-kettle method of creating a new crown, and might have tried it if that was the only problem. Art saw the hat on the ebay site and thought it might need reblocking because of its age and the fact it had probably sat for eons on a shelf with the Open Road crease. He mentioned that getting the crease out totally might be problematic, but it is now gone. It doesn't look like the same hat I bought.

I might be able to download a picture of it so you can see it before and after.

karol

 

[K.D. Lightner]

Lets see if I can get the Dobbs 15 ebay photo up, I have trouble with my old dinosaur computer but will try.

If I succeed, this will be a "before" picture. If not, I will have to wait until tomorrow when I am on a better computer system.

karol

 

[K.D. Lightner]

OK, here, I hope, is the "after" photo of the Dobbs 15 hat. Note that the light or the camera make it look tan, but it is really the same color as in the ebay photo, a silverbelly color I believe.

Hope this goes through OK. If it is too, too huge, I did not PM Andykev as I was supposed to do to find out how to reduce the size of a jpg file, like I can do with bitmaps.

karol

 

[Brad Bowers]

That's a beatiful hat, karol! The new block looks a lot better than an LBJ. That image was huge! Here's a reduced-size image:

Brad

 

[fedoralover]

Yup, that's a beauty K.D. It looks brand new. Ya gotta love those older fedora's. thanks for sharing

fedoralover

 

[K.D. Lightner]

Thanks, Brad, for reducing it for me. I have acquired a number of hats off ebay, mostly cowboy hats, and sone fedoras. The Dobbs 15 is the only one I am wearing. Not only that, I got a vintage box with it.

I am much happier with the new look. It's a nice fedora and it goes with anything. I paid 30-something bucks for it.

Brad, I still believe you probably scored the Big Time ebay purchase with that beautiful Borsalino you won.

I drool over those Borsalinos. I have never won one, except a ladies hat and it was a disappointment. It might have looked good on Marlene Dietrich, but not me.

karol

 

[SHARPETOYS]

Nice lids Fedoralover.

I'll see ya on Ebay