Another bevy of beauties!

[havershaw]

While I'm not quite buying hats the way I had been over the holidays, I've still picked up a few pretty nice ones here and there in the last couple of months (and a couple of real stinkers, too). I thought I'd share a few of them with you.

First, my pride and joy: the Dinsey Twenty-Five, from the Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles. The felt on this is superb, although, sadly, it's clear one or two moths agreed with that appraisal, as it's got a few bites in it. This is some of the nicest felt I've got, up there with my vintage Borsalinos. Really nice. And, if you look carefully (well, not in these photos), you can see the sweatband is embossed with Ambassador Hotel, Los Angeles as well. I also really like the block on it. The ribbon is a little wrinkled, but I should be able to take care of that. Anyway, the hat:

...that's some fine felt:

 

[havershaw]

This one is another one of my new favorites. It's a Royal Sunnington, whatever that is, and it claims to be "XXXX SPEICAL ROYAL QUALITY."

The felt on this is wonderful. It's very similar in color to the Optimo Indy Brown, and the ribbon is super dark brown (I know, it doesn't look like it in the photo, but just trust me). Super-thin felt, though the brim is a little stiff for my tastes (I'm trying to work it out).

and just to show how different hats look inside as opposed to outside...

yes, that is the same hat. the daylight photos are pretty accurate in terms of color, except for the ribbon, which is a lot darker.

 

[havershaw]

This is a Mallory Fifteen. Maybe the flimsiest felt I've ever held, although I partially assume that's on account of the age of the hat. This has another one of those cloth size tags with the numbers actually embroidered into the cloth. Weird, no? Also weird: the bow is pretty far forward on this hat, much like the "turned hat" $3K is always talking about.

 

[havershaw]

This one's a Stetson Twenty. Super nice felt here and kind of a weird crown. I showed it to the lady at my local hat shop and she claimed it was the nicest of all the hats I had ever brought her, but I think I have quite a few that are at least this nice, if not nicer - but then, I'm a fan of the very thin felt. To top the whole thing off, this hat is NOS! (And it cost me about $35.)

 

[havershaw]

OK, last one. This is another Stetson, a Royal Stetson. I would call this color kind of a phantom blue, although you can feel free to correct me if I'm mis-judging it. It's grey, but it's got a definite blue cast to it, unlike any other grey hat I own. It's also NOS, though it has a little spot on the side of the hat.

I want to add that I've gotten pretty lucky. These photos are the way the hats looked when they arrived. I didn't even have to reblock, or rebash, or anything. I've gotten twice as many crummy hats in the last month, though...so it kind of balances out. I can't even resell them because I feel bad pawning off lousy hats on anyone else. ah well. If those lame hats are the price I pay for the good ones, well, I can live with that.

 

[Nathan Flowers]

You are really amassing quite a collection, Havershaw.

I especially like the Stetson Twenty. Does it have a Cavanagh edge?

 

[fedoralover]

Fantastic finds indeed Bob, I like them all. I noticed that all the crowns have the tear drop bash. Most of the vintage one's I get also have that sort of crown. I always steam them and put a center dent in them. Just my personal preference. I know the Bogie bash as I call it was really popular in the U. S. but I think the center dent had more popularity in England. I have tried both but also seem to end up putting in the center dent for some reason.

fedoralover

 

[havershaw]

Zohar, thanks for the kind words. The Twenty does indeed have a Cavanagh edge, as do the Disney and the Mallory.

fedoralover, I noticed myself that almost all of the hats pictured here have the C-crown. Everything I've read has said that the center dent was more of an English style, while the C-crowen was more American. I have far more hats with center dents than C-crowns, though. These are kind of the exceptions to my collection. But I have so many hats with the center dent (as I used to customarily put in into any hat i had which didn't have it) that I wanted to leave these as-is, for the sake of variety. I love them both. One nice thing about the C-crowns is that it generally gives you a straighter-sided crown, and a little bit lower crown, two things that are favorable to my face shape.

 

[MK]

Those are beautiful!

I am jealous.

 

[Canadave]

Great looking lids. One question - NOS?

Also, that's a nice box you have them sitting on.

David

 

[havershaw]

New
Old
Stock

Other synonyms (I've seen these on eBay):
deadstock
old store stock
unsold old stock

It just means that they were never sold, or at least, were never worn and are exactly how they would be if you had purchased them from a store back in the day. For example, NOS vintage shirts still have the tags on 'em and are full of pins, etc. Of course, they've been sitting whever they've been sitting for fifty/sixty years, though not in use, so there's often shelf wear, or whatever aging you'd expect to see in a fifty+ year old hat. But theoretically, it was never worn or used or whatever.

Art/AndyKev, did I explain that properly?

 

[gcollins]

Yep, I see that cavanaugh edge and it is indeed cool. Since it has to built into the body of the head when the felt is made, do modern makers of hats have to buy bodies with this edge? Or perhaps makers have to buy generic bodies and prefer the sewn or underwelted brims to mimic the cavanaugh?

thanks,
G

 

[jamespowers]

Darn, I am jealous too. Pretty soon you will be able to open your own hat museum. Out of curiosity, do they all have the tag under the hat band with the block number and the like? I would imagine the stetson does but it is the others that I am curious about since they are all NOS.
Also a question to all---is there a source to decode those numbers in the vintage hats. In other words, what kind of block was used, style etc.

Regards to all,

J

 

[Art Fawcett]

James, if you find a source I would love to see it. G, I don't know of any mfg's that do the Cav edge anymore so hatters are left with either over or under welting the brim. They are still great looks, but just not the same. ugg

 

[Andykev]

Love 'em

Bob the Stetson Twenty is my favorite color and shape of the hats you have shared. The last one is far too light to match the Phantom Blue....that color is like your blue going to church on Sunday suit.

You have some beauties!

 

[Imahomer]

All of them are very nice and just what I would pick out for myself! I have to say though that I love the Stetson Twenty. The color and the shape are very cool. BRAVO!