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I’m not the smartest guy around here, but I would approach this a bit more carefully than to soak the sweatband. You could well end up with a nice, crisp piece of leather...
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I’m not the smartest guy around here, but I would approach this a bit more carefully than to soak the sweatband. You could well end up with a nice, crisp piece of leather...
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- Central California
Just Daniel
One Too Many
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There's an Incredible Hulk hat joke in there somewhere.
StephenMcNally
New in Town
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Had this Hat given to me as a gift and it's too small. I tried to search a value for it, but I was unable to find anything out about it. Can anyone help?
Just Daniel
One Too Many
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Very interesting. I don’t know that I’ve seen a Stetson 300. Looks like it is from the 60s or 70s at the earliest, given the black sweatband and the non-embroidered liner.
The Stetson 100 and related hats are all so numbered and title by their original price. That is a Stetson 100 originally cost $100; the same for a Stetson 20, etc.
Therefore we can assume this Stetson cost $300 when manufactured. It may have been quite a hat for it’s time, I can’t tell without guessing what decade it is from; I also can’t personally say much on relative quality because I don’t have any more modern hats to compare it to.
A lot of first time posters discovering a hat ask directly about value. Folks here don’t generally like to answer because we are all potential buyers. Maybe this is a rare, high quality hat from the post 60s era, or maybe it is a representative of the hats from that time that we associate with far lower quality than the decades before. I can’t say, maybe someone else can help out on that detail.
Good luck with that hat! We all hope you find more and post them, especially old ones!
Daniel
The Stetson 100 and related hats are all so numbered and title by their original price. That is a Stetson 100 originally cost $100; the same for a Stetson 20, etc.
Therefore we can assume this Stetson cost $300 when manufactured. It may have been quite a hat for it’s time, I can’t tell without guessing what decade it is from; I also can’t personally say much on relative quality because I don’t have any more modern hats to compare it to.
A lot of first time posters discovering a hat ask directly about value. Folks here don’t generally like to answer because we are all potential buyers. Maybe this is a rare, high quality hat from the post 60s era, or maybe it is a representative of the hats from that time that we associate with far lower quality than the decades before. I can’t say, maybe someone else can help out on that detail.
Good luck with that hat! We all hope you find more and post them, especially old ones!
Daniel
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More photos are needed. Are there more markings on the leather sweatband? Are there any tags? How about labels behind the sweatband? I’m not familiar with a 300, but it looks to be from an era when Stetson’s quality wasn’t all that good.
This really isn’t the place to get an estimate for value, but we need all the information possible to comment intelligently on your hat.
StephenMcNally
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Thank you for your reply it's much appreciated. Late 60's sounds correct. My God father who passed it to me told of a friend from Texas who passed it on to him in the late 60's he wasn't much of a cowboy hat guy and it sat in a box probably never worn. It's been vacuum sealed in plastic and has no sign of wear there were a couple other photos I didn't want to overload my last pos .
Just Daniel
One Too Many
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The square size tag would seem to confirm the decade as 60s at the earliest.
The only reference I could find for a Stetson 300 was in a post from 2009, more or less wondering if there ever was such a hat.
So you might have a pretty rare hat here, but again, values are really hard to assign. As a general rule, $200 is a tough ceiling for vintage hats to break. From there, fewer break $250, fewer still $300, etc. one early 1900s Nutria I believe recently hit $1000.
I can’t tell you much more with this hat in particular, other than it was probably a top of the line Stetson for its time (+), 7 1/4 is a popular size (+), collectors have probably not seen the 300 model before and may go for it (+), and it is from a time when hat quality was decreasing rapidly (- -).
Daniel
The only reference I could find for a Stetson 300 was in a post from 2009, more or less wondering if there ever was such a hat.
So you might have a pretty rare hat here, but again, values are really hard to assign. As a general rule, $200 is a tough ceiling for vintage hats to break. From there, fewer break $250, fewer still $300, etc. one early 1900s Nutria I believe recently hit $1000.
I can’t tell you much more with this hat in particular, other than it was probably a top of the line Stetson for its time (+), 7 1/4 is a popular size (+), collectors have probably not seen the 300 model before and may go for it (+), and it is from a time when hat quality was decreasing rapidly (- -).
Daniel
jlee562
I'll Lock Up
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I dunno, I think the full color last drop liner is much more recent than late 60's.
Are there photos of the box? Any label on the box? The hat should have some additional tags under the sweat.
I am thinking it is maybe a numbered edition as another possibility.
Are there photos of the box? Any label on the box? The hat should have some additional tags under the sweat.
I am thinking it is maybe a numbered edition as another possibility.
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Thanks for the additional photos. I’d think 1970s or early 80s (I’ve never seen a hard date for when Stetson began using the combined US and Metric size tags). I’m not sure that this hat followed some of the other Stetsons which were named after their price point. I could be wrong, but from the little of the hat I can see it does not look like a $300 (adjusted for inflation) hat; that would have made it almost $2,000 in 1970 money. Using the date of 1980 makes it $1,000 when adjusted for inflation and that’s more of a possibility. I haven’t seen one before and I certainly don’t “know,” but I don’t think this was a $300 hat when sold new unless it was sold closer to 1980. Just one guy’s guess.
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Just Daniel
One Too Many
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drmaxtejeda
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Could you please post more pictures of your hat? I can't decide whether to pine for it or not.
AbbaDatDeHat
I'll Lock Up
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Definitely need to know/see any tags behind the sweatband and anything printed on the inside of the sweatband for as definitive dating as possible.
B
B
SteveFord
A-List Customer
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I've got a suspect St. Regis sitting in the snake food freezer and got curious about just how effective freezing a hat is for pest control.
It looks like moths are pretty hardy buggers:
https://www.maine.gov/dacf/php/gotpests/bugs/documents/clothes-moths-cornell.pdf
It looks like moths are pretty hardy buggers:
https://www.maine.gov/dacf/php/gotpests/bugs/documents/clothes-moths-cornell.pdf
StephenMcNally
New in Town
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I added a couple extra pictures in a previous reply, but unfortunately there isn't any other tags or markings on the inside if the sweatband. It seems everybody is as stumped as I am. I can only assume it is a rare hat if that's the case.
Héctor Fernández
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You can always email Stetson with some pictures and see if the have a clue.
You don't see many Stetson hats with adjustable sweatbands.
You don't see many Stetson hats with adjustable sweatbands.
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Actually, those non-adjustable laced sweatbands were common and showed up at different times. I also doubt that Hat-Co/Stetson would be of much help, but it couldn’t hurt to ask.
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It might well be rare, but that doesn’t always mean valuable. There are many jobber and store specific models that are quite rare, but also quite unremarkable and don’t sell for much. You might have a real treasure, but the hat looks to be from a time after Stetson stopped making hats and sold their name to another company. These hats, even the more expensive ones, were not high quality and are not generally sought after by collectors. If you put it up for sale the market will tell you what it’s worth.
Héctor Fernández
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Just offering some possible options.
This place has taken a turn to crazy town. One can't even offer an opinion or suggestion without getting bashed like a cheap hat.
No wonder people leave and never return.
This place has taken a turn to crazy town. One can't even offer an opinion or suggestion without getting bashed like a cheap hat.
No wonder people leave and never return.