Borsalino in Sweden

[DOUGLAS]

Everything about this hat says Classic. Nice aquisition.

 

[Flieger]

Yup, looks like a good 'un. So Flieger, is there a model name embossed on the sweatband?

Sorry, Tonyb. I can't find anything like that. Only thing written on the sweat, beside the "Borsalino Antica Casa" is "Importato da Eric Skoglund". Eric Skoglund was a Gentlemens clothes shop in Stockholm that specialised in Italian stuff. AFAIK, the shop went bust last year after being around since the 1930's.

Thanks again for all the nice comments about this hat. Old or new, doesn't matter that much to me. Google now tells me that SFINGE is the colour. I haven't seen the Sphinx but I take their word for it. I love it and it feels great on my head. I'll surely buy another Borsalino if I get the chance.

Cheers
/Flieger

 

[Mr. 'H']

I think Sfinge is Italian for "it's a finger" but I'm not totally sure on that. :eusa_doh:

That cracked me up!

lol lol lol

:eusa_clap

 

[Baron Kurtz]

For the importance of the words original house (antica casa) one must refer to the whole phrase: "Antica casa fondata nel 1857". This is just like a US company putting "founded in . . ." or "quality since . . .". It's not a claim that it was made in the backyard of Giuseppe's first home. This is the way Borsalinos for the European market were always marked.

As for its usage, the older Borsas made for the American market had "Original house founded in 1857" inside the same gold trim. When Borsalino moved to its new premises/changed ownership? (1984 or so?), the American market-destined hats started being marked "antica casa fondata nel 1857".

Since that one is clearly a euro-market hat, it's not possible to date the hat from this information.

Anyway, that hat has a very 1930s shape/dimensions/colour combination to it, although as dinerman points out that's a newer label type. Whatever, it's a fine hat; pretty much timeless. Good buy.

bk

 

[Flieger]

Thank you Kurtz.

How about the dark red lining? I have been trying to find something similar here on Fedora Lounge among all the other beautiful Borsalinos presented without success.

/Flieger

 

[Baron Kurtz]

Borsa liners are another thing entirely. It's utterly impossible, so far as i can see, to get any idea of date from the liners.

We had a notion for a while around these parts that the liners were a good dating tool. Then someone went to the Borsalino museum and shattered that myth. They showed a photograph of all the liners you could get from Borsalino in about 1930 or so, and - lo and behold! - there was pretty much every liner anyone had ever seen in a Borsalino. Many many styles to choose from.

bk

 

[Baron Kurtz]

for comparison, here is a 1930s borsalino:

bk

 

[Flieger]

Ahh... that's a beautiful hat! :eusa_clap Looks a bit like mine so I can see that Borsalino was true to the design over the years. Well, I wasn't suggesting that the colour of the lining was something to decide age of. I was more interested in lining colour in general. When you've seen mostly white linings, red looks a bit weird.

Flieger

 

[Baron Kurtz]

the red liner you posted looked pretty high quality stain. Is it?

I know Stetson used red satin liners in some of their higher end hats.

bk

 

[Stoney]

Say Baron,

Do you have any idea when Borsalino stopped making hats with a Cav edge?
I have one that looks very similar to yours as show above.

 

[Baron Kurtz]

I dunno. I recently sold a Borsa from the 60s that had a Cavanaugh-type edge.

So they probably stopped around the same time everyone else did; though i don't know exactly when that was. Wherefor art thou, Brad Bowers?

bk