About a month and a half ago, I scored big. Real big. A Stetson Whippet in 7 5/8 for $49.10 total, including shipping! The poor listing coupled with the poor appearance in photographs assisted with the low price, I'm sure, considering this 7 5/8 Whippet went for $212.12 before shipping. There's no question that this was the greatest find of my eBay-scouring career.
It was creased as a porkpie, probably on the first day, and was never changed. There was a prominent stain ring around the crown of the hat when I uncreased it, and the liner was all but unattached. I did find the original price tag on the inside of the sweatband - a whole $10.00. I was thrilled to finally have a classic hat in classic dimensions in my very non-classic size in my hands, and decided that it needed to go to Optimo after some encouragement here, so that's what I did.
Optimo did a full cleaning, twice. They replaced the sweatband entirely, and replaced the ribbon with a slightly wider one but with identical knot(?) treatment. At my request, the liner was retained despite its somewhat poor shape. If it falls apart, I'll just take it out. No big deal.
Aside from Optimo shipping it to the wrong address causing me to stand in the giant line at the UPS depot in South Philadelphia today after work to argue my way to the point where the hat was in my hands, they did a phenomenal job. You can still see the stain line faintly, but it's a massive improvement. This is a hat I will never, ever give up.
BEFORE:
Front of the hat.
Left side of the hat.
Back of the hat.
Liner, for reference to its age.
AFTER:
Front of the hat.
Left side of the hat.
Back of the hat.
The bound brim.
Now, on to find a Stetson box of this era to match with it.
Thanks for all of your help! It's mine. ALL MINE.
It was creased as a porkpie, probably on the first day, and was never changed. There was a prominent stain ring around the crown of the hat when I uncreased it, and the liner was all but unattached. I did find the original price tag on the inside of the sweatband - a whole $10.00. I was thrilled to finally have a classic hat in classic dimensions in my very non-classic size in my hands, and decided that it needed to go to Optimo after some encouragement here, so that's what I did.
Optimo did a full cleaning, twice. They replaced the sweatband entirely, and replaced the ribbon with a slightly wider one but with identical knot(?) treatment. At my request, the liner was retained despite its somewhat poor shape. If it falls apart, I'll just take it out. No big deal.
Aside from Optimo shipping it to the wrong address causing me to stand in the giant line at the UPS depot in South Philadelphia today after work to argue my way to the point where the hat was in my hands, they did a phenomenal job. You can still see the stain line faintly, but it's a massive improvement. This is a hat I will never, ever give up.
BEFORE:
Front of the hat.
Left side of the hat.
Back of the hat.
Liner, for reference to its age.
AFTER:
Front of the hat.
Left side of the hat.
Back of the hat.
The bound brim.
Now, on to find a Stetson box of this era to match with it.
Thanks for all of your help! It's mine. ALL MINE.
