French Hats and makers.

Totally outstanding 65!!
B

 

Last I talked with the seller (back in June) he mentioned the size is 56cm and the sweatband is intact but scuffed heavily on one side.

 

That's a fabulous find. Labels behind the sweatband would be great to see.

 

Lovely! Enjoy it.

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I'll get a pic of the label.

 

Here's a Mossant. I like this hat plenty. Might it be 30s?

 

I have a Mossant from the 1940's. Nicest felt of all my hats.

 

My Mossant has the ribbon adjustment woven through the leather sweat to adjust the size. I was told it was a feature of the that era of Mossant.

 

This one has the ribbon woven through the leather as well. I never thought of trying to adjust the size using the ribbon.

 

I don't use the one in my Mossant either. The hat fits so I left well enough alone. I would add more to my collection but they don't show up very often. I picked up mine in a vintage shop in Durango CO. It had many years of shelf dust and crud collected but with a naptha bath it cleaned up really well and now the felt sparkles.

 

Hey all!
This one was a happy mistake and an unexpected treat. I had bought a Mossant that looked 50's from an Etsy seller in France. Listed as simply "Mossant shape hat" it was in a (beat up) box, marked as 60% off, AND free shipping!

Ten days later... (read in the voice of the French sounding narrator on Spongebob)

A box shows up on my doorstep way too small to be a hat in a hatbox. Inside is the other man's hat on her Etsy store, that was described as "Plassard shape hat". Now, I fon't NEED another black Homburg, as I have two perfectly good ones, a '28 Dobbs and a 50's Tirard that Fruno made me buy. I briefly thought about returning it until I pulled it out of the box and had a better look and feel of it. No way it was going back! I contacted the seller to let her know what happened, then bought the Mossant again. Can' t wait to get it...
Here's some pics of the Plassard shape hat. Poor quality due to indoor lighting. Raining too hard too take pics in natural light.



The insides



Tags and stamps



I had wondered if Plasard was the manufacturer or retailer. I got my answer here.



Marked a 5/57, it fits my 5 1/2/58 head just a litle snug.
There is also this little pin on the sweatband. Looks kind of like a crown to me. Odd placement, in front at the temple i didn't want to damage the leather by removing it.



The crown is 5 1/2" open, brim is 2 1/4" 135g. The felt is fantastic, super soft to the touch with no moth predation that I can see. Morreton certainly knew how to make a fine hat. I'm guessing by the fabric reed tape that it is late 40's to early 50's. Any opinions confirming or refuting this are welcome.

Head shot



Now I'll be searching for more Morreton... *sigh* It never ends...

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A few more pics in natursl lighting.



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There is just something about a nice Homburg, irresistible!

 

Looks like an excellent find. I'll have to include that in my search list as well. Great form on that hat!

 

Great looking hat. Hard to say anything about its age. These Mossant hats don't seem to change much over the decades.

 

Nice find, John. These Morreton hats don't show up that often and if they do they tend to be the later ones. From what I gather they were supposed to be the cheaper end of the market. The later hats reflect that. Earlier ones I haven't seen so far.

 

I agree!

 

Thanks Randy!
I wouldn't mind another one or two from this maker myself.

 

Thanks Stefan!
I don't know much at all about Morreton. The few that I have checked out online did look to me to be a lower end (as much as one can tell from seller's pics anyway) hat so I was pleasantly surprised to see that this was made by them, especially since I had handled and inspected it a lot before turning out the sweatband to look for tags. Quality materials and workmanship all around. Not quite as nice felt as my Ecuyer and Thomas for Motsch Fils but close. If I find another older one I might just have to buy it (for research, of course! )

 

Likely they could produce any quality hat they wanted, but aimed for the middle and lower end of the market for their own brand. The factory closed down in 1976.