Is Dobbs Twenty as good as others'?

[astaire]

From what I have read in past threads, Mallory twenty, Knox twenty, Stetson twenty all have very good felt. I also understand that Cavanagh is slightly above the league.

My question is, are Dobbs Twenty hats as good as the others'?

Just got one from ebay yesterday and started thinking if it will be a decent lid to have. You see quite a number of vintage Dobbs on ebay, but you usually don't see as many Knox, Mallory, and Cavanagh hats.

Any comments (good or bad) are welcome!

Thanks all,
Astaire

 

[Citizen Ed]

Hey good lookin' hat. I know this is probably a stupid question but what does it mean Dobbs (or any other maker for that matter) Twenty hat? I'm dying to get a vintage hat but need to edumacate myself first.

 

[besdor]

Your Dobbs hat cost twenty dollars back when it was originally for sale during the 1940's . So , you can imagine what that hat would cost today!
These hats were made in price levels of 7.50 ,10,15 ,20 , 50, 100 and so on . Even a hat that cost 7.50 years ago is better than a hat from today.


Steven

 

[astaire]

thanks besdor

steven, looking at the proportion of height of the crown and width of the brim, would it be correct to assume that the hat came from the 1940's?

also, does the 'twenty' also means any percentage of beaver content?

thanks!

Actually, how much would $20 back then cost now?

 

[The real Henry]

A very nice lid! I think because the crowns is so high and untapered it's maybe from the 30's. I don't think you can say that in every 20$ hat back then was a certain percentage of beaver, it veried from maker to maker!
But if you should ever get fed up with your new fedora, you can always give it to me!

 

[astaire]

Thanks RH

You're right, i was originally thinking it came from the 30's era also. The seller said it's just under 6 inches tall in the picture (un-bashed). I've been looking for tall, untappered lid for a while.

Great thing is, i won it for $16.50 + $3.95 S+H. I hope it will fit perfect when i get it, just like the price.

BTW, where in Germany is Lohne?

Thanks!

 

[The real Henry]

Wow, a nice price! You can just hope it's in a good condition! Which size is it?

BTW-L??hne is the midwest of Germany, in Nordrhein-Westfalen, if you know that county!?

 

[besdor]

My friend , you bought a great hat at a good price . That hat today IF it could be made would easily be 250.00 AND would not be the same quality .


Steven

 

[EggHead]

I looked up what $20 was in 1948 - now it's about $186 (in 2011), so maybe $190 in 2012.
Not too pricey, if you make $17 per hour - 2 days of work, $35/hour - 1 day, after taxes.

 

[bowlerman]

astaire, that is a gorgeous hat. Does it also have the guild edge? While Dobbs hats are easy to find on Ebay, you still don't see many from that era or with a brim so generous. While it may be true that the $20 price point back then inflates to about $190 now, I still think the quality control was much higher in the 30s-50s, at least from a large production company perspective.
For instance, probably many of us here would prefer an entry level vintage Stetson 3X over a modern one any day, and modern Stetsons will cost you an easy $200 new. Plus nobody even makes the felted edge anymore.


Northridge, eh? My little brother went to college there. He graduated a couple years ago but moved to Redondo beach area.

 

[Rabbit]

Actually, how much would $20 back then cost now?

The diagram below shows the value of $ 10,- throughout the years of 1913-2011 after being corrected for inflation, in today's money.
For instance, a $ 10 price tag in 1940 equals $ 160.67 in today's (well, 2011) currency.
The data were obtained from the US inflation calculator which can be found here:
http://www.usinflationcalculator.com/

 

[Rabbit]

Not sure how I missed that the question was posted nearly six years ago. Oh well... lol

 

[bowlerman]

ha! got me too.

 

[Rabbit]

lol lol lol

 

[EggHead]

Well, I was actually looking for why the "twenty" is so prized. Assuming it's sale price in the 1940's (I chose 1948 because I have a couple of very good fedoras (a fifteen and twenty) with Cavanagh edge from that time frame) I looked up the value of $20 dollars then. I can't find this link now.
In any case, $200 now doesn't buy as nice of a hat as back then for $20, like you guys mentioned no Cavanagh edge, etc.
But for $300 - $400 you can come close with a custom hat. So my conclusion is, now good hats cost more than in 1948.

But if Rabbit is correct and $10 = $160 then, it's not so bad.

 

[Rabbit]

A Stetson/Dobbs/Whatnot-Twenty until say the early 40s was quite an expensive hat. In the 50s and later, not so much anymore.
Of course the inflation rates are indirect measures, by way of the Consumer Price Index.

The table below lists the info from the inflation calculator that went into the diagram above. It's not easy to read single years in the diagram (which was meant as an overview), so you may prefer to look them up here.

Again, this is today's value of $ 10 from back in the day.

 

[EggHead]

Rabbit, thank you. If I am reading this correctly, and a twenty is any indication of quality vs. price in the 40's, for $200 of today's dollars one could buy the best hats available. So today hats cost more, say Stetson Benchley is $395 at HartfordYork - twice as much. Even in the 30's it was less expensive.
Just curious.

 

[Rabbit]

If I am reading this correctly, and a twenty is any indication of quality vs. price in the 40's, for $200 of today's dollars one could buy the best hats available.

Throughout the 30s and early 40s there wasn't too much inflation and a Twenty would have been around $ 300+ in today's money.

However, there were hats to be had around then which were more expensive still, I believe. A Twenty was a very fine hat in the early forties, nonetheless.
Here's a thread on a Knox Forty from 1920 (the ad, only). In the 20s of course the diversity in hats must have been at its peak.
http://www.thefedoralounge.com/showthread.php?58843-Knox-Forty-from-1920