Miller-Stockman Catalogs

[carouselvic]

Stockman-Farmer Spring & Summer 1935

 

[buler]

Awesome. Thanks Vic.

B

 

[Chepstow]

Awesome. Thanks Vic.

B

+2

Thanks for sharing that with us!

 

[RBH]

Thanks for the scans, they are so cool.
I was at Buckaroo Hatters yesterday and Mike has several old M/S catalogs and they are a real treat to look at.
He also has some old ''wild west magazine'' issues that have cool ads in them.

 

[hatophile]

What great looking hats. I would love to find some of those in an attic somewhere!

 

[carouselvic]

Miller-Stockman Spring & Summer 1943

 

[carouselvic]

Miller-Stockman Spring & Summer 1943

*note the NEW Stetson 25 Quality*

*note the Dobbs and Miller going after Borsalino's market share

 

[barrowjh]

Interesting, oil silk sweat barriers in 1943 at no extra charge, and that the most expensive hat in the catalog is Stetson's new 25 quality for $25. No mention of beaver content, guess it was assumed to be substantially beaver. Royal quality for $10, 3X Beaver for $15, and then the new $25 quality. I'm speculating that during this time frame a 3X Beaver meant 1/3rd beaver content in a really fine quality fur blend. A few decades later and a 3X (no mention of beaver) might not have any beaver content at all.

 

[carouselvic]

Interesting, oil silk sweat barriers in 1943 at no extra charge, and that the most expensive hat in the catalog is Stetson's new 25 quality for $25. No mention of beaver content, guess it was assumed to be substantially beaver. Royal quality for $10, 3X Beaver for $15, and then the new $25 quality. I'm speculating that during this time frame a 3X Beaver meant 1/3rd beaver content in a really fine quality fur blend. A few decades later and a 3X (no mention of beaver) might not have any beaver content at all.

Oil Silk Sweat Resister goes back to at least 1941.

It is not the yellow see through type, but the opaque type seen here.

I'd bet dollars to donuts that a 3X from the early 40's has a lot more than just 1/3 beaver. A 5X clear beaver was the tops at this time. In 1938 a 3X Beaver sold for $15, while a clear Nutria of the same size went for $12.50.

 

[barrowjh]

OK, probably should go back and edit my post to say 'at least' 1/3rd. It very likely was a 50% blend or thereabouts. However, you are familiar with Royal Deluxe quality from the early 1950s and that was some really nice fur felt, even though it did not have any beaver content. A Royal Deluxe equivalent fur blended 'up' with 50% by weight beaver content (to result in a 1/3rd of total weight) would have been an awesome fur felt. We've worn out these 'X' permutations so many times; we will never really know.

 

[EggHead]

Some interesting creases there.
I have a Royal Deluxe hat from 50's - really nice felt!
I am surprised that there is no beaver in it.

 

[barrowjh]

I have some Royal Deluxe hats that are really fine fur felt also, but I think the catch is that we have not seen a single advertisement from those times (or very few, if any) that touted any beaver content below the Sovereign level in the fedoras and 3X Beaver level in westerns (and these crossed over sometimes, I have a 3X beaver fedora and had a Sovereign western).

Carouselvic stated that the oil silk sweat barriers were opaque but not yellow - is there a clear break in time for when the oil silk was yellow vs not yellow? I have examples of both, and am not sure if one preceded the other or if the experimentation with different formulas went back and forth at the time because maybe the yellowing didn't show up until later?

 

[carouselvic]

Miller-Stockman Fall & Winter 1972

 

[carouselvic]

Same as above, but expandable

 

[buler]

Thank, Vic. Interesting that they still did the Stetson 100 in 1972.

B

 

[The Wiser Hatter]

Bill those hats have almost as nice a crease as your avatar.

 

[hatophile]

Notice the open crown "Billy Jack" styles. Looks like a Hoss Cartwright style too.

 

[barrowjh]

I see that in 1972 the Stetson 100 ($100) is listed as pure natural beaver, and that the 7X Beaver ($50) is no longer 'clear beaver quality'. Stretching the semantics over a period when inflation was wreaking havoc with price points set in the 1950s. I doubt that the 1970 version Stetson 100 was as nice a felt as those early-to-mid 1950s 7X clear beaver quality hats.

Miller has an open road, Dobbs has an open trail, and Stetson has the open road series of hats, but there is no Resistol equivalent, no San Antonio listed, and none of the hats mention any beaver content except for the Stetson open road series. The type is so small I cannot really read most of them, so maybe I am wrong.

 

[carouselvic]

Spring & Summer 1938

 

[carouselvic]

Spring & Summer 1938