I snagged this vintage Stetson fedora a few days ago. I am hoping someone here can help me out with dating it and possibly getting a rough idea of the value..I do know that the hatters union mark changed in the early 80's (83 ??) . I also found out that the store it came from closed in 1977. I managed to find one just like it that sold at an auction, but there was no info on the hat listed anymore. It came with a full feather hatband, that I am pretty certis not the original band... the one I did manage to find had a wide leather band with a sort of "buckle" looking attachment on the side. (Again, I've only been able to find one example, and there were very few pics) I do know that "the Sovereign" dictates the quality of fabric, but there are no markings as to the "style" name...and the original tag that could have given me that info is obviously gone. Anybody have any knowledge?
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Need help dating/valuing vintage Stetson fedora, please!
- Thread starter tlw
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jlee562
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As a general rule, we don't do valuations. The primary function of TFL is not appraisals.
Sovereign was a higher grade of felt, above Royal and Royal Dlx (though at various points, they have not all been in simultaneous use). This hat looks like it has a suede finish, hence the higher designation. So one "pro" to your hat is that suede finish is not really done anymore. Hatco did do a run of suede Stratoliners a few years back, but the finish was not like this.
The major red flag with valuation though, is the lack of a ribbon. Even if we had a period appropriate catalog, if there was another model with similar dimensions, but a different ribbon treatment, there's really no telling which it is. The black sweat band is more common in the 70's, so well outside of the golden era of hats. You have a nice hat body that is ready for you to customize to your own style. Though it's not the kind of collectable hat that's going to get you a pay day.
Sovereign was a higher grade of felt, above Royal and Royal Dlx (though at various points, they have not all been in simultaneous use). This hat looks like it has a suede finish, hence the higher designation. So one "pro" to your hat is that suede finish is not really done anymore. Hatco did do a run of suede Stratoliners a few years back, but the finish was not like this.
The major red flag with valuation though, is the lack of a ribbon. Even if we had a period appropriate catalog, if there was another model with similar dimensions, but a different ribbon treatment, there's really no telling which it is. The black sweat band is more common in the 70's, so well outside of the golden era of hats. You have a nice hat body that is ready for you to customize to your own style. Though it's not the kind of collectable hat that's going to get you a pay day.
