Post the pins on your fedoras..

How do you attach one to your hat? Does the pin pierce the ribbon/bow or do you slip it in behind the ribbon? Please post a picture if you can.

 

Those are quite unusual for hat pins, gennerally the pin is shorter and runs width wise......
What is the length of those, are you sure they are not tie or lapel pins?
Really cool in any event!
M

 

I usually push the pin through the back of the bow knot. Lapel stick pins are longer (about 1 1/2") to stay stable in the material of a suit. I clip them off at about 3/4" so they just slide into the bow material far enough to hold. I don't have any images of this process, I should take some... I have kept a few of the long pins intact and slide them diagonally through the back of the bow and put a keeper on the end. The Mercedes 500,000 KM pin is mounted this way.

 

Added a couple of images The 500K stick pin through a bow in my Borsalino Bismutto Homburg. The clipped stick pins used in bows.

 

Mike, thanks. I've never seen Tonak pins before and I wonder if they were actually intended as a hat pin. The others I have all came with a hat.

 

I'm not really sure, Mark. It could well be that they are not intended as hat pins at all. Pins as a collectable and advertising giveaway were hugely popular here in the fifties and sixties (I remember collecting them as a kid). Not intended as a lapel pin I think: Tonak did not have a clothing line like some of the Italian hat brands did.

 

Lapel pins (at least over here) are not necessarily associated with clothing lines, just product advertising giveaways. Often worn by salesmen to advertise their brand. I have lapel pins from varied product lines including Fountain Pens, Oil Products, papers goods etc. They also had no clothing lines......
M

 

True enough. Perhaps I'm overthinking this. The collectable pins were just that: advertising giveaways; they were never worn at all.

 

Your Tonak pins are true lapel pins. The long sharp pin is meant to pierce the material on a suit lapel and end up with the logo showing. Some pins have the clasp and pin type backing, they do the same thing. These type do not hang well on a hat ribbon IMHO. I have a couple on some hats, but I don't like the way they lay.

This pin is from about 1915-1920 for the Oregon Agricultural College (my guess on the provenance, could be Ohio or Oklahoma also). It sticks out a little too much to lie flat against the 1920s Stetson Derby bow.

 

Redfokker,

Thanks, for the photos. I like all of your pin ideas.

I don't know if you saw the photos I posted in this thread last week, but I wonder, what you think of my ideas of adapting coins, old jewelry, buttons and other found objects as hat pins? I know they aren't traditional pins, but I think there are many cool objects that can work as adornments.

I am thinking about opening up an online hat pin shop and would appreciate your thoughts.

Jerry

 

I would be a customer. You know that pins on vintage hats around here are rare. I think there are only a few of us that adorn our hats. Vintage pins are always something people will buy, even reproductions. As far as a "shop" is concerned, there is a lot to getting one up and running. I would try to test the waters with a dedicated Etsy page, probably would go over well. Keep me informed.

 

PLUS 1!!!!
M

 

Regardless of their intended purpose....they are really, really COOL!!!!!
M

 

I'd be interested!
pat----

 

Here's a pin I made, but have a weird neurosis about actually putting into my hat.



Quick backstory: this is my Black Sheep Hat Works custom, based on a 1920's Stetson Star owned by Alan. I opted to add Bob's "Halo + 1" edge treatment which makes a sort of pseudo-binding on the edge with a concentric stitch. So in my head, this went from the Stetson Star, to the Black Sheep Hat Works Shooting Star.

The pin is an old lapel pin I found lying around the flower shop (lots of old stuff lying around the flower shop). Broke off the cheesy heart shape on top, and glued on a little piece of meteorite. Meteorite bits aren't actually that hard to find, especially if you're only looking for a small bit. I got a little bag of space rocks from Ebay, sourced from the Campo del Cielo meteorite in Argentina.

Maybe one day I'll actually stick it in the ribbon.

 

New Shady Oaks w/ matching pin. Never seen that one before.

 

Thank you. My intent is not vintage hats, but on every day hat wearing crowd.

Here's another idea. The fly is attached with a straight pin through the ribbon not with a barbed hook as worn on fishing hats.

What do you think?

 

Thinking about making a pin of this guy...

 

That will get attention.

 

If Egyptians can decorate with a scarab.............you have the right to out do them!
M