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Pre 1940s Stetson Westerns

Dinerman

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Post them here.

I'll start out with this one, which is currently in Maryland, though I haven't seen it in person yet.

Wide brim with curl. Tall crown with a deep crease.
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Lighter colored felt with intentionally frayed bow and twisted knot.
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No. 1 Quality. Textured sweatband.
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Dinerman

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IMG_0505.jpg

Inside of the hat. Green liner. Textured sweatband. Appears it might have had a stampede string at some point.

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Clear Nutria John B. Stetson Company Philadelphia

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Fur Felt Hat Made in the USA

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John S. Hartman & Son
Hatters
87 New Bond Street
Established 1850

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Deep, slanted telescope crease. It seems from the hats I've seen and the dirt lines on hats I've seen recreased on ebay that this deep telescope crease was popular on this style of high crowned wide brimmed cowboy hat. The tall exaggerated gus crease /tom mix crease seems to be something more of a caricature of movie hats than most people actually did. But try telling that to a cowboy action shooter.

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High Crowned hat

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Dinerman

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Low crown with evidence of previous creases. When I got it it was creased with a modern cattleman's crease, but that doesn't really work or provide any space for a head on a hat with a crown this low. So I steamed it open. From the way it's stained and dented, I don't believe that the cattleman's was what it was worn as for most of it's life. Shallow front pinches look to be more likely. Also note colors and bow-work, which are consistent with other No.1 quality hats already in this thread.
IMG_1014.jpg


Gold foil 1930s size tag. These seem to have been phased out around 1940. The fonts are different from the manila tags used later, as are the the materials, though the shape is the same. Though later Canadian hats also used foil tags, they are of a different kind. NRA tag dates this hat to between 1933 and 1935.
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Bow-work. Intentionally frayed trailing edge. Twisted bow.
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Dinerman

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Stetson Standard Quality.
A very thin, lightweight yet stiff felt.

IMG_3565.jpg


IMG_3564.jpg


Super deep, crisp blind embossed Stetson logo.
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Liner tip sticker with early logo.
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Blue sweatband bow. This one also has a gold foil size tag, though it fell off the hat and safely put away.
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IMG_3554.jpg
 

Dinerman

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Definitely a wild color on this one. The color in the first picture is accurate. The felt is also different from the other No. 1 quality hats. Thinner, more of a dress weight.

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Inside of hat showing red piped liner.
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Dinerman

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From Jimmy the Lid

jimmy the lid said:
When I opened the box and took out this hat, I thought there must have been some mistake. It is absolutely jet black and looks as if it was made earlier this month and shipped to me by a custom hatter. No kidding, it looks like an absolutely brand new hat. So much so, in fact, that I thought that someone had simply taken an old sweat and sewn it into a new hat. Honestly, I was bummed -- until I discovered the Stetson tags under the sweat, one of which has a serial number that matches the serial number stamped on the back of the sweat!

The felt, as previously mentioned, is jet black. It is hard to convey this in photographs, but the first photo below, taken with flash, gives a very good sense of how this hat looks in daylight, as well. There is a very small hole in the curl at the very front of the hat -- but, other than that, the felt is in mint condition. It is amazingly malleable -- just like clay in terms of taking any shape that is squeezed into it. It is also extremely dense and smooth, but still fairly lightweight. Given what must be this hat's age, I'm wondering whether this felt was made using mercury, and whether the density and smoothness is a result of this process.

The curled brim on this one is 3". Open crown height is 5 1/2". The sweat is actually in amazing condition -- still extremely supple. It is taped at the back seam.

I would love to hear from those who might have an idea as to dating this one. My reading in the Snyder Stetson book suggests a time frame anywhere from 1900 through the 1920's, but I don't have enough info to really pin this down.

In any event, I thought it would be worth documenting this one fairly thoroughly...

Cheers,
JtL

Black.jpg


OpenCrown-30.jpg


Sweat-5.jpg


Logo-2.jpg


HillHart.jpg


SweatBack.jpg


SweatSerial.jpg


Tags-1.jpg


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Side.jpg
 

Dinerman

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From Douglas
DOUGLAS said:
This is buy far my favorite hat.The shape,style and the color for me can not be bested. I would give great hats away for another one like this in my size. I don't even wear it that much any more in fear of damage. I got this at a flea market all crumpled up. I wish I new what type it is. I've heard it called the "GIANT" but I can't be sure. Has anyone seen this type?

3477356%3B3%7Ffp348%3Enu%3D3273%3E936%3E9%3C5%3EWSNRCG%3D323399%3B888687nu0mrj

3477356%3B3%7Ffp353%3Enu%3D3273%3E936%3E9%3C5%3EWSNRCG%3D323399%3B876598nu0mrj

3477356%3B3%7Ffp347%3Enu%3D3273%3E936%3E9%3C5%3EWSNRCG%3D323399%3B88868%3Anu0mrj

3477356%3B3%7Ffp349%3Enu%3D3273%3E936%3E9%3C5%3EWSNRCG%3D323399%3B87659%3Bnu0mrj

3477356%3B3%7Ffp347%3Enu%3D3273%3E936%3E9%3C5%3EWSNRCG%3D323399%3B8765%3A3nu0mrj

3477356%3B3%7Ffp347%3Enu%3D3273%3E936%3E9%3C5%3EWSNRCG%3D323399%3B876596nu0mrj

3477356%3B3%7Ffp347%3Enu%3D3273%3E936%3E9%3C5%3EWSNRCG%3D323399%3B88868%3Cnu0mrj

3477356%3B3%7Ffp34%3B%3Enu%3D3273%3E936%3E9%3C5%3EWSNRCG%3D323399%3B888684nu0mrj

349653C43A57Ffp3473Enu3D32733E93-1.jpg

DSCN3626.jpg
 

Dinerman

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From Feltfan
feltfan said:
248790393_9e3c711873.jpg


In that first picture you can see the horsehair band and the
hole in the front of the crown where I removed (possibly temporarily)
a pin that was in the hat.

About that horsehair band... it sits on top of a tooled leather
band with what appears to be a silver buckle:

248790446_3b50f1c3c8.jpg


Here's the other side:

248790471_f298ef80c9.jpg


Here is a side view:

248790509_6e97ea3b3f.jpg


In those last two pictures, you can see the box in arrived in.
Appears to be the original box?

Top view:

248790570_c3e942d18c.jpg


Back view:

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Store stamp on the sweat band:

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Repeated on the front of the sweat:

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And here's where it gets really interesting:

248790652_76a2757033.jpg


Yep, "clear nutria". The logo should look familiar.
I have searched the site for information on clear nutria, but haven't
come up with much. In one post Art says he read it was the most
expensive felt Stetson ever sold. Jamespowers says he has one
(no big surprise there!) and posts some "before" pictures here:

http://www.thefedoralounge.com/showthread.php?t=2082&page=2
 

Dinerman

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From Jamespowers
Here is my latest. It doesn't look like much but I have a few ideas for it that will make it look like a very cool hat. That and it just happens to be quite old and a Clear Nutria John B. Stetson. :clap
Here we go:

StetsonNutria1.jpg


StetsonNutria2.jpg
 

Dinerman

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From PabloElFlamenco
PabloElFlamenco said:
Sorry if some of the "macro" pictures are not ideal, also the gilt lettring of the fuchsia liner does not photograph clearly... but gives a good idea of what this hat is all about.

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Garrett

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a BIG thankyou to Dinerman for this great thread - and to scott for suggesting it :eusa_clap :eusa_clap :eusa_clap
 

Dinerman

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From ScottF
ScottF said:
Here's a recent pick-up. Felt's almost perfect, as is the leather in the sweatband, but the sweatbands' halfway unstitched. Third pic shows the bash it came with, which I'll leave as-is. The bottom left sweatband pic is stamped "No.1 Gold", which I found interesting - probably some of them said "No.1 Silver", etc.

StetsNo1SideUnB2.jpg


StetsNo1TopUnB.jpg


StetsNo1FrontBash.jpg


StetsNo1Sweatdtls.jpg


StetsNo1Tags.jpg
[/QUOTE]
 

Dinerman

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Messages
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Location
Bozeman, MT
RobFedoraField said:
you popped out that pork pie crease! you're a braver man than I

Oh it's back in, I just wanted to see just how high that crown was. Turns out mighty high. It's a deeeeeep porkpie.
 

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