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The Dobbs Diner...

viclip

Practically Family
Messages
571
Location
Canada
Your generous contribution of what must have been a labour of love, will be greatly appreciated by hat fanciers for years to come...thanks!
 

Purplesage

One Too Many
Messages
1,995
Location
Boulder, CO
Circa 30s Dobbs

Circa 30s Dobbs with 2 1/4" snap-down brim with grosgrain trim and a 5 3/4" crown depth. Leather sweatband with taped seam. The hat is in excellent shape short of a little foxing on the linger.

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Purplesage

One Too Many
Messages
1,995
Location
Boulder, CO
Dobbs Westward

I've had this Westward for a while, just haven't added it to this thread. The crown tip is a vinyl type material that I haven't seen on a Dobbs before. Probably serves the same purpose as the plastic crown tip liner cover.


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Purplesage

One Too Many
Messages
1,995
Location
Boulder, CO
Dobbs Rainbow

Been looking for a Dobbs Rainbow and finally came across this brown heather. It has a 2 1/2" brim with thin underwent edge and a 5 1/2" crown depth. I really like the ribbon on this one as well. Looks like something out of an old Field and Stream magazine.


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Cally

New in Town
Messages
11
Location
ottawa canada
Dobbs Game Bird...

I have a beautiful Dobbs hat, the stamp in brim says Dobbs Game Bird Made in Canada Under License. Who was making them in Canada? Does this help me date the hat? It also has a duplicating number under the band

thanks

Beth
 

Brad Bowers

I'll Lock Up
Messages
4,187
Been looking for a Dobbs Rainbow and finally came across this brown heather. It has a 2 1/2" brim with thin underwent edge and a 5 1/2" crown depth. I really like the ribbon on this one as well. Looks like something out of an old Field and Stream magazine.


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Interesting find, Purplesage! The concealed stitch underwelt looks so much like a Guild Edge from the top. I've been trying to date the hat, since the Rainbows (and Game Birds and Field & Streams) changed every year with different hatbands and brim edge treatments. I know it's not through 1953 from the ads I have, and in 1958 the Rainbow featured a low telescope crown; the lower crown carried on into the 1960s when they also became narrow-brimmed. I haven't yet found ads for 1954, '55, '56, or '57, but I'm pretty sure it's one of those years.

Brad
 

Brad Bowers

I'll Lock Up
Messages
4,187
I have a beautiful Dobbs hat, the stamp in brim says Dobbs Game Bird Made in Canada Under License. Who was making them in Canada? Does this help me date the hat? It also has a duplicating number under the band

thanks

Beth

Beth,

I think Biltmore in Canada had the license to manufacture Dobbs and the other Hat Corporation of America brands, but somebody please correct me if I'm wrong. I think I have information somewhere regarding HCA's international licensing, but the Dobbs hats I've seen from Canada were from the 1950s and 1960s.

Brad
 

Purplesage

One Too Many
Messages
1,995
Location
Boulder, CO
I was also looking for an ad featuring a similar Rainbow. I bought it because I liked the dimensions. The crown is high and untapered and the the 2 1/2 brim goes well with it as well. It does look like a guild edge from the top. it holds a tight pinch real nice. It has a nice casual look to it. My guess would be from the mid to early 50s since the ones I've seen ads for in the mid to late 60s seems to have a smaller brim and and crown. Can you tell anything from the size tag as far as when I might have been made. It looks like the regular HCA manufacturers tag to me. How would you be able to tell a Dobbs hat made by Biltmore?
 

Brad Bowers

I'll Lock Up
Messages
4,187
On the Rainbow, The size tag and factory label only tells us it's 1950s, nothing narrower than that.

As for Beth's Game Bird and other HCA hats made outside of the USA, the 1950s and '60s HCA hats made in Canada and West Germany all say "Made Under License" on the sweatband. I can't recall if there are factory labels that tell which company made them, though.

Brad
 
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Shaka

New in Town
Messages
15
Location
Boulder City, Nv
Found this in a shop next to my house. I do not know how to tell how old it is. can someone please give a new lounger a hand

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