"Wool Felt"

[PhilS]

I recently won a couple of ebay auctions for hats described as "wool felt". I ignored the description because I figured there was no way the hats were actually wool -- one was a Stetson Royal Deluxe and the other was a Dobbs, both likely late 40's, and both from high-end department stores.

After winning, though, I started thinking maybe I was wrong. Could a Stetson Royal Deluxe possibly be made out of wool.

 

[Feraud]

Wool felt did indeed exist back in the day.

 

[PhilS]

I know it existed

my question is whether any Royal Stetson Deluxe's were made out of wool felt, as opposed to the traditional beaver blends.

 

[deanglen]

99.99999999999999999% sure they weren't.



dean

 

[Rick Blaine]

No Way

my question is whether any Royal Stetson Deluxe's were made out of wool felt, as opposed to the traditional beaver blends.

No way under heaven or earth that is possible. Unequivocally. Not. Possible. Period.
I watched that 7.5 Brown Royal Deluxe until the last moment. What a fantastic lid. I was prepared to bid if it didn't go higher than $76 in the final moments. Fortunately you stepped in to give it a respectable final sales price thereby keeping me out of the doghouse w/ Mrs. Blaine... for now.. I can't wait to hear your report upon receipt.

 

[tonyb]

I can't even begin to recount the number of what are almost assuredly fur felt hats I've seen eBay sellers describe as made of wool. Happens all the time.

Now, it's hardly fair to expect your average eBay seller to have anything approaching the level of hat knowledge as your average Fedora Lounger, but still, people ought to be more careful of what they assert. Facts is facts, you know, and guesses is guesses.

I'm nearly as confident as Rick Blaine is that your Royal DeLuxe Stetson ain't made of wool.

 

[PhilS]

Thanks to all, and apologies to Kabuto

I just got the heebie-jeebies after winning the auctions, because I consider it an article of faith that if I win an Ebay auction I paid too much. I'll post pictures of the hats (there was a Dobbs from the same seller) upon receipt.

Here are the auctions in question:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&rd=1&item=230240965740&ssPageName=STRK:MEWN:IT&ih=013

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&rd=1&item=230240969810&ssPageName=STRK:MEWN:IT&ih=013

I may resell these unless they really fit because I just got word that my Art Fawcett is ready to ship, so all this nervous activity can be put behind me.

 

[besdor]

That Royal Delux is 100% fur felt not wool. I cant tell you how many times a customer will come into our store for a hat and not know that hats are made from fur , not wool.






Steven
www.bencrafthats.com

 

[Feraud]

I am sure those are both fur felt.

 

[dhermann1]

Bah, homburg!

It also looks like they have a homburg misidentified as a fedora. This is certainly not a surprise. If few people know what a fedora is, far fewer know what a homburg is.

 

[PhilS]

I thought it might be a homburg too

although the brim did look a little big. We'll see.

 

[tonyb]

Ain't it the truth, dhermann1. I'm still trying to figure out just what a "bucket hat" is. I've seen so many eBay sellers so list any open-crown hat that I've concluded they're taking their cues from each other.

But this is often how the real bargains come our way, no? I recently scored a very clean vintage rollup Borsalino, complete with the triangular travel box, for the $10 minimum bid. This hat was so well hidden by the seller that it's a wonder I stumbled across it at all. Among the factual errors in the listing was (you guessed it) that it was made of wool.

 

[tonyb]

Yeah, I just looked at those listing you posted, Phil. That Dobbs is indeed a homburg. Looks like a nice one, though. As others here have said many times before -- you may not think of yourself as a homburg-wearin' kinda guy, but give a good one a chance to grow on you and you just may start thinkin' otherwise. Me, I'd be more than happy to have that lid in my collection. It would be hard to find its rival in a new hat for any kind of money.

 

[PhilS]

Report on Dobbs Homburg and Royal Stetson

Well, these aren't wool, that's for sure. These are both top-of-the line hats, one from Young's Dept. Store in NYC and the other from Boyd's in St. Louis, and they are in immaculate, near-mint condition. There is no obvious sign that they were ever worn, and I doubt either one was worn more than a couple of times. The boxes are also terrific, although 60 years has taken some toll on them.

These were an experiment in up-sizing from 7 3/8 to 7 1/2 to accommodate my long oval, but the Stetson was already a long-oval besides being a size bigger than normal. So, although it looks fine, I am swimming in it and need to figure out how to shrink the band if I am to keep it. The Homburg fits fine, but may take me some getting used to. It's a wider brim than Homburgs have today.

I am getting my Art Fawcett tomorrow. Yippee!

 

[MAB1]

SCORE!

Sounds like you hit bigtime.

Shrink it, or shim it or both.

You just caught a bif fish.