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What hat are you wearing today?
Today I voted in my 11th presidential election. I’ve picked the winner only four times in the past ten contests. Hoping to improve my polling record today. This old Stetson 13 Star has really been around the block… my oldest from the venerable Philadelphia factory. It might have gone out to vote for Woodrow Wilson. The political bling is of a more recent vintage.
Hawes Von Gal was a major name in mens hats during the first decade of the 20th century. The company ran into financial trouble in 1913 and all but disappeared shortly after. You can find their advertisements on line,
but a hat specimen is a rare find… and a soft hat, rarer still. Here is a beautiful longhair Hawes soft felt hat in almost mint condition. Enjoy the journey.
The ribbon is soft silk rather than rayon.
Inside, the materials, finishing and imprints are finely crafted.
A vacant lot now stands where the John F. Fortune store once stood.
Quite the bargain at $2.95.
You can find some excellent research on Hawes Von Gal posted to this discussion on the Fedora Lounge.
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What space helmet are you wearing today?
Had visitors this morning. They were curious to see my collection of vintage space helmets and were taken with this Knox Twenty. I tried to steer them towards some depression era Borsalinos but they were stuck in a 1950s time warp. I guess heavy felt offers good protection for space travel.
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When Nicolaus Copernicus developed his revolutionary thoughts on a heliocentric universe, I wonder if he imagined how all who would flock to his support?
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What hat are you wearing today?
We have a break from the oppressive heat today and I felt like a felt. This is the iconic Stetson Stratoliner. It was introduced shortly before WWII and is still made (in name, if not in spirit) by the company that owns the Stetson brand today. I have three… two earlier examples from the 1940s that are unlined and very light in weight and this somewhat more substantial version with a mid 1950s vintage, like me.
This classic dress western style hat is named for the Boeing model 307 Stratoliner - the first commercial airplane to have a pressurized cabin. Boeing made only ten of these planes. Stetson sold the Strat was a very cool little piece of airplane bling. But this pin (which appears to be the version that came with the hat originally) is not the four engine Stratoliner - rather a two engine TWA prop that appears to be a DC-3.
Why the discrepancy?… I don’t have the answer. But if you have a love for mid 20th C. American hats, you need one of these.
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What hat are you wearing today?
Here is a crazy sun wizard underneath his invisibility cloak… he thinks nobody can see him.
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What hat are you wearing today?
It would be an early 20th C. straw boater. I just finished replacing the ribbon on this one (a really tall brown job that was way off the golden ratio and disintegrating to boot) with a nice striped piece of grosgrain from a stingy brimmed straw that I never wear. I rather like it.
Here are a few additional pictures of this rustic old beauty.
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What hat are you wearing today?
Yesterday was Straw Hat Day… the day when tradition has it we shift from felt to straw. I’m just not ready yet. I’ve only mowed the lawn twice. So I pulled out a Borsalino featherweight. This 1950s fur felt beauty is from Salvatore Balbi’s in Napoli. Many of the vintage Borso featherweights seem to have been sold at this hat shop. It weighs 2.5 ounces… light as a feather and lighter than many of my panamas. Straw hat?… maybe next week.
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What hat are you wearing today?
It was my birthday and I chose an old Stetson… 1920s, perhaps earlier. Beautiful old hats make me feel young.
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Not for bad guys only
Early 1930s Stetson No. 1 Quality and a wonderful quality it was. 80 years and barely showing its age… just a bit of hattitude.
