Michaelson is correct. I bought a hat box from Swaine Adeney just two years ago for a HJ that Steve had made for me. The address on the hat box also read Bond Street. What you have to remember is that all these hats are factory made, so often stock retaining old address details will still be for sal...

DR, I can ask if it was Lock since I'll be going there to buy my wife a cloche hat for up coming birthday. I've been there pleanty of times and have seen a lot of their head prints from those that have had bowlers and topper made (Chaplin, Churchill, Larry Hagman, Bob Hope - a lot of names). Their v...

Oscar Wilde wrote, "fashion is what one wears oneself. What is unfashionable is what everyone else wears."

The woman is a muppet.

Is that a round oval there?

That's a gorgeous hat Steve, a colour I'm craving at the moment. I have a similar 40's Knox I bagged on eBay, but with a 2" brim...a raw edge, or so I belived at the time of purchase. When I got it, the sweat read custom edge...meaning it once had a cav edge which was cut off!! Blasphemy! Anywa...

That's a corker of a hat Mitch. Looks very soft - did you have to work that in or was it already that limber?

Ian, mate, that hat looks fantastic. I'm calling John this weekend to talk over specs for a new hat...another non-Indy, but this guy is magic with lids.

Congrats fella.

ROSS sounds good to me. For me it's not only the taper, but anyone else find that even wearing the hat without a turn warps the brim? Mine tends to dip at the back to a point. I've had to have all my hats converted to round ovals because of that.

Smashing!! Are you only making standard ovals at the moment?

The fella at Hornets confirmed that it was north of England where Christies hats are made, adding that Locks and Bates have their hats made there too. Now I don't know how much of that is actually true, but I will pop into Bates (they've moved from their old premises, which had a lot of charm, and a...

I think we've got ourselves a round headed club.

You've got a round oval head shape. I have the same problem, so for me, if I want a straight sided hat it has to be custom made. I know Marc has round oval blocks, John Penman made me a hat with knowledge that I have a round oval head and it worked a treat. And Steve, bless him, went through so much...

Cheers folks, its a lovely hat. He even managed to make the hat not distort on my round oval head! Tex, I'll keep that in mind for a visit. I'm thinking of badgering John to make me the dress hat worn by Clyde Barrow...a camel fedora. Don't know if you're familiar with it. Ian, The Fast Show? Johnny...

Hello folks, a quick post to praise the works Mr John Penman. I'm someone who has had a lifelong fascination with history (so much so that after 5 years in IT and Finance I went back in the evenings to study for a BA then an MA in Classical Civilisations and some Archaeology), I collect antiquities ...

Hello folks, a quick post to praise the works Mr John Penman. I'm someone who has had a lifelong fascination with history (so much so that after 5 years in IT and Finance I went back in the evenings to study for a BA then an MA in Classical Civilisations and some Archaeology), I collect antiquities ...

Hornets is about a minutes walk from where I get my haircut, so I tend to pop in everytime I'm there. On one occasion the fella in the shop also mentioned hats being made in the UK - I think he said north England, will ask him again on my next visit. In south London there is an old firm that refurbi...

I checked under my liner, and it too is blank under the decal.

I saw a video similar to this last year at the V&A museum in Knightsbridge when they had an exhibition of hats through the ages. Makes you cringe to think what happened to a lot of vintage hats though! Shows why it is so difficult sourcing British hats from that age - what you mostly find here a...

You're right there Steve, the HJ I got recently, a tan fedora with a 1" gold ribbon seems to date to the late 80's early 90's and is quite stiff. What I find intriguing is that the liner is sewn in, the sweatband is sewn in about 1/4" above the brimbreak and the grosgrain stitching is bare...

The one seen with the Burgundy crest is a Herbert Johnson. Their pentagon crest was used from very late 80's through to the 90's. As Steve pointed out, the Blue crest hat would have been older stock which probably had their old address on it. This would suggest that the Herbert Johnson had moved pre...

Morning Gents, I normally hang about at the Real Life Archaeology section, but don't half enjoy reading through the posts here. Steve, I could not have got anywhere in getting the dates without you lettiing me know the address details. On the dates, Nicky said the only approx date was the '85 one, t...