Anyone curious as to what a regularly worn 3-year old AB looks like with nary a reblock or professional cleaning??? Well, lemme tell you - It looks simply amazing. This fine hat, bashed in the Cairo style, by Steve's deft hands, is going on four years old! I've NEVER had a hat in the 20 years of wearing fedoras last that long without a complaint! No shrinkage, no taper, perfect color fade!
Although many of these pictures appear the same at a glance, I was trying to photograph it under subtly different lighting conditions and angles as I well know how you guys can glean intricate details from even the slightest shift in position. Sorry, no back shots because I was having to take these myself and the back shots just weren't working. Below are two preview pics with a link to the master page that has tons of pictures.
Thanks guys - means a lot coming from all of you. The guys on COW are the toughest critics. If you can please them, most likely everyone will be impressed.
And yes, Strider, you're right - I habitually sat on this hat many times in the first year of its life - deliberately so it would get that look - I stopped later on because I had gotten the look I wanted and did not want to overstress the front pinch.
Coronado - the whip is made by a fine gentleman and whipmaker in Georgia named Rhett Kelley who specializes in nylon bullwhips. Did I mention he's also a class act to boot?
The size of this hat was originally a 7 1/2 (59) but even though I wore a Fed in that size, Steve and I quickly discovered his 7 1/2 was too large. I believe this hat was remade into a 7 3/8 as it was immediately deconstructed and reblocked by the master to the proper size. That was a real wait - I got my AB only to have to turn the hat back to the post again for resizing - Of course, back then wait times were mere days...
