Chris, that is an awesome display and what a fantastic fedora to cap it off with! (And with great pictures to boot.) Thanks for the look, and congrats on completing your Indy display.
Dutch_jones wrote:To be honest the Christy's looked better.... this one looks more like an AB than a Raiders hat. Just my opinion.
Sorry, Dutch. No Christy's, no matter how expertly styled will mask the fact that it's simply an inferior hat compared to a Mags HJ built by Steve. The Christies hat has the wrong block shape, is mechanically sewn together, has a god awful looking ribbon and bow, and the felt is poorly finished. Frankly, I'm amazed at all the adoration given to this inferior hat on COW of all places. The Christies hat is a SAB HJ without the HJ name, just as crappy a hat as the SAB HJ. One that will taper up and can't be reblocked because that machine stitched sweat will cause that brim to rip off the hat when it's pulled over the block. If this hat looks like an AB than that’s
right! With all the research Steve and Marc have put into getting the blocks right alone, it should. And for a collector of Chris' status, nothing short of an exact replica of Harrison Ford's original Raider's hat will do. That hat is a Magnoli Herbert Johnson fedora made by AdventureBilt.
jones the whip wrote:Chris,
Just out of curiosity, how come you bought your HJ from Magnoli and not Herbert Johnson (Swaine Adeney Brigg) themselves, who dispatch from Bar Hill near Cambridge about an hour from where you live?
After all, it's where Magnoli, Todd's etc acquire their HJ's.
I ordered mine about six months ago and as I live quite close to Cambridge I actually went to the HJ warehouse to pick it up.
Good question. The answer is that a Herbert Johnson hat made by SAB, is simply not the same hat as what they provided Harrison Ford with all those years ago. Over time they lost the block, went with a cheaper felt, lost the proper ribbon, and basically forgot how to make a hat like Indiana Jones' hat. That's one of the reasons why it's an AdventureBilt on Harrison's head this time around instead of a HJ. As for being where "Magnoli, Todd's etc acquire their HJ's" that is true, but not the whole story. Todd acquires finished Poet hats (open crown) from them and then reshapes them. Steve on the other hand, gets unfinished Poet hat bodies, liners, and sweat bands from them. He then repounces the felt to a better finish stabilizing the felt against premature taper, adds better weather proofing, blocks (not reblocks, but blocks a fresh body) on his Raiders block, hand sews in the sweatband, turns the hat properly (if you wish) tacks on the original vintage ribbon and bow (that neither HJ, Todd nor Christies has,
only Steve and Mark
and 
: 
have sourced and use the proper vintage ribbon), and finally tack in the original HJ liner with an old style burgundy and gold label (currently HJ use just a gold script of their name on a plain white liner). These steps and more, make the Magnoli Herbert Johnson Fedora the closest truly accurate replica of the hat worn by Harrison Ford in Raiders of the Lost Ark. Even the AdventureBilt is a close second in complete screen accuracy as it is made of beaver and not rabbit.
Cheers!
Johnny
...Can you explain? It looks dead on Raiders to me.
I dont think there is much profit for Chris and the bash is fantastic.
