Lee Keppler 100% Beaver Indy Fedora

[Indiana G]

Bink wrote:

I know the one Jake is wearing is his own hat, and not a Keppler, but I know for certain the gray one being held is. I do know that these gents were specifically looking at your hats at that moment. I hope you post pictures soon, Lee, because when I handled your 100% beaver, I did see noticeable taper in that specific hat. The felt is obviously great, but the blocking wasn't as nice as your other hats. If this one was a fluke, you owe it to yourself to post more pictures of these.

bink.....allow me to speculate from the photo posted in the other thread....as i was not there. it looks to me that the hat that jake is holding is bashed too deep in the center creating a taper. perhaps that was what you saw. again, i'm going off photos so please correct me if i am wrong. i know that you sir, can definitely spot a tapered block vs. too deep of a center crease.

i was discussing lee's new beaver offering with the man himself and he assures me that it is indeed from the same block that his fur blend hats are coming from. examples can be found on this thread:

viewtopic.php?t=33741&postdays=0&postorder=asc&start=50

as you can see, there is no taper on his initial blended fur felt offering.

here is a camera pic of his latest beaver offering:



though it is not of the greatest quality, i can't find taper there either in the 2D sense. i'm sure this latest hat will be proven to be a home run soon......we just got to get some better pictures to show the community.

cheers,


G

[binkmeisterRick]

Glad you started this post, G. ;-)

First of all, let me make it absolutely clear that I am in no way associated with any vendor, nor do I have any stakes or claims in any product. I base 99.999% of my opinions based off direct experience with a piece of gear, whether by owning it, or handling it in person. So no conspiracy theories, please. ;-)

Let me also say that my comment in that thread was not based off the photo I posted, rather, it was based upon up close and personal handling of the hat in question while talking one on one with Lee who was standing right next to me at the time. He mentioned it was the same felt as the AB on my head at the time, which I gladly agreed with. It was Winchester felt which matched the color of my AB. It was a very nice hat.

The only reason I posted that photo is because it was the only photo that I have of one of his hats during the summit. I was making my initial comments on the gray hat (which is obviously one of Lee's) which I said was a beautiful hat. The grays are quite lovely in color and look good, too. I have no idea whether the hat held in the middle was a Keppler and said as much. I still don't know.

Lee only had one 100% beaver hat with him that day. (I only saw one displayed, anyway.) His blend hats, both brown and gray, looked good and I know he sold several hats that day. When I examined the 100% beaver on hand, I saw what I, in my opinion, considered noticeable taper in that specific hat. I didn't have other photos next to me to compare, nor was there another Keppler beaver hat I could compare it to.

I stated that I hoped it was a fluke. That is why I want to see other folks post pictures. I don't know if it was how the center dent was or whatever, but I was asked my honest opinion of the hat, so I stated it. Nothing more.

[DR Ulloa]

That photos is very promising. I think the proportions are a little exaggerated, but a very nice altogether even in that poor quality photo. I am excited to see where this hat goes and would love to see some higher resoltion and better lit photos.

Dave