Club Obi Wan

I haven't seen anyone post a picture of an Indy Mercury in a while, so I took a few of mine to post here. in my opinion its still the best hat compared to the HJ, regular PB, etc...

pardon my ignorance, but i've never heard of mercury before...other than the liquid metal and the planet....and the automobile.....

who are they and do they still make hats?

I'm not sure of mercury as a brand, but up until about the '40s, if memory serves me correctly, hatters used liquid mercury in the making of hats. Despite the issues discovered from handling mercury (yes, this is where "mad as a hatter" comes from) something about using mercury in the felting process resulted in hats which wouldn't taper. I don't think it was done because of a tapering issue, rather, it's a happy "side effect" of the process. Mercury felts are really something. I have a couple of hats with this kind of felt and they are amazing. Nothing today compares to these hats. I was also lucky enough to be in the right place at the right time when Fedora got a handful of vintage unused mercury hat bodies a couple years ago. My "vintage mercury AB" is my favorite hat.

Hey Pawn, your pic links aren't working.

Indiana G wrote:pardon my ignorance, but i've never heard of mercury before...other than the liquid metal and the planet....and the automobile.....

who are they and do they still make hats?

You forgot the original Mercury... the god.

I always wondered what the mercury was used for in hats. I'd like to see those pics if you can fix the links.

Soory, first time posting pics on site...

Oooh, I want one. Where'd you come across it? What's the story?

He probably got one of the ones that Fedora had. They were made in like the 1920's and they have all been sold.

Joe jr. from Peterbros. found six vintage mercury nitrate treated rawbodies from the 20's or 30's a couple of years ago. He made one for himself and it turned out to be extremely floppy. Something that was newly discovered to be s.a. back then from Rundquist. He put the other five up for sale for 1200 bucks and Pyroxene got one of them as time went by.

Years later, Steve was able to get a handfull of mercury nitrate treated rawbodies as well and made a very limited run of the now famous vintage ABs from them. I own on of these myself and it has served be very well through the years.

The mercury nitrate was used to raise the scales / barbs on the single furs, to make them interlock better with each other and to get a smother finish. It was mainly used on rabbit and hare felt, as it really isn't necesarry on beaver fur. But sometimes it was used on beaver nontheless. What you get is a more luxurious feeling on the hat, but the mercury nitrate is not the reason for a hat to be taper resistant. Since it was forbidden to use mercury nitrate in the 40's (as Bink pointed out, the mad hatter deseas comes from the mercury fumes penetrating the brain), these hats are at least 60 years old by now. The felt is just as dead as the "grey-hat-horse" and won't felt any tighter, no matter how much water you throw on it. It's just dead.

New felt will eventually shrink back to it's original cone shape, thereby causing taper, if not aged artificially. The artificial agin however will only speed up the natural process, that the felt is going through anyway. If you'd take a brand new beaver fur felt rawbody and put it asside for 60 years plus, it'll be just as dead as the current vintage felt is nowadays. And again people will claim, that such a felt isn't made anymore

Regards,

Marc

Marc wrote:Joe jr. from Peterbros. found six vintage mercury nitrate treated rawbodies from the 20's or 30's a couple of years ago. He made one for himself and it turned out to be extremely floppy. Something that was newly discovered to be s.a. back then from Rundquist. He put the other five up for sale for 1200 bucks and Pyroxene got one of them as time went by.

Years later, Steve was able to get a handfull of mercury nitrate treated rawbodies as well and made a very limited run of the now famous vintage ABs from them. I own on of these myself and it has served be very well through the years.

The mercury nitrate was used to raise the scales / barbs on the single furs, to make them interlock better with each other and to get a smother finish. It was mainly used on rabbit and hare felt, as it really isn't necesarry on beaver fur. But sometimes it was used on beaver nontheless. What you get is a more luxurious feeling on the hat, but the mercury nitrate is not the reason for a hat to be taper resistant. Since it was forbidden to use mercury nitrate in the 40's (as Bink pointed out, the mad hatter deseas comes from the mercury fumes penetrating the brain), these hats are at least 60 years old by now. The felt is just as dead as the "grey-hat-horse" and won't felt any tighter, no matter how much water you throw on it. It's just dead.

New felt will eventually shrink back to it's original cone shape, thereby causing taper, if not aged artificially. The artificial agin however will only speed up the natural process, that the felt is going through anyway. If you'd take a brand new beaver fur felt rawbody and put it asside for 60 years plus, it'll be just as dead as the current vintage felt is nowadays. And again people will claim, that such a felt isn't made anymore

Regards,

Marc

Wikipedia was not nearly as helpful as you just were, Marc. Thanks! I was wonding about this.

This is one of the Mercury hats from Peter Bros. I got it back in 2003 or 2004.

That hat is beautiful! I want one as well.

I just remembered this picture I took of Pyroxene's Indy Mercury at the 2004 Indy Gear Summit. Wonderful lid, smooth as a babies bottom. There's nothing like true vintage.

...or at least I think I took this

The closest in softness that I have come to in comparison is my original Poet from 1989 that I purchased from Lee Keppler, but it's still nowhere in the same catagory as this hat. I always wanted a lid with very soft felt that you see in the movies, particularly in Temple when the spikes come down on Indy's head. All my other hats are way too stiff.

If Peter or Fedora can get any more of this type of felt, I highly recommend it for anyone who wants a hat that is screen accurate. Just my two cents.

If Peter or Fedora can get any more of this type of felt, I highly recommend it for anyone who wants a hat that is screen accurate. Just my two cents.

That mercury felt is rare as hens teeth. But, IMO, it was the best felt ever made. People will argue this point, but from what I can tell, nothing does as well a job as mercury does when it comes to raising the scales on underfur. And nothing but mercury can lend that mercury feel to a hat. Not only does it raise the scales on the underfur better, but it blows the tiny fibers up like popping popcorn, making the fur even softer than it is in the original state, fresh off of the animal. So, there was more than one advantage to using mercury. A mercury felted hat is very, very rare these days. Most ebay hats that are vintage were made AFTER the use of mercury was outlawed in the 40;s. How do you tell if a hat is mercury treated. All you have to do is to run your fingers over one. It has it own particular feel that cannot be replicated by any other element. Impossible to describe in words, only a personal experience will tell you. Fedora

Hmmmmm, I'll have to keep an eye out for a mercury fedora. That's what the REAL Indy's hat probably would have been made of. Oh well, I'm sure Marc and Steve's fedoras come close though. I CAN'T WAIT!!!!

Is there a rule against resurrecting old threads?

Long time, no post. I was trying on some old hats this evening and decided to snap a few pics. (Not of me but the hats.) I realized I hadn't photographed my Mercury Indy in over 10 years.



Here's a link to my album. The photos are in hi-res so you can really zoom in on the detail.

Here's a YouTube video where Joe Jr. explains what a Mercury Indy is.

That photo above of me wearing the hat is probably the most accurate representation of color I have been able to get or this hat. It's color is difficult to capture. But, I haven't give up yet.

Let me know if you have any questions.

Cheers,
Pyroxene

Howdy Pyro! GREAT to see you stick your head in the door!

Never seen that YouTube of Joe Jr. with his version of the Mercury Indy before.

Thanks for sharing it!

Regards! Michaelson

I remember being at the first PB summit, and seeing Joe's hat. Always wanted one, but I was fortunate enough to receive one from Steve. I love, love, love this hat.

Is it safe to where and sweat in this hat?

Jeremiah wrote:Is it safe to where and sweat in this hat?

Yes. Mercury was just used to get the finish. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mad_hatter_disease

Wikipedia says "In the United States, the mercury-based process continued to be adopted until as late as 1941, when it was abandoned mainly due to the wartime need for the heavy metal in the manufacture of detonators."

They have a pic illustrating the process.


Cheers,
Pyr.

Thanks. Pretty cool.

Wasn't safe for the hatters though!! It's where the term,"Mad as a Hatter" comes from.

I never even knew PB had a mercury offering!!! Awesome thread resurrection!

Honestly, I don't know what you folks are all worked up about... they're perfectly safe!

Steve, that driver's license photo of yours has always given me the chills.



Regards! M