NOT an Adventurebilt OR a Herbert Johnson etc, etc... BUT...
Posted: Sun Aug 03, 2008 10:38 pm
I didn't wast Fedora to think I was trying to hijack his post so (since it's kind of a new subject THIS post picks up where the one begun on his "My Raiders Vintage Stetson 10x" began...)
On that post I told the following story:
I'm on vacation this week and decided to use the time to clear out a storage space in my house filled with boxes and shelves...
Beyond (behind) all that clutter was my goal... a closet - blocked for years and years - that held 2 items that were hidden away untouched for years: my David Morgan Bullwhip and my J.J. Hat Center "Royal DeLuxe" Stetson Fedora (both of these items bought about 16 years ago and packed away for the last 12)
Like many gearheads here, the perfect Raiders fedora became a bit of an obsession for me beginning many years ago... As time had gone on (and the sequels came out) I'd also noticed the differences in each hat that appeared in each movie... But was I the only one who noticed - or cared - about such things? (Keeping in mind, of course, that this was well before the INTERNET helped everyone to find each other and share their stories...)
So, back in '92 I tracked down - the old-fashioned way - a hat shop in New York called J.J. Hat Center.
They carried a number of styles (each one trying to tap into that Hat-Seeking Indy Fanbase out there): "The Temple", "The Crusader", etc... But none of them quite captured what I was looking for... Instead, I ordered up an altogether different fedora from them, the "Royal DeLuxe" Stetson. I remember thinking that the hat color, brim & style were "close enough"... or, at least, close enough for me to work with, as that's what I'd decided to do...)
So, when the hat arrived - and with absolute IGNORANCE as my co-pilot - I went to work on what I thought (at the time) to be a ground-breaking endeavor: Here I was, just some guy who knew next to nothing about how a fedora was constructed and before you knew it I was using an X-Acto blade to give the brim what I would later learn was called a "dimensional-cut", re-shaping the top using a spray bottle of warm water & clothes-pins and even replacing the ribbon with the hat band off of a pork-pie hat I used to wear in high school.
The end result was... something I thought was pretty good, but still left me wanting to find the kind of skilled craftsperson who could create the authentic thing... Never stopped wanting that. And, of course, never stopped being an Indy fan.
The hat, as I said, eventually went in the closet and only came out a few days ago and if I sound a little nostalgic and sentimental (or just mental), you'll have to forgive me... ah, the memories...
And by the way, yes, both the hat and the whip are in PERFECT, useable condition... haven't changed a bit.
Now, thanks to all of you and everything I've quietly been learning from reading your posts, I can now see how far from Screen Accurate "perfect" (in color, style, block, bash, pinch & taper) this hat IS... it's not a perfect Indy hat - by far... but you know what? It's a pretty darn good hat.
Indiana G was find enough to show some interest so now I'm posting:
Okay, looks like I got the Avatar thing figured out...
Here's my attempt at the photo links. We'll see...
I took about 20 photos but I'll just post 6 for now, 'cause I'm pretty sure that's all I'm allowed in one go.
I think I re-sized them okay, but if I'm way off in that regard, apologies to the powers that be in advance.
The first and last photos are with no flash and even though the first is a little dark, I think they more properly capture the color of the hat than the carmel/coffee color that appears in the ones with the flash: That is to say that the hat is somewhere between a soft tan color and a shade of grey (the exact kind of color that - if it WAS the exact color of his hat - would have helped cause even more confusion a few years back when a lot of us thought that maybe Harrison WASN'T wearing a grey hat on the plane... maybe it WAS just the lighting...) THAT kind of color.
Anyway, if you get a chance, let me know what you think...
(Fingers crossed)
MLR
http://i36.photobucket.com/albums/e38/M ... 0_6852.jpg
http://i36.photobucket.com/albums/e38/M ... 0_6857.jpg
http://i36.photobucket.com/albums/e38/M ... 0_6859.jpg
http://i36.photobucket.com/albums/e38/M ... 0_6861.jpg
http://i36.photobucket.com/albums/e38/M ... 0_6865.jpg
http://i36.photobucket.com/albums/e38/M ... 0_6876.jpg
On that post I told the following story:
I'm on vacation this week and decided to use the time to clear out a storage space in my house filled with boxes and shelves...
Beyond (behind) all that clutter was my goal... a closet - blocked for years and years - that held 2 items that were hidden away untouched for years: my David Morgan Bullwhip and my J.J. Hat Center "Royal DeLuxe" Stetson Fedora (both of these items bought about 16 years ago and packed away for the last 12)
Like many gearheads here, the perfect Raiders fedora became a bit of an obsession for me beginning many years ago... As time had gone on (and the sequels came out) I'd also noticed the differences in each hat that appeared in each movie... But was I the only one who noticed - or cared - about such things? (Keeping in mind, of course, that this was well before the INTERNET helped everyone to find each other and share their stories...)
So, back in '92 I tracked down - the old-fashioned way - a hat shop in New York called J.J. Hat Center.
They carried a number of styles (each one trying to tap into that Hat-Seeking Indy Fanbase out there): "The Temple", "The Crusader", etc... But none of them quite captured what I was looking for... Instead, I ordered up an altogether different fedora from them, the "Royal DeLuxe" Stetson. I remember thinking that the hat color, brim & style were "close enough"... or, at least, close enough for me to work with, as that's what I'd decided to do...)
So, when the hat arrived - and with absolute IGNORANCE as my co-pilot - I went to work on what I thought (at the time) to be a ground-breaking endeavor: Here I was, just some guy who knew next to nothing about how a fedora was constructed and before you knew it I was using an X-Acto blade to give the brim what I would later learn was called a "dimensional-cut", re-shaping the top using a spray bottle of warm water & clothes-pins and even replacing the ribbon with the hat band off of a pork-pie hat I used to wear in high school.
The end result was... something I thought was pretty good, but still left me wanting to find the kind of skilled craftsperson who could create the authentic thing... Never stopped wanting that. And, of course, never stopped being an Indy fan.
The hat, as I said, eventually went in the closet and only came out a few days ago and if I sound a little nostalgic and sentimental (or just mental), you'll have to forgive me... ah, the memories...
And by the way, yes, both the hat and the whip are in PERFECT, useable condition... haven't changed a bit.
Now, thanks to all of you and everything I've quietly been learning from reading your posts, I can now see how far from Screen Accurate "perfect" (in color, style, block, bash, pinch & taper) this hat IS... it's not a perfect Indy hat - by far... but you know what? It's a pretty darn good hat.
Indiana G was find enough to show some interest so now I'm posting:
Okay, looks like I got the Avatar thing figured out...
Here's my attempt at the photo links. We'll see...
I took about 20 photos but I'll just post 6 for now, 'cause I'm pretty sure that's all I'm allowed in one go.
I think I re-sized them okay, but if I'm way off in that regard, apologies to the powers that be in advance.
The first and last photos are with no flash and even though the first is a little dark, I think they more properly capture the color of the hat than the carmel/coffee color that appears in the ones with the flash: That is to say that the hat is somewhere between a soft tan color and a shade of grey (the exact kind of color that - if it WAS the exact color of his hat - would have helped cause even more confusion a few years back when a lot of us thought that maybe Harrison WASN'T wearing a grey hat on the plane... maybe it WAS just the lighting...) THAT kind of color.
Anyway, if you get a chance, let me know what you think...
(Fingers crossed)
MLR
http://i36.photobucket.com/albums/e38/M ... 0_6852.jpg
http://i36.photobucket.com/albums/e38/M ... 0_6857.jpg
http://i36.photobucket.com/albums/e38/M ... 0_6859.jpg
http://i36.photobucket.com/albums/e38/M ... 0_6861.jpg
http://i36.photobucket.com/albums/e38/M ... 0_6865.jpg
http://i36.photobucket.com/albums/e38/M ... 0_6876.jpg
BTW,your Stetson is awesome! 
