Here are a few shots of an old Borsalino picked up on that infamous auction site. It was fairly easy to bash, and I'm happy with the initial results. Here are a few pictures, my face has been blurred since I looked rather beat. So, you can enjoy the hat without my mugshot.
It looks like mine! I had mine overhauled by Art Fawcett years ago, and wear it quite often in warmer weather. He told me it was from the late 40's, early 50's.
Thanks Michaelson and Bink, it is rather thin and floppy, which surprised me since I'm more used to somewhat stiffer hats like the Akubra Feds. It's nice to know the approximate age, it even came with a nice old-fashioned box. I'll remember that consumer floppiness warning for high wind conditions, lol. Randy, I just looked and there is a brown Borsalino with 22 bids right now on eBay. I think I picked this one up with little competition since it was marked as being a wool blend. I actually didn't notice that until I had purchased it since I got the description mixed up with another hat. It sort of upset me at first, however, I'm not really sure if it is a wool blend, if it is, it sure is a higher quality one.
McFly wrote:I think it looks great! The brim is my favorite part. I wish my AB's brim looked that good..
As a side note... I think it's bad for your ties to leave the knots in them.
Shane
Shane,
I think the brim is also my favorite part, it's floppy enough so all I had to do to the flanged upward brim was to push the front down and it popped down while naturally transitioning to the backward curl. I also curled up the sides a bit to improve the look, and of course with my personal preference for the turn I threw that in as well.
Observant you are, you're right about the ties, but it does save time. I just cinch them up and off to work I go if time is short. I keep several ties that way just out of semi-necessity, tie them once and never have to again once it's done right. Maybe I need to invest in some clip-on ties, lol.
I may get it re-blocked some time in the future, the little rumples were kind of stubborn, luckily at least the hat appeared to have no taper although it may have tapered very slightly when I steamed it a bit. Here's the eBay photo and how it came in the mail.
Crismans,
I know what you mean, I probably shouldn't be browsing ebay myself sometimes, but on occasion it's tough to pass up a bargain. At times I tell myself that a bargain is still money spent, and lots of bargains equals even more money spent
Hey, I like vintage hats of all styles, not just Indy hats. Just a matter of personal taste, that's all. I just like how the the C-dent-ish bash looked on this hat.
Ok, well maybe the pic doesn't show it well (I don't mind C dents) but it wasn't much of a bash, rather just kind of dented or asymmetrically crushed in, one last ebay listing pic to maybe give a better idea.
Could use that hat to hang my other hats on. Or when I get asked to go to the coffee shop to get everyone bagels. Leave my hands free to carry the coffee.
Thanks for the compliment on the bash, really it is the shape of the hat that can be thanked for the bash, it really takes it well, and I had to do little fussing with it to turn out a fairly decent look. Much easier to bash than my fed III. I think I'll leave the ribbon on for now since I suppose it is kind of an antique sort of hat. Also, it is rather light for a real Indy hat anyway and would still not be screen accurate with just the ribbon change.