Club Obi Wan

I've been an extra for the past 3 days in a new film about Jackie Robinson being filmed in Birmingham, AL at Rickwood Field starring none other than the man himself, HARRISON FORD This film is obviously set in the 40's, so I've been immersed in a sea of fedoras, suits, and suspenders over the past few days! While swimming in this sea of 450 extras and probably over 2000 fedoras (many were on inflated dummies in the stands ), one fedora has stuck out to me over past couple of days...so I finally broke down and asked this fellow if wardrobe fitted him with this hat...he confessed and said he wasn't a hired extra and it was his own hat...I gave him my guess as to it's maker, and voila!!! Instant friends!

I snapped a few pics of the hat, so let's hear your guesses. Let's give this game some rules:
-Limit yourself to one submission including these two categories: hat maker and felt type
-No spoilers from our tightly-knit vendors until we get a good number of total votes
-I'll update the number every few votes so we can see the distribution
-Once we get a good number, I'll open the floor to vendors

Back: http://i1169.photobucket.com/albums/r51 ... 0855-1.jpg" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Side: http://i1169.photobucket.com/albums/r51 ... 0856-1.jpg" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

I must say that a bond created so quickly over a simple mutual love for fine lids is pretty flippin' amazing...
Here's to you, COW vendors!!!
-Z

Penman Beaver KOTCS? or at least a penman lol

AB Beaver?

Regards
Joe

AB Rabbit?

AB Henry

Regards
JM

j2m wrote:AB Henry

Regards
JM

Agree

Christys???

Looks like Pennman's work to me. I would suggest beaver. W>

OK folks, here's a quick update...
So far the guess distribution looks like this:

-2 Penman Beaver
-2 AB Henry
-1 AB Rabbit
-1 AB Beaver
-1 Christy's

Any more guesses? After about 5 more guesses, I'll open it up to vendors to take their best shot
Good luck gearheads!
-Z

Hard to see but I would go with Penman Beaver, the front looks more Raiders than CS to me.

Looks like an AB Beaver Raiders without the turn

Here's the big question. Did you see HF? What was he sporting? Could/can you get close enough to sign your hat? That would be awesome!

Matt

Here's what we have as of this afternoon:

-3 Penman Beaver
-2 AB Henry
-1 AB Rabbit
-2 AB Beaver
-1 Christy's

As for Harrison Ford, never actually saw him. We got to work with all the other stars of the movie, but Harrison is playing the general manager who took a chance and signed Jackie to the Brooklyn Dodgers. He never had any scenes at Rickwood
Keep the guesses comin'!!!
-Z

How about a Garrison?

Garrison... Yeah, yeah, that's the ticket.

I'm guessing it's a Penman.

Whatever it is, it's a fine looking lid!

Weston

OK, here's another collective update:

-4 Penman Beaver
-2 AB Henry
-2 AB Beaver
-2 AB Beaver
-2 Garrison's
-1 Christy's

Since we've gotten a good number of votes, let's open the polls to any vendors that wanna give it a shot...
And just FYI, the hat looked stunning in person
-Z

In the words (and best Russian accent I can convey through the written word) of Irina Spalko:

TELL ME EVERYTHING! I'M READY! I VANT TO KNOW! I VANT TO KNOW!!!!

Ab deluxe?

It's rather hard to tell from the photos we have honestly....The back shows the colour well, which would mean it gets narrowed to a Penman, AB, Garrison, or a Henry... But since there's no shot of the band, or the front it'll be rather hard to lock it down further than that...

Based on the colouring, I'm going with either an Adventurebilt, or a Penman..

And since you've opened it to vendors, I'll assume it's not John's work, because he'd be able to know for sure...So, Adventurebilt.

I think.

I wasn't able to get a picture of the ribbon work, but I felt like that would make it a little more challenging...

This one is hard but you have to look at felt, ribbon, shape, and how that ribbon is sitting on the hat. Thats all Im going to state right now. Have fun with it.

Here's one more angle:

http://i1169.photobucket.com/albums/r51 ... G_0857.jpg" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

This is too much fun
-Z

To me, that looks like my Magonli HJ so I'm going to go with that!

I think it's a Penman.

wow this IS a tough one. Looking at the last picture and going off the color....I almost want to say it's a Todd's! Except the brim looks too wide. I can't tell if that ribbon has a finished edge or not.

I'm changing my vote to the AB Henry. That last photo looks more like that hat.

Penman alllll the way. I can sense johns sassyness in that lid. Yes john you are sassy haha.

Aragorn658 wrote:Penman alllll the way. I can sense johns sassyness in that lid. Yes john you are sassy haha.

AND "sassifrassy"...

In fact, John puts the "SASSY" in "SASSIFRASSY"

Mitch LaRue wrote:AND "sassifrassy"...

In fact, John puts the "SASSY" in "SASSIFRASSY"

This is very true. i stand corrected.

I'm going to guess Keppler...just throwing it out there.

OK, after a few days of torture, I hope you're ready for the verdict.
First, here's the breakdown of the guesses:

-8 Adventurebilt
-6 Penman
-2 Garrison's
-1 Christy's
-1 Keppler
-1 Magnoli HJ
-1 Adventurebilt Deluxe

So, it looks like most people thought it was some form of AB....all I'll say is that this goes to show how many top notch vendors we have!

The hat in the pictures is a Penman. I must confess that from afar, I couldn't tell if it was an AB or a Penman, but I knew that wardrobe didn't supply this fellow that fine lid! This guy is from Birmingham (like me) and apparently went up to Oregon and stopped by John's shop! After all, who could resist making a purchase if you were actually there??? One of these days, when I can manage it, I'll be a proud Penman owner.

Thanks John for making me a new friend Thanks for playing everyone! I hope that was fun for people other than me

HAHAHAHA i knew it!!! Man sooo proud of my self!

The ribbon should have tipped everyone off. Only AB and myself have it and the ribbon stood out.

Well, come one... you see an excellent looking Indy fedora, there's a pretty good chance it was made by our Mr Penman!

Is it safe to ask you John what differentiates your ribbons (and AB's) from the rest (besides being perhaps the rarest of all ribbons)? Are there any side-by-side comparison pictures posted already?

Nick, thank you. That means a lot coming from you.



the indy ribbon that I use and the AB guys. I had tested by two ribbon makers here in the US. both came back with the same results. the ribbon is made of pure rayon, has 20% less content and a smaller pattern. nothing to amazing there all by itself but it is different then most modern ribbon. It is also spun differently. They haven't spun ribbon like this in over 50 years. Most modern hat ribbon is a blend of rayon and cotton. It has more content because of the machines used. for some other reason ( maybe ) because of how much content being used it has to have a larger pattern. I also sent two different samples of high quality vintage ribbon along with the "indy" ribbon. They where exactly the same. so, what you have here is vintage quality ribbon being made today. there is a company making ribbon just like they used to. This is the ribbon you see in the movies and on AB hats as well as my own. Just an FYI. I now only use this ribbon and true vintage ribbon. I have this same ribbon in different sizes and colors.

The smaller pattern as well as the pure rayon is the reason it shows up like it does. Other ribbon (modern ribbon) tend to show up shiny when exposed to light. Thats why I knew just by looking at the ribbon that it was "the Indy ribbon." That pointed me into ether AB, ABD, Penman or the Henry. Then I looked at the way the ribbon was flush with the brim break. Had to be sewn by hand. this takes the henry out of the running and then I looked at the shape of the crown. I looked at the back of the hat on how the crease was forming towards the back. bingo, thats one of mine.


Great game of goes that hat. I thin next time people should state why they think it is a certain label. It's a very good tool for learning how to ID a hat maker.

Very VERY informative John! Thank you for sharing! And yes....DEFINITELY a good learning tool for learning how to ID a hatmaker's handy-work. I would love to be able to spot a hat and instantly recognize it from afar. Like knowing the difference between a fine wine and rock-gut wine.

Sammy wrote:Very VERY informative John! Thank you for sharing! And yes....DEFINITELY a good learning tool for learning how to ID a hatmaker's handy-work. I would love to be able to spot a hat and instantly recognize it from afar. Like knowing the difference between a fine wine and rock-gut wine.

HEAR HEAR!!

John: Considering I have never seen one of your hats in person and yet, just from those pictures could tell it right away, should and does say a great deal about your work. Your signature was all over it! W>

Hey! I was right!!!