Club Obi Wan

This weekend, we went for an afternoon drive to the local little towns around Corpus and , in Sinton, Texas( a VERY lightly populated one horse town nearby) I stopped at a small antique store. In the back, there were three rows of hats.Mostly cowboys stuff but several Open Roads. They were very stained, dirty and crushed horribly. BUT I did find these two awesome hats....
http://i67.photobucket.com/albums/h304/ ... 99192b.jpg" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
One is Borsalino Allessandria (my favorite type of fedora) in Dark Brown and the other is a funky Texas Western? hat. Curled edge brim, heavy but soft felt and very shapable.
http://i67.photobucket.com/albums/h304/ ... 91c81b.jpg" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
http://i67.photobucket.com/albums/h304/ ... ab4bc9.jpg" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
They were both stained and dirty but I cant wait to start cleaning them up and restore them. I just saw them up high and immediately grabbed them and took them to the counter. I asked," How much for these?" And the old timer just looked at them, shrugged, and said, "Eight Dollars?" So I gave him a twenty and he gave me 12 back.......EIGHT DOLLARS FOR BOTH!!!!! I was expecting eight for each but wow! I must really be in God`s favor right now for Him blessing me with this silly stuff that He know I like!
Keep looking in those Antique stores guys....I believe Michealson has always said,"They are still out there......"


and I`d like to point out that I didn`t even try them on until I got home and, lo and behold, they fit perfect. The Texas hat didn`t have a size on it but in the Allessandria`s liner I found a small tag reading 7 1/8...my size exactly! And it was in open crown but crushed. The shape on it was my wife trying to make it look the Open Roads I was showing her!

Yes.....yes they are.....

HIGH regard! Michaelson

Yes sir, I can almost always hear your voice ( or the one I imagine you have) whispering that line as I pass antique stores in theses outa the way places. Inspies me to go into them as some of them are kinda Texas Chainsaw Massacre creepy! Especially down here in South Texas!

Actually, yes, knowing I'm one of the 'voices you hear in your head' is quite creepy if you think about it....

Outstanding find! The Western reminds me a lot of the Man With No Name hat. I would have grabbed both in a heartbeat. Well done!

The problem I run into is finding them large enough to fit me. Seems everyone 'back in the day' wore a size 7 hat or smaller.

Regards! Michaelson

Awesome finds, Gorak!!! So, other people besides me that are antique and thrift store regulars DOOOO still exist
Keep us updated with your adventures in these beauties!

AFAIK, the Alessandria model has always had an Open Road style ribbon, not the tied cord. Lots of Borsos end up being called Alessandrias because that's where the Borso factory was, thus was on their liners.

Michaelson wrote:The problem I run into is finding them large enough to fit me. Seems everyone 'back in the day' wore a size 7 hat or smaller.

Regards! Michaelson

It's all that "knowing" that's increased your cranial capacity.

Ergo dump the knowledge, gain a lid

..or get a haircut....

True...




...flippin' hippie!!!!

Michaelson wrote:The problem I run into is finding them large enough to fit me. Seems everyone 'back in the day' wore a size 7 hat or smaller.

Regards! Michaelson

I think it's just that you and I are the most common size so those hats got bought up, used, thrown out and the most common size sought after. Thats why they are hard to come by.

I have run into a fork in the road. I reblocked the old Borsalino only overnight as I didn`t want to change it completely but now I can`t decide which crease looks better.....center dent?
http://i67.photobucket.com/albums/h304/ ... 013738.jpg" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
http://i67.photobucket.com/albums/h304/ ... 5cb751.jpg" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
http://i67.photobucket.com/albums/h304/ ... 59c6a3.jpg" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

or classic C bash?
http://i67.photobucket.com/albums/h304/ ... 5a97da.jpg" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
http://i67.photobucket.com/albums/h304/ ... b656de.jpg" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
http://i67.photobucket.com/albums/h304/ ... 4490cc.jpg" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

I think the Center dent is more classic looking but the C-dent is very vintage. Especially on this particular hat. I am open to opinions and ideas as you guys would be the ones who would know better. HELP!

Diamond.

Gorak wrote:I have run into a fork in the road. I reblocked the old Borsalino only overnight as I didn`t want to change it completely but now I can`t decide which crease looks better.....center dent?
http://i67.photobucket.com/albums/h304/ ... 013738.jpg" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
http://i67.photobucket.com/albums/h304/ ... 5cb751.jpg" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
http://i67.photobucket.com/albums/h304/ ... 59c6a3.jpg" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

or classic C bash?
http://i67.photobucket.com/albums/h304/ ... 5a97da.jpg" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
http://i67.photobucket.com/albums/h304/ ... b656de.jpg" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
http://i67.photobucket.com/albums/h304/ ... 4490cc.jpg" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

I think the Center dent is more classic looking but the C-dent is very vintage. Especially on this particular hat. I am open to opinions and ideas as you guys would be the ones who would know better. HELP!

This is kind of a though call! I like both looks, but personally prefer the center dent, but that is just me! Sure is one nice looking hat! W>

BendingOak wrote:

Michaelson wrote:The problem I run into is finding them large enough to fit me. Seems everyone 'back in the day' wore a size 7 hat or smaller.

Regards! Michaelson

I think it's just that you and I are the most common size so those hats got bought up, used, thrown out and the most common size sought after. Thats why they are hard to come by.

Could very well be.

Well, we do know that average height has been increasing over the past 200 years or so. I ain't no big city anthropologist, but I'd imagine this means an increase in headsize as well.

http://www.time.com/time/health/article ... 36,00.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Q: Why are people taller today than yesterday?

A: There are two main reasons. One is that the diet has improved considerably. In spite of some very negative aspects of the diet of industrialized populations, we have much better vitamin, mineral and protein intake than 100 or 200 years ago. As a consequence the body can grow much better.

In addition, our health has improved considerably along with medical technology. We have fewer endemic diseases, and fewer epidemic diseases. That is important because an incidence of disease usually means that the nutrients we do consume are not absorbed by the body sufficiently. Diseases lay a claim on our energy intake, so that there is not enough left over for the body to grow. These two factors play a considerable role.

We have been increasing in height for about 140 years. Prior to that, there were cycles in height, depending on economic circumstances and agricultural productivity and so forth. We were relatively tall in the Middle Ages, when population densities were relatively low and food supplies were still fairly adequate. The low point was in the 17th century. Frenchmen, for example, were about 162 cm on average [not quite 5 ft. 4 in.], which is extremely small. Only since about the middle of the 19th century has there been a general trend upwards.

T