Club Obi Wan

I have a hat which has a scribble of permanent market on the inside leather sweatband. Is there any way of removing it, or is the marker scribble just that, permanent? I might be unloading the hat to save up for my Fed, but I don't want anyone else knowing I only paid 4 bucks for it at a Goodwill!

The INSIDE of the sweatband? You're kidding, right? Who looks there?

Many of my vintage hats have the same thing done, and it is some process in the lableling or manufacturing process. NO ONE SEES IT. when you wear the hat. MANY men used a pen to scribe their name on the inner sweatbant to prevent mistaken or unintentional taking of the hat. Also THIEVES were discouraged if a hat could be identified.

Remember, there were MILLIONS of hats being worn, so guys had to mark their property so the hat check girl didn't make a mistake.

No, to answer your question, you CAN'T remove the PERMANANT marker from the leather.

I think what he means is that Goodwill wrote the price of four dollars on the sweatband in permanent marker and he wants to remove the price. I don't know of any product that would remove it. You possiblly could sand it off, but it may damage the surface of the leather. Or, take the same color permanent marker and cover it up.

Yeah, you could add another "0". Maybe even 2 of em,

Yep. Goodwill had written "4.00" on the sweatband. I really didn't think there would be any way of removing it, but just in case there was something I didn't know, I wanted to ask you folks. As it stands, it doesn't really matter now, because I just unloaded a couple of other items I no longer wear/use to my local vintage clothing store and now I've got enough cash to order my Akbura Federation! I may just keep the 4 dollar hat, anyhow.

What's equally cool is that while at the vintage clothing shop, I found a very Indyesque shirt for a single buck! 100% cotton and possibly from the 50's or earlier! The only problem with it is that one of the buttons on the shoulder is chipped and the top neck button is gone. Other than that, it's pristine! I'll take pics when I can grab the digital camera from work next week and post it in the proper forum.

I must ask...whats this hat like, and what size are you?

Regards, Daryl.

I'm always amazed when even good people get upset at the dumbest stuff. I know what it's like when something that shouldn't bother me erks me for hours.

It's easy to say live with it. If you get it cleaned and reblocked, just ask to have the band replaced.

Ren said:

I'm always amazed when even good people get upset at the dumbest stuff. I know what it's like when something that shouldn't bother me erks me for hours.

Honestly, Ren, it doesn't bother ME in the least. I've lived with much worse inside some of my hats. Trust me, I'm not losing any sleep over it. The only reason I even asked was because of the possibility of trying to sell the hat off to a local vintage clothing shop in order to save up for a Fed. I didn't want to go in, say "Can I get X amount for this hat?" have the owner look inside and say, "But you only paid four bucks for it," and leave not being able to get anything near what I wanted out of it, simply because of a silly little marker price on the sweatband.

I'm sorry if it erked you, my friend.

As far as the hat style goes, it feels like a 7 1/8 or a snug 7 1/4. I can find any markings for it anywhere in or on the hat. It's a "Custom Made Beaver Blend Twenty," a WIDE brimmed hat originally bashed to look like a gambler. Think Woody from Toy Story and you've got the shape and bash down. I pushed the crown out and shaped it to look much like a tall Akbura Bushman or Drover and I considered taking it to be reblocked and cut down to a more Indyesque styled fefora, but the felt is thick enough that the original bash crease would still be pretty noticeable.

I have pictures of it at work, but no way to post them. Otherwise I'd show you a pic. Are you interested, Kentucky Blues?