Now on eBay!  LINKThis vintage campaign hat was made by Castle Hats, in the 1940s for the Park Service.  It has a Bri-Lea Insured Leather sweatband.  The stitching holding the sweatband into the hat is coming undone for about half of it, but as it is a reeded sweatband, it should be a relatively easy repair.  The felt has a few scattered shallow moth bites and stains, consistent with its usage in the wilds of California.  The leather hatband is tooled with fish, quail, flowers and the text “State of California”.  The leather is in very good shape. This is one of the earlier type models, with more ties to the western Boss of the Plains hat made famous by Stetson, than with the military campaign hat.  It is not vented like later models, and has a straight sided flat topped crown.  These were sold open crowned, and the owner of the hat put in the dents, unlike later models which came pre-blocked from the factory.  Size: 7-1/4Brim Width: 3″Band Width: 1-1/4″Crown Height: 4-1/2″    

Now on eBay!  LINKThis vintage fedora was made in the 1940s.  I bought it in Halifax Nova Scotia, so it’s likely that it is of Canadian manufacture.  The lining is marked “men about town”, with three men in top hats.  There was at some point also a crest and manufacturer’s name imprinted in gold on the sweatband, but for some reason, someone put masking tape overtop, and later removed some of it, taking the top layer of leather with it.  Despite this damage, the leather of the sweatband is still soft and supple, with a great russet tone.  The fur felt has that great ’30s and ’40s softness to it.  It has an underwelt brim edge, a tall crown, and is creased with a center dent.  The size tag is long gone and there is no reorder tag. The sweatband measures just over 23″, putting it in the 7-3/8 range. I wear a 7-1/4, and it is too big for me. The felt is in excellent condition.Size: 7-3/8Brim Width: 2-5/8″Ribbon Width: 1-3/8″Crown Height: 5-3/4″    

Now on eBay!  LINK

Now on eBay!  LINKThis vintage fedora was made c. 1950 by Portis.  This model was advertised at that time in Life Magazine.  It has a wide bound brim, similar to a Stetson Whippet. But the detailing on this model is so much cooler.  It has a ribbed ribbon with a slanted detail where the bow would usually be.  It has a c-crown.  The seatband is stamped “Portis Hand Crafted Supreme Breeze”, “The New Slant” and with the name of the store at which it was sold, “Buck’s Toggery” of Menominee, Mich.  The hat is in great shape (sorry about the lens flare on the shot of the bottom of the brim), and is a great, distinctive style, with high quality, chocolate colored fur felt.Size: 7Brim Width: 2-3/4″Ribbon Width: 1-1/4″Crown Height: 5-1/2″    

Now on eBay!  LINKThis vintage straw hat was made in the early 1930s.  It is an Italian made Milan straw. It is deadstock from George I. Eakle of 1628 Market Street, Philadelphia, PA.  It has damage to the ribbon from being stored for the past eighty years with another hat stacked on top.  A new ribbon can be put on by Optimo hats in Chicago, one of America premier custom hatmakers for $25, or a new straw hat puggaree can be had for about $10 from a variety of hat shops, so that’s nothing to worry about. The straw is in excellent condition. The sweatband is stamped with the Eakle script, and “Made in Italy”.  It is fully silk lined.  Size: 7-1/8Brim Width: 2-1/2″Ribbon Width: 1-5/8″Crown Height: 5-1/2″    

Now on eBay!  LINKThis vintage straw hat was made in the early 1930s.  It is deadstock from George I. Eakle of 1628 Market Street, Philadelphia, PA.  It has damage to the ribbon from being stored for the past eighty years with another hat stacked on top.  A new ribbon can be put on by Optimo hats in Chicago, one of America premier custom hatmakers for $25, or a new straw hat puggaree can be had for about $10 from a variety of hat shops, so that’s nothing to worry about. There are two small spots of damage on the brim at 10:00 and 1:00 (viewed from the top).  Not tears, but some of the fibers are broken. There is some staining to the bottom of the brim.  There is a mesh lining and silk lining tip.  The sweatband has dropped some stitching at the front, and a bit near the rear sweatband seam.  The sweatband is still supple.  The hat was made by Bonar Phelps of New York.  “Best under the sun”.  The hat has an optimo ridge, with a fairly flat top.  Size: 7-1/8Brim Width: 2-1/2″Ribbon Width: 2-1/4″Crown Height: 4-1/2″     

Now on eBay!  LINKThis vintage straw hat was made in the early 1930s.  It is deadstock, from George I Eakle of 1628 Market Street, Philadelphia, PA.  It is made of extremely high quality milan straw.  There is a one inch section of dropped stitching, easily fixable, on the brim, and a bit of darker color to the top of the brim from age.  It has a distinctive twisted bow knot, and an optimo crown.  The hat has a wide leather sweatband.  There is a slight tear to the right of the logo, but the leather is still super supple.  The has is fully lined, with a pleated silk liner.  A blind embossed logo indicates that the hat was made in Italy.Size: 7-1/8Brim Width: 2-1/2″Ribbon Width: 1-5/8″Crown Height: 5″    

Go to any hat shop or westernwear store and look around.  You’re bound to come across a bevy of hats with different “X” ratings.  XXX quality.  10X beaver.  But what does it all mean?

I sell a lot of vintage hats and a question I get all the time is, “What would you estimate the X value of the felt as?”  It’s a simple question with a not-so-simple answer.

X value depends on age
Over the years, there has been significant “X Value Inflation”. An example: In the 1930s, Stetson’s top of the line X value was a 5X. 5X got you an undyed pure beaver hat of the highest order- the kind of hat given as presentation pieces, and selling, when new, for about eight times (or more) what a standard fur felt Stetson would have run. These days, Stetson’s comparable offering would probably be the 100X El presidente, which retails in the neighborhood of a thousand dollars. It’s not that the hat is 20 times better quality than their old top of the line, it’s purely inflation.
And if you compare apples to apples- the same manufacturer with the same X rating, but from different years, you may be in for a shock. I have had 7X Stetsons from the 1950s which have beautifully dense and soft to the touch felt, and 7X stetsons from the 1970s which are rough and porous.

X value depends on maker
The X rating system is not consistent maker to maker. A vintage XXX Stetson is not the same quality as a vintage XXX Resistol is not the same quality as a vintage XXX Portis. Some makers used Xs, others used Stars, but the idea is the same. For a given year and a given maker, the system can be useful. A new 10X is a better and more expensive hat than a new 3X from the same maker. But with no real industry oversight, no “Felt Hat FDA” to answer to, there’s nothing to prevent a company from putting forward a hat of inferior quality and marking it 3X to go up against 3Xs of other companies. To defend against this “X Undercutting”, other companies have to raise their X values to reflect what other companies are making, and next thing you know, you get sometimes extreme, and uneven inflation.
Another high priced example: Stetson’s thousand dollar offering is a 100X. Larry Mahan’s thousand dollar offering is a 500X. Is the Larry Mahan a better hat? Maybe, maybe not. Is it 5 times the quality of the Stetson, and therefore are you getting some kind of amazing deal on it? No.

X value depends on product lineup
Stetson makes hats marked 2X all the way up through 1000X. What does Stetson have to say about what their X’s mean? Not much at all. The X value really depends on what a particular company decides to mark the bottom and top qualities as, and then how they decide to break that down.

X value depends on marketing
2X beaver quality? That sounds okay, right? Must have some good beaver content in it. Well- no.
2X beaver can be a completely wool hat depending on the company and year. No beaver content, no fur felt in it at all.

X value is different straw vs. felt
You can buy a 10,000X Straw cowboy hat new for under $200. Not that it really means a whole lot in felt, but as both felt and straw hats use an X rating system, it would seem that it’s the same system. Unfortunately, it’s not. It’s a different system, equally arbitrary, and equally meaningless outside of individual product lines.

The X system can be useful in some ways, though. If you’re buying new from a particular maker, you can use it to compare models. Similarly, if you know how to accurately date vintage hats, you can use it somewhat similarly. But generally speaking, when buying vintage hats, it’s more of a distraction than an asset when talking quality, especially for beginner collectors, people who buy primarily modern production hats, or people with a background in western hats.