http://www.ebay.com/itm/281305928450
This vintage brown derby was made during the derby revival of the late 1950s. It was sold by The English Shop / The Libertyville Saddle Shop of Libertyville, Illinois. It is made of brown fur felt. It has a fancy pleated liner with a generic gold stamp. Size 7-1/4
http://www.ebay.com/itm/281107425215
This vintage derby has had a hard life. It’s been crushed and glued back together. The ribbon and biding is falling off, the sweatband and liner are missing. Probably good for decoration or costume only. None of the damage is reparable. Marked a size 7-1/4.
Most of my shots are done professionally in a studio by Michael G. Stewart, but those of you at home can get good looking results with a minimum of cost or effort.
Here’s how.
01: A hat stand of some description is important for photographing your hat while maintaining the shape of its brim. This purpose made one cost $5. The backdrop is a sheet of 18″x24″ paper from an art store.
02: To minimize shadows, shoot outdoors on an overcast day, or at the very least in shadow. Make sure what you’re shooting does not hang over the edge of the white.
03: In photoshop (or GIMP, it’s free), white balance to the lightest point of the white backdrop.
04: Use a brush tool to knock out all the non-white sections of the photo.
05: Select the shadows and white balance that selection separately to eliminate them.
06: Crop.
Man’s best friend.
Looking for a certain style but don’t know what it’s called? Look no further.
This one dates from the early part of the century. It still has the original tags.
You don’t see a lot of brown derbies these days. Lots of black ones survived, but the slightly more casual, slightly less common brown ones didn’t make it nearly as well. This is a modern one. Well- I say modern- but I consider any hat made from the mid ’70s on to be pretty modern. It’s soft like a homburg and has a homburg curl to the brim, not a derby curl. But the blocking is all bowler- too low to take a crease, so I guess that’s what it is.
You don’t see derbies with this salt and pepper long nap finish anymore. Beautiful condition, and a very lightweight hat. Made in London England.
