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Vintage Fedora Disney Hats New York Gold Label Beaver Twenty Size 7 1/4

$165.00

Brand Poppy's Vintage Clothing

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This is a lovely quality men’s hat made in a fedora style for Disney Hats of New York.  Disney Hats had nothing to do with Walt Disney, and was founded in 1885 as a retailer.  Their hats were manufactured by Croft and Knapp of Connecticut.  After going through a number of different owners/manufacturers, they were acquired by the Frank H Lee company by 1943, which was in turn acquired by Stetson in 1960 - Stetson offered Disney Hats into the 1970s.  The colour of this hat is a very attractive muted eggplant colour - interesting tone somewhere between a purplish brown and grey.  The hat has a “United Hats, Cap & Millinery Union” label with the number 56 in the corner in red - I’m unsure it this dates the hat to 1956 or if this is just a union local number, but from the style of the hat, that would seem to be about right.  My understanding, however, is that from 1947, Disney used a formally attired man as their liner logo with the moniker “Mr Disney”, so the hat might be earlier due to the logo on the liner.  The hat has a turned brim edge the crown has a wide black grosgrain ribbon and bow around the base.  The retailer’s name “John David New York Washington” is gold stamped on the sweatband - I have found that John David closed its doors in 1964, selling its assets to Kobel.  John David had six stores at the time of its closing and had been in business since 1904.  The leather sweatband is also gold stamped “Disney Reg’d New York” and “Gold Label Beaver Twenty”.  The liner is stamped with the Disney Hats 1885 coat-of-arms.  There is no size label, but the hat should fit a US 7 1/4, but please note the following measurements.  It measures 22 5/8” around the sweatband and 8 1/8” by 6 1/2” across the opening.  The brim measures 1 7/8” in width at the front and the crown has a height of 4 7/8”.  It is in very good condition with no wear, tear or signs of much use, and although I did give it a quick cleaning, it would benefit from a more thorough cleaning, it is very acceptable to wear as is.  This is a super quality hat by Disney, interesting colour, large size, easy to wear style…….Disney Hats of this era are not commonly seen, great addition to a collection!