Vintage Biltmore Fedora Golden Pheasant Green Velour 7 1/8

This is a vintage Biltmore fedora made in a forest green velour brown fur felt that Biltmore branded as “Golden Pheasant Velour”.  The crown has a matching felt band around its base.  The sweatband is gold stamped “Canadian Velour”.  The lining is stamped in gold and red with an illustration of a pheasant and with “Biltmore Golden Pheasant Velour”.  The size tag reads 7 1/8 - it measures 22 1/4” around the sweat band and 6 1/2” by 7 7/8” across the opening.  The brim measures 2 1/8” in width and the crown measures 5” in height.  The hat is in very good condition with some light yellowing to the lining and slight waviness to the sweatband, but no pronounced wear to the interior or exterior - the felt is very soft and pliable.  

Biltmore was founded in 1917 and was Canada’s premier hat maker, rival to Stetson.  In fact, after Stetson (Canada) went on a Canadian acquisition binge during the 1960s, Biltmore was able to eliminate its main competitor (Stetson) by buying it in 1970.  In 1982, after Biltmore filed bankruptcy, Stetson (USA) bought the assets of Biltmore, before they themselves filed Chapter 11 in 1986.  The Biltmore brand was withdrawn from the market from 1982 until 1988, when a group of Canadian investors revived it.  Biltmore has always been a quality maker, even producing the Dobbs and Knox brands in Canada.

This is a nice quality vintage Biltmore fedora in an attractive tone of green - sure to be noticed!