Several years ago my wife, cousin, and his wife vacationed in Colorado.
I wanted a "Real Cowboy Hat" to take back home. I was told that a real cowboy hat was a "Silver Belly Stetson". I found one in a small town store with a price tag of $650.00. I stopped looking and came home without a hat.
Should I have keep looking or is this type hat that expensive?

I think you waited for the right time!

Amazon.com: Stetson Skyline Super 4X Silverbelly Beaver Fur Western Hat: Clothing

rags

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RIP Shipmate

Silverbelly is the natrual color of a beaver's belly hair...

Stetsons are ok hats as well as other factor made lids.

I like the custom hand made hats myself.

Jim Mackey of Mackey Hats build most of ours, he used to be outta Shell Wyo.
Makes the crown the right height for a fellers face and the brim width to match.

Don't want to end up with one of them little narrow brimed cattle buyers hats.

And, good 100% beaver hats (used to be called 10X...Now there 20 & 30Xs) ain't cheap by no means.

Weather it's worn as apparel or equipment....




It's what's under it that counts,

Su Amigo,
Dave

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"IN GOD WE TRUST"

You will also find that not all hatmakers use the terminology the same, so one guy's 4X silverbelly may not be the same as the next guy's. (E.g., note Dave's comment about "100%...now called 30X" or similar.

About how much to spend, it's a personal choice depending on a lot of things -- not least of which how much coin you want to drop. Here's one way of looking at it: If the hat is a novelty or a decoration that you will rarely wear, maybe $100 or $200 is as high as you should go. If you are gonna wear it daily, and can afford it, a custom hat is definitely the way to go. They fit perfectly and you have a choice of high quality materials, shapes, etc.

I don't wear cowboy hats, but I do wear a fedora or a panama near daily. The custom fedora that I use for business cost about $500, about what I pay for a good semicustom suit. My best panama, a Montecristi, more. My old knock around, off-the-shelf-fedora cost ~$250 about 15 years back, but at this point I probably will replace it.

(There are also panama hat collectors who spend thousands per hat and never wear them, but just keep them as art on display. There are only a few folks left in Equador who make the genuine Montecristi, and they spend months per hat. Very, very fine weave, etc.)

If I were you, I would read up on hats in general, and cowboy hats specifically. Maybe join a hat forum. (But then I am a hat guy, and enjoy the learning process.)

Tip for those of you with old hats that have shrunk: The guys who clean and block can resize 'em back to their original size. You can also buy a hat stretcher which works, though not as well. (Took me about ten years to figure that out! )

...of all types for over 45 years. I vary between western styles, and more traditional men's hats.

You can buy a very nice "western" style hat for far less than $600. There are a lot of custom hat makers which will make one to your style. If you want one for winter wear, now is a good time to have one made.

Resistol makes a fine hat. They also own Stetson.

Colorado Mountain Hat Company, Dave Brown, Jaxonbilt, Peters Brothers, and a lot of others are available for bespoke and ready-made hats. Google for "western hats". Your imagination is the only limit.

Stetson also makes some very good traditional hats. They still offer the "Indiana Jones" style hat, which are my favorites among traditional hats.

I will never get rid of my Father's well worn Resistol. I think it says stagecoach inside if that means anything. The color listed in it is "Mink" but it's a brown tone. I think of mink as a dark color. I thought about having it shaped to fit me but I don't want it to lose the aroma of his cologne and cigarettes.

I may as well share my embarrassing "got drunk while wearing dad's hat" kind of myspace looking picture...



I know, it doesn't fit, and I'm not changing it one bit.

Jimmy: The above referenced Stetson is a good looking hat. As an old desert cowboy I can tell you that there are 'usin' hats and there are 'sundaygotomeeting' hats. Then as briefly mentioned to be considered is the shape and design of the hat vs. your face and head shape. I was in New Zealand and purchased an expensive version of their drover hat. I got back to the USA and was wearing it while at a gun show. A custom hat maker set up there called me over and told me that it was a very nice and well built hat, but the shape wasn't right for me. I told him to do his thing. He took a polaroid picture of me with and without the hat. In about an hour I went back to him and got my hat back. It had a totally new shape. I put it on and was bowled over at how much better I looked. That was 20 years ago and that hat is still my 'sundaygotomeeting' hat. It is hanging on my study wall as I set here. ........ Big Cholla

I wear a base ball hat I bought at Walmart several years ago for 3 or 4 dollars. It still fits and looks fair. I will make do with it. Don

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"Don't worry be happy"

Just as long as ya didn't iron the bill flat & wear it over yer ears it's cool...

I wear a cheap straw hat that looks more "illegal landscaper" than "cowboy." I usually destroy it in the course of the summer but at $8 a pop I just get a new one each year.

Hey Jimmy. I was at a local auction a few years ago and spied a very well worn cowboy hat. It was a brand I was not familiar with and very old. It had perspiration stains, a rotten leather headband, and a stained inside liner, but I felt sorry for it and saw potential. I bid and got it for a whopping $3. After doing some research I found a company out West that would completely refurbish my hat. I called and then shipped it off. When it arrived I talked to a company rep who told me I had a real bargain. It was a silverbelly, not a Stetson, from a company that had gone out of business many years ago. He told me that after a $79 refurbish and return shipping fee I would have a $350 hat. It took them about four weeks to get it cleaned, blocked, and replace parts. They hand clean them, then it takes a week to dry, then they cleaned it again with another week to dry. I got it back and it is beautiful! For a grand total of $82 I have a $350 hat! I will try to post pics later. It makes for a good bar-b-que hat!!!! Take care.
Steve

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Steve

keep looking, that most likely it was an upper level one. you can get a real nice lined fur felt cowboy hat [don't get wool felt; that is that cheap stuff that novelty hats are made from] by stetson or other quality makers for $100-$200. try the stetson revenger or open road [lbj hat]; these are what i wear. you can save a lot on ebay.

'Nother hat fan here, although I learn toward stingy brims and pork pies. As much as I love the look and feel of a $400 hat, the only one I bought I ruined the same day! Can't wear a Borsalino in the rain, unfortunately.
I try to keep the note under two bills for a felt and around a hundred for my Panamas. Dobbs and Stetson are under the same roof now, I have been told. Canadian maker Biltmore is flirting with bankruptcy. Not enough men wearing proper headgear. Check out Meyer The Hatter (dotcom) if you're ever in NOLA. I usually call them up and have something shipped every other year or so.

I been wearing western hats for most of my long life. If you are looking to get one that feels right on the head and last long enough to get used to it, then begin looking at a 20X.

If you are older and not going to wear one often, get a cheap hat. If you are not going to wear one for dress, get a cheap hat. If you are not going to wear it all day, get a cheap hat.
You can find a nice hat at Shepler's for less than $200.

Most of my hats run about $600. Yet they last about 10 years each. I have one for spring & summer, another for fall and winter. Over the years I have built up my hat collection so there are three colors for the spring & summer months. I also wear my hats to formal occasions as well as in the pasture and at rodeos.

Of course, I am picky about my hats. That means a good hat must be taken care of.

NEVER handle a hat by the brim.
Always have a rain cover for it close by.
Brush them out every few days.

I had a hat made for me when I was at Ft Carson CO in 1965, I believe it was Art Weather's shop in Colorado Springs. Sadly, it was stolen a few years later... wonder if the shop is still there?

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Old paratrooper in NC

Bought a 5 X Stetson in 1986 It looks as good as new today. Only wear it from Oct 1 to April 1. Be sure to get a hat that fits your head. Long Oval are Oval. If it don't fit right you won't wear it. Proper handling and brushing will make it last forever.

NOT a cowboy hat guy..... Don't even own one.

But .......take a look at Rands Custom Hats, from Billings, MT. Real QUALITY. They have a site.

Anyone visiting Yellowstone Park or passing through eastern Montana thats a cowboy hat fan...visit Rich Rand at the shop. It's an experience and an education.

He has an antique gauge that allows him to size and fit a hat perfectly to most ANY head shape short of maybe the Elephant Man. A longtime friend of mine who has fought with his hats for years FINALLY visited rich and had one custom made. Found it FIT his head, didn't blow off in the wind, was FAR more comfortable, etc.

FN in MT

Take a look at the SASS site for "historic ideas". In the old west, cowboys were originally Mexican women. Men did the plowing, etc. First "Caballeros" (Caballo= horse), then "Vaqueros" (vaca=cow) as cattle became an industry and not subsistence.

After the War of Northern Aggression (My maternal side fought in the Border Wars), more dedicated cowboy hats in the form of the sugarloaf hat and Stetson's "Boss of the Plains" appeared. And Montana Peaks, up North. Different styles evolved in different areas.

The Stetson Open Road in silverbelly is the standard among more middle-aged cowboys. Younger ones go to a Resistol look. Up here, wranglers seem to like the "Gus" style.

For SASS, I have a $500 O'Farrell hat from Durango, a $75 Resistol and a $50 Resistol. Depends on my persona. I also have Homburg, I picked up on the "Res" up here (popular in the 1870-18880's in the cities and towns).

Wife has a large straw hat of good quality in sorta of a "Gus" style and a women's riding derby (goes with a riding skirt for a well-to-do, 1880's-style ranch look.


In short, try several on and use the mirrors. I've gone through a LOT of hats in 60+ years.

Jimmy I see you are in Tennessee, I assume it gets pretty hot there. If you plan on wearing the hat during the summer months I would suggest you look at a good straw hat, you can get a pretty nice one for $100-$200 bucks that will last a long time. A beaver hat is going to be pretty hot in the summer but feels real good in the winter. I have wore stetsons for many years and for the price they make a pretty decent hat. Good luck.

That's a good looking hat with a lot of sentiment connected with it. My favorite isn't an expensive big name traditionally cowboy hat. Around 1978 a girlfriend bought me a standard brown cowboy hat. My dad liked it so i gave it to him a couple years after that. He shaped it to his tastes. He wore it hunting for years and now it's all cool crusty and sweat stained and wears a Winnamucca rattle snake band my late big sister made from a snake her husband killed on their little desert spread around 1980. My dad gave it back to me a few years before he died. That's why it's my favorite. About your dad's cigarette smoke on it. I have a small rifle safe I bought brand new with a few rifles in it that were my dad's. When I open it I smell his cigar smoke. It must have stuck to the wood. It's a great feeling smelling that reminder of him. BTW. You don't look lit in that picture!

Jimmy,

Here's a couple of my fall & winter hats...100% beaver silverbelly.

Weather Hat Company, 4" brim, 5" crown



Jim Mackey Custom Hats, band made out brim trim....


Su Amigo,
Dave

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"IN GOD WE TRUST"

Joe in texas is right. I wear a straw hat in the warm months and save my felt for the winter. I bought a used Resistol 30X Silverbelly at a gun show for $40. I bought a new Resistol George Strait straw hat off ebay for $26 brand new. I needed a black hat for a wedding and bought a 30X from The Boot Jack in Texas for about $200. It's an inhouse brand, but every bit as nice as my Resistol.

I grew up wearing hats year round. I only wear straws in the summer anymore because of the sun. The rest of the year its caps for me. I suggest you try a straw and decide if you're a hat guy. As posted previously, you can get a pretty decent straw for under $50. I'm currently wearing a panama straw made by Atwood. I think it cost around $35. I lost my favorite a few years ago in a boating accident in Cancun (it blew of my head and sunk before I could turn the boat around). I still miss it, and it cost me $12.

I have a silver belly Stetson called the "Duke" I bought it from US CAV store while in Berlin wore it all the time. I had one long haired American at a train stop tell me "good job fitting in" I replied just like my high and tight and birth control glasses, if the Germans didn't already know i was a GI they were really slow.

On my way through the airport in Frankfurt I had a 4 handgun gun case and a Polizi escort, the customs lady asked me only 2 questions "is that a real Stetson, and is there really a pictire of a cowboy letting his horse drink from his hat on the inside and I replied yes to both and let her hold it and look inside the hat.

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Stan

You know by now it isn't going to be cheap. If you want the real deal, try Peter Brothers in Fort Worth. You can buy factory, or you can go custom. Check them out here: Borsalino hats, scala hats, dobbs hats, resistol hats, stetson cowboy hats, stetson hats.

Out
West

I got out the above mentioned re-built cowboy hat of mine. It was re-built by Paris Hatters, 119 North Broadway, San Antonio, TX 78205. Here's some photos. Wish I had taken some "before" photos. I added the blingy hatband later.

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Steve

I LIKE cowboy/Western hats. I'd like to wear one. I picked out a nice straw model at a Farm & Ranch Store in Sweetwater, Tx. about 20 years ago.
It just doesn't look right. For me, it's geographically wrong. And I've never thought they looked right wearing any sort of eyeglasses, especially sunglasses. I think Richard Petty looks ridiculous.
I spend hot NC Summers in shorts and cape-back fishing shirts and Keen-brand sandals. A cowboy hat of any quality would look like something out of the Village People.
I've tried them in the Fall and Winter - a little better, but without Western boots, it's still wrong.

As an off-duty officer, I worked many music concerts - 'Brooks & Dunn', Hank Williams Jr., and host of others. The 'fan base' was mostly into some sort of Western apparel - in fact you could tell what type of Western apparel WalMart was carrying by walking through the crowd. (why would you wear tight, black Levi's and dark, pearl-snap long sleeve shirts and a felt/beaver hat to an outdoor concert on evenings where its 90+ degrees and 95% humidity?)

Again, geographically and culturally, it was just odd-looking.

I'm jealous of you Western guys and good beaver hats, and I'll continue to envy you as I catch 50 lb. Drum in the Pamlico Sound this coming week wearing my boonie hat.

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Ret'd LEO
SWCA #2275

Hey, Wyatt I had a hat that could have been that ones twin. (minus the rattlesnake band). I bought it at WALL DRUGS in South Dakota on the way to Wyoming on a huntin' trip back in the late 70s. While in huntin' camp sittin' around the campfire one nite the cowboy guides are discussing their hats. I say I only paid $20.00 for mine. The one guy just glanced up and says It looks like it. Then nothing else was said. I still wore it for several years, it kept the rain, snow and sun off me many times. I do have a Resistol silver belly and a stetson straw. I wear this on and off.
(yeah, I lurk around here too!) See ya at that other forum.

Jimmy,

All these hats and not Smith in site...*G*





Till Now,



Su Amigo,
Dave

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"IN GOD WE TRUST"

My nephew matt had a mental problem and I kinda wuz his keeper. He always wanted to be a cowboy. A western clothing store was going out of business and I bought this Tom Mix Stetson. Theresa took this picture of me giveing it to matt. Matt died about a year later on my watch. I took the hat back. It did look better on him than it does me!

I dont have many any good pictures handy of me wearing hats. However I somehow accumilated about 6 beaver mostly stetsons, and two straw.
I have one each by charlie one horse, and one handmade for me from a guy at a gunshow I bought on a whim. He claimed he made them for tom sellick and kevin costners movies and others. I belive don williams and that famous race driver, dale earnheart wore identical ones. Gotta get theresa to take more pictures.

[QUOTE=feralmerril;136058633]My nephew matt had a mental problem and I kinda wuz his keeper. He always wanted to be a cowboy. A western clothing store was going out of business and I bought this Tom Mix Stetson. Theresa took this picture of me giveing it to matt. Matt died about a year later on my watch. I took the hat back. It did look better on him than it does me!

Matt sure did look happy. That was mighty nice of you to take such an interest in your nephew. I'm sure it made his day!
Steve

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Steve

Used to go from MS to MT every year. Always stopped in the Stetson Plant Store in St Joseph, MO on east side of I-29 on Stetson Road (816-233-8031) wound up with 8 of them that I wear from time to time. Favorite is the Merced Style which they no longer make.

Interesting enough in studying about Stetson, the hat style originated in England and Stetson lost the court case to get ownership rights.

Hat industy is interesting. Stetson sold out to Resistol, Resistol sold back to Stetson and Stetson sold out to American Hat....seems they all have problems in keeping "Hats on the world and making a living at it."

In the store in St Joseph they have a beautiful beaver that I would love to have but just could not get myself to part with the $3,000.00 (YES, that is correct) they wanted for it. Last time I was through there it was still in the case.

Good Luck,

I had an uncle that was a good friend of John B Stetson back in the 30's and 40's. My uncle's name was Buck. He was 6'7" and weighed 300 pounds. Back in the 40's JB came out with the " The Big Buck" named for him. It was a 10 X beaver Stetson and JB gave my uncle one for each of the 5 male members of the family at the time.

I was always told that each X represented the number of pelt's worth of beaver hair it took to make a particular hat.

Back then each X was worth $10.00 and that was the best hat that JB made at the time. Now I will admit that a $100 Stetson was pretty prime doin's in the 40's. My Dad wore that hat for years and I wound up with it in the 60's. It only gave up the ghost when I was tightening a wire on a barb wire fence and the wire broke. The end came right by my face, ripped the hat off my head and shredded the brim.

I still wear the Resistol my folks gave me for my 21st Birthday from time to time. I think it was a 5X beaver.
You can see it in the picture up in the corner of this post and in the picture below.





I've got a Bailey's hat for marryin's and buryin's, but it sure din't cost no $500 or more. Don't think it cost $100 and I been wearin' it for more than 10 years.

I guess what I'm sayin' is you can fair pass for a cowboy without sellin' the farm to git a hat.

Sage advice from an old cowboy.

Yeah, I'm partial to them. It bugs me not to be able to wear one while driving anymore. Damn headrests. And it's getting hard to find anyone to clean and shape them. Even the western wear stores don't do it anymore.

The 5X Stetson up top was a gift from my best friend shortly before he passed away from lung cancer. Somewhat ironic as he got it by cashing in cigarette coupons. But it's something to remember him by. The other 5X was from Sheplers, and cost a poor college student the princely sum of $45 in 1978. The beat up Stetson straw (stripped of the gaudy feathered band it came with) served me well working on a Kansas cattle ranch during summer college breaks. The other is a Resistol George Strait.

Here in El Paso there isn't enough winter for my one felt hat. I've a couple of straw ones, and they get a lot of use (and show it).

I'm thinkin' these might be real cowboy hats. My grandpa and grand uncle sometime before the 1920s in South Dakota.

Check out the auto pistol in the waistband of the guy on the left. Also, it must have been a very cold and rough climate where they were to require wearing all that sheepskin and leather!
Steve

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Steve

Looks to be a colt pocket auto, 32 or 380.

Good looking horse, well muscled, sure don't look like no mountain horse though. to good looking for a mtn. horse...

Around the time of WW II, Danbury Connecticut, about 15 miles from where I grew up, was the hat capital of the nation. There were signs in most businesses: "If you're a salesman, don't come in here unless you're wearing a hat". Most of the production was fedoras, however, this being the east. Stetson had a huge factory there. All gone now; most of it moved west.

Good looking horse, well muscled, sure don't look like no mountain horse though. to good looking for a mtn. horse...

Thanks,
How does that go? Life's too short to ride an ugly horse....

Boys,
I've been lookin at horse flesh all my life...
And that right there is as handsome a cowpony as a feller wearin a hat could ever fork.
And I ain't kiddin one bit.

Su Amigo,
Dave

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"IN GOD WE TRUST"

Why thankee Sir. Comin' from you that is high praise indeed.

Now back to our regularly programmed hat thread.