Hi Rene,
This is mine...
I understand the five rows of reinforcing stitching to the edge indicates very early production (pre-Great War), though I have yet to find confirmation of this.
There are two paper labels glued in, both denoting size 7 1/8, though no maker’s marking is visible.
The Infantry blue cords are now, clearly, quite faded and there are no fittings for a chinstrap (no break is provided in the lining band stitching, which would allow insertion of a strap, in the style of the Commonwealth Slouch Hat either).
Not as squeaky as yours, but I like it. These hats do have such evocative character about them...
Great find mate and all the best,
Bob
I owned a WWI Marine Corps hat that since has been traded for some Imperial German items . I probably won't find one in better condition. They are definitely a neat collectible. Posted to use as a reference not to distract from Rene's great find.
I'm a bit late to the party, but I wanted to share what I learned yesterday about Stetson campaign hats.
I spent quite a bit of time on Facebook chatting with a fellow collector from the Netherlands about our Stetsons. His hat is actually named to a U.S. Marine from WWI. His hat had the five rows of stitching on the brim, as previously mentioned on this thread.
While chatting with him, I spent considerable time researching this website about how to date Stetson hats:
Based on a number of manufacturing techniques used by Stetson, such as the embossed logo, type of size label used, stitching of the sweat band and color and shape of the "To Duplicate" tag, I was able to determine that my Stetson was manufactured sometime during the 1920's.
This is my Stetson campaign hat. The last photo is of what appears appears to be a name, but I can not make out what it says.
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