Auction Prices for Fedoras of Famous People

[randooch]

Good eye, Victor.

 

[Landman]

LBJ did wear a bigger size and I think 7 3/8 is correct. The box on that one is marked 7 1/4. That is probably one of the hundreds of Resistol hats he gave away. He continued giving them as gifts even after he was President and was living at his ranch. I've seen one of those before and that particular liner has LBJ Ranch imprinted on it.

 

[bowlerman]

Wow, these auctions are very cool. That does indeed resemble a 7 1/4 on the size tag, by my eye.

 

[JAVIER]

Goes with the box sizing, looks to be conforming.

 

[Landman]

7 1/4 is marked on the box. I have some pictures of another hat just like it in a 7 1/8. The liner has an outline of Texas and states "Johnson City - LBJ Ranch". I have an older relative who was one of his Secret Service Agents and he told me LBJ had a room at the ranch full of those hats in different sizes and he would give them away as gifts.

 

[JAVIER]

7 1/4 is marked on the box. I have some pictures of another hat just like it in a 7 1/8. The liner has an outline of Texas and states "Johnson City - LBJ Ranch". I have an older relative who was one of his Secret Service Agents and he told me LBJ had a room at the ranch full of those hats in different sizes and he would give them away as gifts.

Would that diminish the monetary value, while still rare would it not be less worthy as a commissioned piece versus a LBJ worn lid...? Still really nice, but $2,500.00 for it?

 

[fedoralover]

Not to mention it's only a 3X hat. Too bad it's not a 100X.

fedoralover

 

[Landman]

I have seen at least 3 of those hats in different sizes that sold on eBay in the past 2 years. The most any of them went for was around $600 and it had documentation that it was bought from the LBJ Library in Austin. So I think $2,500 is very wishful thinking but there may be more to the story on that particular hat. The seller says something in the auction description about it being presented to him and he tried it on. I guess if the seller has some documentation to back that up then maybe it would be worth more.

 

[ScottF]

Meyer Lansky's hat recently sold for $3,600: http://www.rrauction.com/past_auction_item.cfm?ID=3269619

Oppenheimer's hat also sold recently, but it was not a style that he normally wore. I believe it went for around $1,500.

The Landry hats are not such a big deal. Landry ordered a pile of them each year and naturally had little opportunity to wear more than a small percentage of them.

 

[Landman]

LBJ Hat

Here are some pictures of another LBJ hat. This one is a size 7 1/8. I asked my relative who was one of his Secret Service agents about LBJ's size and he couldn't remember but said he had a big noggin. He thought LBJ probably wore a 7 3/8 or bigger. He did say he had a tendancy to wear his hats tipped back and not pulled down on his forehead. So I guess he could get away with a smaller size wearing them like that.

 

[danofarlington]

7 1/4 is marked on the box. I have some pictures of another hat just like it in a 7 1/8. The liner has an outline of Texas and states "Johnson City - LBJ Ranch". I have an older relative who was one of his Secret Service Agents and he told me LBJ had a room at the ranch full of those hats in different sizes and he would give them away as gifts.

When you mention that, the Texas outline, and that there were many hats of different sizes, it now sounds like a tourist souvenir stocked in the gift shop.

 

[fedoralover]

I find it odd that a hat made for LBJ would only be a 3X quality, unless it is like you suggest and actually made for a tourist souvenir.

fedoralover

 

[Landman]

Originally they were made by Resistol for LBJ to give as gifts. Possibly at some point after his death, when the ranch was open to the public for tours, they may have sold some at the ranch gift shop. I don't know anything definite about that though. I just know that after he left the presidency and lived at the ranch he had a room full of Resistol hats in different sizes he would give away.

Lounge member Chepstow owns one he gave to a German Diplomat while he was President. That one is a little different in that he had the diplomat's name imprinted in it. Maybe he will post pictures of his.

 

[Chepstow]

Mike asked me to upload a few pictures of my Resistol, here they are.
This hat comes from the LBJ Ranch expressly made for, F. von Eckardt!

Federal Press Officer and Secretary
Felix von Eckardt 1961 with religious dignitaries, Bonn

Eckardt 1952 followed the call to build in Bonn, Press and Information Office of the Federal Government. He was in fact government spokesman. From May 1955 to 1956, he served as an observer at the United Nations in New York. Eckardt, who was considered as a confidant of Chancellor Konrad Adenauer [11], these accompanied on his visit to Moscow in September 1955. In July 1956 he was again government spokesman, in 1958 he was promoted to (civil servants) to Secretary of State in the Federal Chancellery. This post he held until 1962. From July 1962 to October 1965 he was a representative of the Federal Republic in Berlin. From 1965 to 1972 was one of Eckardt of the German Bundestag. He had won for the Christian Democratic Union (CDU), a direct mandate in the constituency Wilhelmshaven.

Now the photos

 

[Landman]

Thanks Manfred!

Yours is obviously a much nicer hat than the one I posted. Yours is a 7X and has the giftee's name in it. The exact same liner though. Apparently they used that liner for quite awhile. The unusual thing about the liner is it has Johnson City on it which is a nearby town. However, the closest town to the ranch is Stonewall, Texas. I guess he liked using Johnson City, Texas instead because of the name. Johnson City wasn't named for LBJ though. I think he did live there as a kid.

 

[Chepstow]

Mike, thanks! Your guess could be right!
Here is Ludwig Erhard, German Chancelor with LBJ and hat! 1963

http://www.spiegel.de/fotostrecke/k...ierigen-freundschaft-fotostrecke-48431-2.html


This is Erhards LBJ hat in the Federal Chancellery.

 

[ScottF]

Harry Truman's MacLaughlan

Harry Truman's fedora Sold for $2,151 plus the juice, May 2012:

 

[hatsRme]

Babe Ruth's hat

The auction article is here. $303,000 for the Babe's lid; only $151,000 for DiMaggio's.

 

[Lotsahats]

Psshhh. Baseball hats. You don't have to read long around here to see what a waste of money THOSE are.

lol

A

 

[Johnny J]

I thought this was for one of his newsboy caps!