The BORSALINO BROTHERHOOD

[Jeonsah]

This belonged to my great grandfather. I believe he bought it when he returned to Rome to visit family in the late 40s or early 50s.

I’d like to have it cleaned up, not restored but I don’t have a clue on who to trust with it or what questions I should ask. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated!

 

[belfastboy]

This belonged to my great grandfather. I believe he bought it when he returned to Rome to visit family in the late 40s or early 50s.

I’d like to have it cleaned up, not restored but I don’t have a clue on who to trust with it or what questions I should ask. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated!

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It would help if you were more specific in what you want. I assume the hat fits, the leather sweat band is in good shape, the liner is clean/not stained. Is that accurate? Then you just want the hat steamed, brushed, and a sharper creasing put in the crown? Is that accurate? Where do you live? It will cost approx $25 to ship each way if you don't have a hat maker nearby. And if my description above is accurate another $50 - $75 to do the work.

 

[Jeonsah]

It would help if you were more specific in what you want. I assume the hat fits, the leather sweat band is in good shape, the liner is clean/not stained. Is that accurate? Then you just want the hat steamed, brushed, and a sharper creasing put in the crown? Is that accurate? Where do you live? It will cost approx $25 to ship each way if you don't have a hat maker nearby. And if my description above is accurate another $50 - $75 to do the work.

The liner is slightly stained and torn but original to the hat so I’d prefer to keep that in think. I’m just learning about all this so I’m not sure. Probably just cleaned and reshaped.

The only places I could find in my area seem like retail cowboy hat stores. I actually reached out to Borsalino to see what it will cost for them to take care of it.

 

[belfastboy]

The liner is slightly stained and torn but original to the hat so I’d prefer to keep that in think. I’m just learning about all this so I’m not sure. Probably just cleaned and reshaped.

The only places I could find in my area seem like retail cowboy hat stores. I actually reached out to Borsalino to see what it will cost for them to take care of it.

You need to take it to a hat maker. Not just any hat maker but one that is skilled in restorations. I can do it but you will incur the extra cost of shipping back and forth. Let me know where you are located and I might be able to direct you to hater nearby. Does the hat fit you? If not, do you want it resized?
Check out my thread here in the Lounge....Wolfbrae Custom Or my Instagram page...@gaultrobert wolfbrae custom. I have pics of restorations I have done

 

[Daniele Tanto]

I actually reached out to Borsalino to see what it will cost for them to take care of it.

I think it is not a good idea. You have to pay custom to enter in Italy and when the hat will be back in the USA and Borsalino restoration is not cheap
Belfastboy made a good help to clean the Borsalino and you will save money for some other hat

 

[Rmccamey]

I picked up this beautiful milk chocolate Borsalino homburg from another TFL member (thanks, Ken). The felt is very soft and crushable - definitely vintage! A 5 inch crown, as creased, a 2 1/4 inch curled and bound brim, and a 1 1/2 inch matching ribbon. The brim curl is not a D'Orsay, but with a nice sharp fold, it's not far off.

Superior quality? Hardly. Extra Superior? That's so last year, don't you think? This hat is an Extra Extra Superior quality! Wow, could this be the first 1000X Borso

One of our resident Borsalino historians, Stefan @steur tells me this is a fairly common Borso model in the `36 - '53 period.

I know I'll enjoy this one for many years to come.

 

[Pellie]

I picked up this beautiful milk chocolate Borsalino homburg from another TFL member (thanks, Ken). The felt is very soft and crushable - definitely vintage! A 5 inch crown, as creased, a 2 1/4 inch curled and bound brim, and a 1 1/2 inch matching ribbon. The brim curl is not a D'Orsay, but with a nice sharp fold, it's not far off.

Superior quality? Hardly. Extra Superior? That's so last year, don't you think? This hat is an Extra Extra Superior quality! Wow, could this be the first 1000X Borso

One of our resident Borsalino historians, Stefan @steur tells me this is a fairly common Borso model in the `36 - '53 period.

I know I'll enjoy this one for many years to come.

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Very nice Borsalino Randy.

 

[jeffgarf]

Having returned to the office, I am spending my non-work time sorting through some of the hats that have come in while I was away. This one stood out to me as something new.

It is an Ardilla line, usually long-haired and short brimmed, of which this is neither. My other Ardilla, as well as the ones shown here previously, all seemed to meet those characteristics.

Additionally, the model is Arpasti 38 in the color, opale (an easy one to translate) with a 7cm brim. The other Arpasti 38 shown here (by @Pellie ) is a nutria in black with a short brim. Not sure if anything is to be learned here other than that Borsalino remains unpredictable.

 

[Pellie]

Having returned to the office, I am spending my non-work time sorting through some of the hats that have come in while I was away. This one stood out to me as something new.

It is an Ardilla line, usually long-haired and short brimmed, of which this is neither. My other Ardilla, as well as the ones shown here previously, all seemed to meet those characteristics.

Additionally, the model is Arpasti 38 in the color, opale (an easy one to translate) with a 7cm brim. The other Arpasti 38 shown here (by @Pellie ) is a nutria in black with a short brim. Not sure if anything is to be learned here other than that Borsalino remains unpredictable.

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I told you

 

[Rmccamey]

Thanks Marcel.

Very nice Borsalino Randy.

 

[jeffgarf]

I told you
View attachment 792331

Now help me find the nutria (though I did have that made)!

 

[Blare]

I picked up this beautiful milk chocolate Borsalino homburg from another TFL member (thanks, Ken). The felt is very soft and crushable - definitely vintage! A 5 inch crown, as creased, a 2 1/4 inch curled and bound brim, and a 1 1/2 inch matching ribbon. The brim curl is not a D'Orsay, but with a nice sharp fold, it's not far off.

Superior quality? Hardly. Extra Superior? That's so last year, don't you think? This hat is an Extra Extra Superior quality! Wow, could this be the first 1000X Borso

One of our resident Borsalino historians, Stefan @steur tells me this is a fairly common Borso model in the `36 - '53 period.

I know I'll enjoy this one for many years to come.

View attachment 792144 View attachment 792145 View attachment 792146 View attachment 792147 View attachment 792148 View attachment 792149 View attachment 792150 View attachment 792151 View attachment 792152

Great addition, Randy.

 

[Rmccamey]

Thanks, Joe.

Great addition, Randy.

 

[steur]

I picked up this beautiful milk chocolate Borsalino homburg from another TFL member (thanks, Ken). The felt is very soft and crushable - definitely vintage! A 5 inch crown, as creased, a 2 1/4 inch curled and bound brim, and a 1 1/2 inch matching ribbon. The brim curl is not a D'Orsay, but with a nice sharp fold, it's not far off.

Superior quality? Hardly. Extra Superior? That's so last year, don't you think? This hat is an Extra Extra Superior quality! Wow, could this be the first 1000X Borso

One of our resident Borsalino historians, Stefan @steur tells me this is a fairly common Borso model in the `36 - '53 period.

I know I'll enjoy this one for many years to come.

View attachment 792144 View attachment 792145 View attachment 792146 View attachment 792147 View attachment 792148 View attachment 792149 View attachment 792150 View attachment 792151 View attachment 792152

It was a succesful model for a reason: it's a beautiful hat! Very nice, Randy!

 

[steur]

Having returned to the office, I am spending my non-work time sorting through some of the hats that have come in while I was away. This one stood out to me as something new.

It is an Ardilla line, usually long-haired and short brimmed, of which this is neither. My other Ardilla, as well as the ones shown here previously, all seemed to meet those characteristics.

Additionally, the model is Arpasti 38 in the color, opale (an easy one to translate) with a 7cm brim. The other Arpasti 38 shown here (by @Pellie ) is a nutria in black with a short brim. Not sure if anything is to be learned here other than that Borsalino remains unpredictable.

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Nice find, Jeff. Indeed odd for an Ardilla, but who cares?

 

[Rmccamey]

Thank you for all the info, Stefan.

It was a succesful model for a reason: it's a beautiful hat! Very nice, Randy!

 

[jeffgarf]

A Pesca (peach) finish Borsalino of unreadable color (to my eyes, at 200% magnification) and indeterminate model. The pesca finish makes it notable to me for my collection, but if the color name looks at all familiar, please do share.

 

[Daniele Tanto]

Jeff, the color is Porfido. A type of stone

 

[jeffgarf]

Jeff, the color is Porfido. A type of stone

Thank you, sir.

 

[jeffgarf]

Page 500 of the Borsalino Brotherhood and on the threshold of the new year, it is a good moment for an update of the Borsalino database. A good bit has been added since last time and the new colours and models keep appearing.

Let's start with the colours. At the moment we're at a staggering 249 colours, not counting the unseen colours as seen on the second image. Almost all of the colours from the 1912 catalog we have not seen either. Becasue of the pages that were missing from that catalog we know that there were even more.

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The green marked colours in the "colours unseen" columns have been seen, but only as ribbon colours. It seems likely that these do not appear as felt colours, because thus far none have been found.

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Over to the models of which there are at the moment 176 with names. It is safe to assume that there were (hopefully are) many more of these as well. Quite likely all of the models in the 1912 catalog were named and there were hundreds in there.

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Finally the felt types and quality designations. Not much has changed there. Same goes for the dating method based on the label type. All of the dated examples found so far fit within this method. Understandably the owners of the earlier hats are reluctant to mess with the sweatbands of those hats to add to the known information. New information is always more than welcome of course. View attachment 668503

Unless I am mistaken, I may have come across an Asfalto color (marked as previously unseen above) in, what appears to be a model, Scandio, last mentioned here in 2013 with no photos currently available. It doesn't show up on the above lists either. I believe it is from 1978, as indicated by the label.