Just wanted to show you this real cool beaver top hat from the 1800s! A must-have for the Steampunk fans and also for Civil War Re-enacters.
I found this one at an estate sale in the countryside west of Philadelphia. When I look at a hat like this, it is obviously well-traveled. Not a prop or costume, it sat in a hat box after its owner put it aside for the last time, probably a hundred years ago. Waiting in an attic waiting to be prized again. It's original owner wrote his initials in it.
Who knows what this hat saw and heard? The Gettysburg Address? A Philadelphia "A"s game in the late 1800s? Had it strolled around Rittenhouse Square on a spring day, complete with ascot and spats? Ridden in a horseless carriage in the spendor of an autumn day in Chester County? Was it the dear upscale possession of a young turk trying to make his way in the world? Or the every day hat of a Main Line patriarch? We will never know, but it's fun to wonder!
Some vintage collectors claim to "feel" old owners. I don't. But I like to wonder about them. And there's something just so wonderful about a hat that has seen history...of some fashion! And now it's ready for its second spring, out of the box and ready to live again! Here's where you can find this vintage top hat!
