Top Hat
I will christen this blog by posting about one of my absolute favourite vintage items – my top hat.
My wife, Emmie, bought the hat for me at a second hand shop for 150kr (£12.50 / $18). I wasn’t there at the time, but we share the same head size and she checked the hat on her, and felt it fit quite well. The hat came with a box, which was quite battered, and not a particularly good box for a top hat (Even inside the box, the hat is still held up by the base of the crown, rather than the brim, which means whenever you move the box the edge of the crown is knocked, which wears the hat down over time). However, I was thrilled.
When Emmie gave me the box and I took the hat out, I noticed that there was some newspaper at the bottom of the box, placed there I can only assume to prevent dust getting in through the holes in the hat box. A quick glance at the newspaper gave a date of the 22nd September, 1956. This immediately showed that the hat was not a modern creation, and I became even more excited. I noticed that the hat was made by “H.J. Olsson”, in a town quite near where I live.
For a while after that, however, I didn’t find much out about the hat. Nobody on the vintage forum I frequent, The Fedora Lounge, had any ideas regarding it, and I couldn’t find any information online from the names I had found on the hat’s lining.
One day, while looking at the hat, I noticed it was made in Eslöf. Until then I had read it as Eslöv, the name of a town quite near where I live, so I naturally assumed that the hat had come from there. A little bit of research revealed that Eslöf is the archaic name for Eslöv, so I thought it could assist with ageing the hat some more. I contacted the Eslöv library, asking if they would be able to provide any further information. I was quickly contacted by a librarian from Eslöv library, who, over a few e-mails, informed me that the hat shop was opened in 1890, and closed down in 1966, and for the last 20 years was not run by the Olsson family. She also informed me that the name of Eslöv was changed to Eslöf in 1927. This meant that the hat was created some time between 1890 and just before 1930 (Providing time for the linings with the old name of the town to be consumed).
I also checked the quality of the hat, the feel of the material used to create the hat, and the quality of the light reflection, and I am reasonably sure that the hat is made of silk plush. This makes the hat a much higher quality top hat, and makes the price Emmie bought it for even better! Once I have brushed and polished the hat, I will know for certain whether it is silk plush or melusine (felt).
I have recently aquired some hat brushes, so I can brush out the dust from the top hat. I am keeping my eye out for a velvet pad, which is required to polish the hat, so that it can get back the shine it deserves.
