Rip Snorter Posted March 4 Share Posted March 4 I did pay $400 once for a custom made 20X, and another time $70 for a silver Navajo concho band, but wow! https://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-13133147/kemo-sabe-hat-brand-aspen-colorado-status-symbol.html 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cypress Sun Posted March 4 Share Posted March 4 A fool and his money are soon parted. 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Big Sage, SASS #49891 Life Posted March 4 Share Posted March 4 Custom hats are not cheap! My wife bought me a custom hat from Nathaniel (used to be in Mancos, Co, now in Texas). It was $800.00 and was beaver and that was 15 years ago. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Colorado Coffinmaker Posted March 4 Share Posted March 4 I remember walking into a High End western hat store in Denver Colorado. Located in Denver's High End mall. The cheapest hat in the place was over $500 US. That was over 25 years ago. Oof Da. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mud Marine,SASS#54686 Life Posted March 4 Share Posted March 4 Only an Easterner who inherited a ranch would pay for a stetson that will probably get blown off, trampled, fallen into manure, soaked with sweat, etc. I buy very serviceable Stetsons for less than $100.00. I get fancy buckles from shooting matches. I spend my money on boots. That works for me. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tex Jones, SASS 2263 Posted March 4 Share Posted March 4 13 minutes ago, Mud Marine,SASS#54686 Life said: Only an Easterner who inherited a ranch would pay for a stetson that will probably get blown off, trampled, fallen into manure, soaked with sweat, etc. I buy very serviceable Stetsons for less than $100.00. I get fancy buckles from shooting matches. I spend my money on boots. That works for me. Those folks aren't doing "cowboy" work. Can't get them very dirty walking around the streets of Aspen. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cypress Sun Posted March 4 Share Posted March 4 34 minutes ago, Tex Jones, SASS 2263 said: Those folks aren't doing "cowboy" work. Can't get them very dirty walking around the streets of Aspen. Might get a certain skunky smell though...you'd have to be Colorado Rocky Mountain high to pay that much for a (for them) status symbol. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blackwater 53393 Posted March 4 Share Posted March 4 I have several custom cowboy hats and as many of you know, I built, shaped, and repaired custom cowboy hats for several years. There are a number of different grades and different materials available in the hat industry. Felt hats are made of rabbit fur, wool, nutrea fur, (a kind of swamp rodent) and beaver fur, as well as some synthetics. Hat bodies are made in several different countries, including the United States. There is one hat body maker here in the USA, Winchester in southeastern Tennessee. Winchester makes three grades of hat body, all good quality. The standard hat body is roughly 15% beaver fur and the rest rabbit. The next level is a 50% beaver fur felt with the rest rabbit. The top grade hat body is 100% beaver fur felt. Other hat body makers may have different mixtures and use other materials. When I was in the business, I used Winchester hat bodies of all three percentages. A standard hat was the least expensive and I sold a lot of them. They hold up well and can be worn for many years without major problems. They clean fairly easily and can hold up to some pretty serious abuse, but they aren’t indestructible. They aren’t really very waterproof, but you can dry and reshape them if they get too misshapened. The 50% hats are much more sturdy and significantly more waterproof and durable. They are generally twice as expensive, but in my experience, worth the extra money if you have it to spend. The pure beaver felt hats are the top of the heap! They’re also about twice the price of the 50% hat. A pure beaver hat is nearly indestructible. Unless you cut it up or burn it, it will likely last for your grandchildren to wear, long after you have left this world. A pure beaver hat will wholesale for over $500.00 , unshaped and with no trim. Just the hat body and a sweat band! The last new ones I sold, shaped to the customer’s request and trimmed and lined with a silk lining and custom hat band, went for around $1,000.00 . That was about six years ago. 3 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PowderRiverCowboy Posted March 4 Share Posted March 4 (edited) I stick with my Resistol Black Golds 20x and even they are 450 ish now but Greeley hat works sells many Edited March 4 by PowderRiverCowboy 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rip Snorter Posted March 4 Author Share Posted March 4 I have a low end Resistol that my Wife gave me 20 odd years ago. Worn regularly, it has been cleaned and reshaped twice. It is finally starting to show some wear and the start of cracking. I may get it restored one more time. I believe it was around $150. A Rancher friend still has and wears customs that were made for his Father and Grandfather and they look great. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PowderRiverCowboy Posted March 4 Share Posted March 4 1 minute ago, Rip Snorter said: I have a low end Resistol that my Wife gave me 20 odd years ago. Worn regularly, it has been cleaned and reshaped twice. It is finally starting to show some wear and the start of cracking. I may get it restored one more time. I believe it was around $150. A Rancher friend still has and wears customs that were made for his Father and Grandfather and they look great. The one I won in a rodeo , wore the next rodeo that had a edge clipped on it from a bull hoof , reshaped many times at a Local good western store (bought out and ruined by Boot barn ). They would just see me walk in and step aside at the steamer and usually asked me to shape a couple for them while I was there. But good ole Military Movers lost that one loved that hat and lots of memories with it . 1 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Red Gauntlet , SASS 60619 Posted March 4 Share Posted March 4 I have two (actual) Stetson fedoras, one black, one brown, that each cost about $350, marketed (and marked) by Stetson as 100% beaver felt, a claim that I have no reason to doubt. Weather has no effect on them, unlike lesser hats I've owned. [I say 'actual' because the linked article, and other places, seem sometimes to use 'stetson' as generic for cowboy hats, rather than the brand.] 1 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Big Sage, SASS #49891 Life Posted March 4 Share Posted March 4 Better picture. I do love this hat. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Texas Jack Black Posted March 4 Share Posted March 4 They all look the same after a few cheap beers. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wild Eagle Posted March 5 Share Posted March 5 I know a few people that will only buy 100x pure beaver hats. They are very nice, last, and hold their shape well. But they are way out of my price range for a item that I don't like to wear in the first place. Have to wear them to shoot, and used to have to wear them to show horses. Take them off as soon as I can. However, learn to recognize a 100x beaver hat. The people who wear them usually also drink and share very good scotch whisky. Great people to hang out with. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sgt. C.J. Sabre, SASS #46770 Posted March 5 Share Posted March 5 49 minutes ago, Wild Eagle said: Have to wear them to shoot, There's nothing in the rules that says you have to wear a hat unless you're shooting in "Classic" or "B Western", if I'm not mistaken. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Equanimous Phil Posted March 5 Share Posted March 5 43 minutes ago, Sgt. C.J. Sabre, SASS #46770 said: There's nothing in the rules that says you have to wear a hat unless you're shooting in "Classic" or "B Western", if I'm not mistaken. My 73 tells me to wear one with every spent case! And to the initial topic: I consider it a good thing if people who have plenty of money spend that money. Equanimous Phil ...who got his reasonable priced quality headgear from Crappy Cowboy Hats 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Forty Rod SASS 3935 Posted March 5 Share Posted March 5 i think I'll keep my 82 year old Resistol that I gave a hundred bucks for....because of the story that came with it. I'll buy guns, ammo, leather work, have custom gun smithing done, and eat a lot for the difference. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Oak Ridge Regulator Posted March 5 Share Posted March 5 23 hours ago, Texas Jack Black said: They all look the same after a few cheap beers. I have heard the same thing said in many a bar but we weren’t talking about hats 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rip Snorter Posted March 5 Author Share Posted March 5 19 minutes ago, Oak Ridge Regulator said: I have heard the same thing said in many a bar but we weren’t talking about hats That's fine right up to the point you have to chew your arm off. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cypress Sun Posted March 5 Share Posted March 5 17 minutes ago, Rip Snorter said: That's fine right up to the point you have to chew your arm off. That's just coyote ugly. Wolfman ugly is where you chew the other one off also so it never happens again. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Anvil Al #59168 Posted March 5 Share Posted March 5 (edited) Most of the hats I have are in the $200 range. And yes. I will wear them out in the dust and working outside. I wear a cowboy hat a lot in just everyday life. I do have one 50x that I paid over $600 for. I don't wear it much except when we go out to eat or something like that. I wear it sometimes to a SASS banquet. Have a couple hats that over 40 years old. But still going. One my wife just doesn't want me to wear. It's dirty, sweaty and been wore hard. But I still wear it sometimes anyway. It's got a lot of character. Edited March 5 by Anvil Al #59168 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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