Customer Reviews

Stetson Hats & the John B. Stetson Company: 1865Ð1970

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Wow! There is no other book like this out there all about Stetson hats and the Stetson company. Many different hat types are shown from western to city to women's hats (did you know Stetson made women's hats? ). Great history of the company, the people who worked there, and the hats they produced. I know this book is being used for reference by museums. Great for collectors, dealers, historians, anyone interested in the West ... The list goes on. Jeffrey B. Snyder has put together a classic. It will be a long time before another Stetson book this good will be produced.

Do you have an old Stetson hat and wonder what it's worth? This book may help. It also contains a history of the company, photographs, as well as a section on women's hats manufactured by Stetson. I often refer people to the section on care and the handling of hats.

I have owned this book for about a year and have referred it to many times. For a hat collector like myself, and a Stetson lover, it is equally delightful and frustrating. First the strong points: the photos and history are excellent. If you are not old enough to have been a part of the hat generations that sadly ended about the time of JFK in the 60's then this is a great read. You will learn how felt hats are made, and about the rise of Stetson to Empire status in Philly and beyond. You will see colorful hat boxes and liners, and old photos of a lost era that are quite striking.

But if you are looking for a book to act as anything resembling a reference resource in terms of hat production dates, styles and when they were introduced, and lastly price values of vintage hats, then you will be sadly disappointed. Instead you will see random hat photos, some with dates, others without, and other random notations of dates when liners, sweatbands, stamps, and boxes were used. The prices noted are useless, (150-300) the author will tag to most photos. A quick ebay search will give you much more accurate info on what a hat sells for. So why do I keep picking it up and flipping through?

All in all I did enjoy the book, but more as an interesting history book, rather than of book of practical value. If you don't need to know when grandpa's hat was made or what it might be worth, then you will probably look this one over many times. Its a great coffee table piece as well.