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ADDITIONAL INFORMATION ABOUT STETSON HATS

tetson.com offers advice regarding the care leading manufacturer in headwear, the exact
and cleaning of one of their fur-felt hats. percentages are a manufacturing secret formula
SFor all the cowgirls and cowboys out there, that they choose not to share.
here is how Stetson sees it:
• Store your felt hat upside down on its Q: What do the “X”s mean?
crown, on a clean surface, or in a hat box to keep A: The quality of the hat body used to make a
the brim from flattening out. hat is the factor that determines the X's. In felt,
• Remove dust and loose dirt with a soft it is determined by the percentage of furs used in
brush, starting at the left side of the hat and making the hat body. Stetson uses beaver, mink,
brushing counter-clockwise. chinchilla, and other animal fur to make bodies.
• Avoid exposing your hat to the heat from The mixture of what furs are used determines
stoves, radiators, lamps, car windows, and the number of X's.
enclosed cars in the summer. The combination
of the heat and perspiration will shrink the Q. I have acquired a vintage Stetson hat and
sweatband. would like to know more about it.
• If your hat gets wet, shake off the excess Vintage 6X Stetson Western Hat, Mens Old Formosan A. Stetson has been around since 1865; there-
water, and turn down the “self-conforming” Gray Straw Shantung Cowboy, size 7 3/8 fore it is very difficult to provide information
leather sweatband. This will allow the hat to dry for sale on ebay.com such as worth, age, or style name for vintage
naturally. While the hat is wet, don’t let the items.
brim touch the surface, and don’t place it near QUESTIONS FREQUENTLY Over the years, many people have used the
heat. Heat can reactivate the felting process and ADDRESSED BY STETSON: internet to better identify their Stetson. There
cause shrinkage. have also been many books written about the
• To keep perspiration from penetrating the Q: How much does a 10-gallon hat hold? Stetson hat over the years. We recommend you
fur felt, occasionally turn down the leather A: Three quarts. look into such resources to answer your
sweatband so it can dry out. -Should your hat, questions.
(if it is light colored) become spotted with water Q: How much of the felt comes from beaver For example:
or grease, you can clean it with a little baby talc pelts? Stetson Hats and the John B. Stetson Company
or corn starch - not liquid cleanser, please! A: The percentage of beaver is determined by by Jeffrey B. Snyder, Hat Talk by Debbie
• To put on or remove your hat, hold the the X quality of the product. The higher the X's Henderson, and Cowboys & Hatters: Bond Street,
brim in front and back, and handle the crown as the higher percentage of beaver fur is mixed in Sagebrush, & The Silver Screen by Debbie
little as possible. the hat. Because of the efforts to revive this Henderson

Brian Lebel’s Old West Events

January Show in Las Vegas

LAS VEGAS, NV – Brian Lebel’s Old West Events and Cody Old
West Show & Auction have integrated with Morphy Auctions in an
initiative that will benefit dealers and collectors of Western antiques
and firearms. Brian Lebel and his wife and business partner, Melissa
McCracken, will continue to operate their Annual Old West Show &
Auction, which traditionally has been held every January in Mesa,
Arizona, and in June in Santa Fe, New Mexico. However, effective
January 2024, the Lebels’ January show and auction will move to
Las Vegas to partner with Morphy’s Las Vegas Antique Arms
show. The Santa Fe
show, taking place from
June 21 to 23, 2024,
will not be affected.
Brian Lebel and Dan
Morphy first crossed
paths around 1997,
when Morphy opened
Adamstown Antique
Gallery in Denver, PA,
the current site of
Morphy Auctions. Brian
became one of the gallery’s first dealers and continued to sell from a
showcase there for many years.
“The union of our January shows will resolve an issue that had
arisen in the past in which Lebel’s January show dates in Mesa and our
show dates in Las Vegas sometimes overlapped or conflicted,” said
Morphy. “There’s a lot of crossover in the type of merchandise sold by
Brian’s dealers and our Vegas firearms dealers. Bringing them together
under one roof—in a 60,000-square-foot ballroom space at the
Westgate Resort and Casino—is a perfect fit.”

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