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by Rosemary Lee Potter
Special to Tropical Breeze
Seems so obvious. Everybody probably has
one. Seuss's Cat is in one as well as his Bartholomew Cubbins, who
apparently had 500 of ‘em. They are worn high as in formal,
thrown high as in West Point graduations, and without one, you
can't safely be a miner, a Kayaker or feel comfortable attending a
special Red one Society event. Hats. Of course, hats.
Dressy hats for everyday ladies are not
too common, but there's a move on to start wearing them again on
special occasions. British and European royalty, both men and
women, wear position-appropriate hats when in public.
I asked several people to walk through
their home and tell me how many and what kind of hats they own. It
was fun to hear the results and see them decide to wear a hat. A
bicyclist helmet appeared, a pith helmet, a Russian Air Force
captain's hat, and my husband turned up in a special Mickey Mouse
Commemorative hat with silver ears! There were 14 hats in my own
home. A friend has more that 50!
So it appears that many of us past and
present collect hats inadvertently, in the sense that we have this
or that baseball or football caps and other chapeaus obtained from
time to time. The hats stack up. Garden variety, straw farmers'
hats, inspector's, military, and law enforcement hats.
I have a friend who loves to watch
baseball. He has a team cap from each team in both professional
leagues. He wears the team hat he's rooting for when he watches
the game on big-screen TV.
Hats often feature costuming for parties,
for TV, stage and movies. In the famous show-stopping racetrack
scene in "My Fair Lady," the women wore beautiful, huge
turn-of-the-century hats. The hats were part of the visual
choreography, some nearly three feet tall counting feathers.
But then who's collecting officially?
Well, any of those types of hats mentioned are collectible,
especially if they are old or ownership authentic, the hat of a
celebrity, of a baseball great, or a long-gone milkman's hat.
I've seen all of these for sale. I've seen coonskin and deerskin
caps in museums. Hats from another day, bonnets, sombreros,
ten-gallon hats, boy scout soldier-style hats and girl scout
berets, civic and social club headwear; all hanging or displayed in
hat collector's homes.
Recently on eBay, I saw ladies' dressy
hats for sale, adorned with bows, feathers and net. Another hat
category seen was military. Earlier I owned a humorous stuffed toy
turtle sunbonnet. Lois Spencer, owner of Safety Harbor Antiques and
Collectibles, told me that when she used to manage the annual
Safety Harbor Arts and Crafts Fair, one year she wore an inflated
flamingo hat so that she could easily be located when out and about
in the street crowd. I know we've seen FL Gator hats.
You might not think at first it was a big
hat deal. The original owner probably didn't. But there was quite
a stir at an antiques fair when someone brought in an tall old
hatbox, inside a top hat made of beaver! This true antique would
bring a significant price at auction. Not only was the hat in good
condition. So was its box, both more than 100 years old!
In many antique shops there are hats
displayed here or there, sometimes on hat trees, sometimes one all
by its lonesome. Sometimes a hat is made of felt, sometimes in
"maybe real" fur or faux fur, knit or canvas, or even oil cloth as
in mariner bad weather headgear or hats associated the members of
weddings. In recent years almost all the consignment shops sold out
of vintage red hats -- that is until entrepreneurs began offering
classy new ones to satisfy the Red Hat Society dress code.
It would not be hard then to start a hat
collection, wear them or not. You probably already have. Past or
present hats offer many possibilities. As is the case with ladies
handbags or gloves, such a vintage hat collection makes a
fascinating, decorative conversation piece when displayed on a
wall.
I've read that men used to carry paper
and pens under their tall hats, maybe even secrets up there, as
suggested in the old saying, "Keep this under your hat!" Why, we
often say this, even when nobody's wearing a hat. Wonder what sort
of hat is meant when we note that "Someone's throwing his hat into
the ring!"
Next time you're at an official
celebration, collect hats with your eyes. You may be surprised just
how many people are wearing potential collectibles right there on
their heads. There's the band, the hosts and dignitaries, the
vendors, the cab drivers, the hat with goggles on the head of the
driver of a 1920s parade vehicle...
Consider collecting hats!
© 2007 Rosemary Lee Potter. All
Rights Reserved.
Rosemary Lee Potter is a confirmed victim
of the collecting bug and can be reached by e-mail at
This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it
or write to her in care of Tropical Breeze,
P.O. Box 585, Safety Harbor, FL 34695.
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