dating Bond and CO Hatters Collapsible hat

[laurenm]

Hi there, wondering about a date for this unfortunately fragile collapsible Top Hat.

A customer brought it in to show me and after we had collapsed it and repopped it one of the mechanisms came loose.....he opened up the lining and I was able to look at the collapsing spring thing....so cool!

Lauren

 

[cmpollack]

It's an "opera" or "gibus" hat--check out the "Collapsible Top Hat" section in Wikipedia's entry on top hats for some history!

The feather is throwing me--I don't believe it's original to the hat...

 

[laurenm]

Yes, the feather is circa January 17th 2015, he put that on to hide a tear in the fabric.... Thanks for the tip!