Help dating hat pins please
- Thread starter Arabella's Treasures
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Pinkcoke
Alumni
From what I've gathered (I have no innate knowledge of hat pins as such!) the huge fantastical ones, such as the clear polkadot plastic twist, sequinned teardrop, and giant pearl bauble, tend to be from the 1960s. I don't know what started it, but it seems to have been their swansong to go out in style!
The little 'sliced' horizontal cylinders I have always seen described as 50s ish.
The carved cones I would have said 30s-40s.
The extra long stems tend to be older, say late 19thC to early 20thC because the hairstyles were quite voluminous at this time and you needed a longer pin to go through it all as well as the hat. The older ones also tend to be glass, which I think your white funnel shaped one might be.
The thistle shaped pin, although they have been made for a number of years, are one of the styles still sold today. I think the long darker metal one is much older, the short silver could have some age (not as much as the other) or be relatively new.
I'm intrigued to hear what others think about the silver metal ball with cast leaf pattern - it looks a bit older to me but I can't place that.
I think the short gold pin is a gentleman's stick pin rather than a hat pin.
The little 'sliced' horizontal cylinders I have always seen described as 50s ish.
The carved cones I would have said 30s-40s.
The extra long stems tend to be older, say late 19thC to early 20thC because the hairstyles were quite voluminous at this time and you needed a longer pin to go through it all as well as the hat. The older ones also tend to be glass, which I think your white funnel shaped one might be.
The thistle shaped pin, although they have been made for a number of years, are one of the styles still sold today. I think the long darker metal one is much older, the short silver could have some age (not as much as the other) or be relatively new.
I'm intrigued to hear what others think about the silver metal ball with cast leaf pattern - it looks a bit older to me but I can't place that.
I think the short gold pin is a gentleman's stick pin rather than a hat pin.
Better Dresses Vintage
Alumni
What a fun collection! I know that the super-long ones are late Victorian/Edwardian, as Melanie describes. The one I wear with my giant (original) Edwardian hat and big hairdo beneath is 9" long. Quite the weapon, if needed! I also wear it with my Civil-War era bonnets (and admit I'm not sure if that's period-correct). Smaller, mid-century hats needed much less length to secure them to much trimmer hairdos.
Rue_de_la_Paix
VFG Member
First, let me say that I am not a hat pin collector or historian. But of course since they are related to hats so I have learned a little (maybe very little!) along the way.
Hat pins, such as most of the ones you show, can be hard to date accurately. The earlier ones are easier to date, usually by the length of the shaft or the type of finial and attachment methods. Most of yours look to be post WWII, a few 1940s and more seem 1950s... and a few might be early 1960s. Some, such as the small carved (?) ones in the top RH image might be 1930s. I agree with Melanie that the white funnel shape one may be earlier, an Edwardian generic hatpin type that was sold in packs.
There are hat pins made by famous makers and jewelers, and then those general types (like yours) made by hat manufacturers and sold over the counter or sold directly to milliners.
My Edwardian hatpins are between 9" and 12" long. Victorians are not usually longer than 9", in general.
I do not think any (except the white funnel) of yours are older than 1930s. There is one that looks like it is rolled gold/gold filled and perhaps has been modified from an earlier piece as the head looks antique. This was very common.
Hatpins were often made by the milliner to match a hat, or made as a home craft item (popular in the 1940s and 50s). Tops could be taken off and new tops added which was very common. Older antique shafts can be married to almost anything and dealers sell it as an original antique hat pin. So as you see, it can be difficult to date hat pins! There are clues, looking for evidence of solder, glue, lack of a finial or finding, glass that has been heated to a shaft with no finial, wrong type of metal for the shaft, lack of a pointed end, etc.
Some of them are very cute!
Hat pins, such as most of the ones you show, can be hard to date accurately. The earlier ones are easier to date, usually by the length of the shaft or the type of finial and attachment methods. Most of yours look to be post WWII, a few 1940s and more seem 1950s... and a few might be early 1960s. Some, such as the small carved (?) ones in the top RH image might be 1930s. I agree with Melanie that the white funnel shape one may be earlier, an Edwardian generic hatpin type that was sold in packs.
There are hat pins made by famous makers and jewelers, and then those general types (like yours) made by hat manufacturers and sold over the counter or sold directly to milliners.
My Edwardian hatpins are between 9" and 12" long. Victorians are not usually longer than 9", in general.
I do not think any (except the white funnel) of yours are older than 1930s. There is one that looks like it is rolled gold/gold filled and perhaps has been modified from an earlier piece as the head looks antique. This was very common.
Hatpins were often made by the milliner to match a hat, or made as a home craft item (popular in the 1940s and 50s). Tops could be taken off and new tops added which was very common. Older antique shafts can be married to almost anything and dealers sell it as an original antique hat pin. So as you see, it can be difficult to date hat pins! There are clues, looking for evidence of solder, glue, lack of a finial or finding, glass that has been heated to a shaft with no finial, wrong type of metal for the shaft, lack of a pointed end, etc.
Some of them are very cute!
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