Lock & Co hat - era?

Hi

I'm trying to establish the era this Lock & Co hat was made and not finding much luck on the internet. Well I've found out a lot of fascinating history of this long established, and still going, family owned company which was fun. But nothing to establish the date of this hat. Any ideas please?

The lining is stitched rather than glued, size stated is 7 1/4 (British).

Many thanks

 

I believe the three symbols you mention are the initials of the hat's owner.

Carnivale, try emailing your inquiry/photos to Lock & Co.

I was interested to see that they designed the "fitments" for the coronation crown of the Queen in 1953!

 

While I am not well versed in comparing Lock hats made over the past century, I get a general sense that this handsome Homberg hat of yours dates to post 1950s. Possibly the 1960s era. Just the general construction and look of the interior parts.

Usually the owner's initial are either stamped in gold gilt on the leather sweatband or perforated into the band. I do not usually see them stamped in dye on the lining. So I would be curious to see what those symbols are.

It is very nice hat.

 

They are applied shield-shaped thingies. Here is an interior pic of another Lock & Co hat:

 

Hello sorry for the late answer and thank you all so much for your replies! Donna is spot on, I believed the shield shaped parts were the owners initials which is why I didn't bother photographing them for you, sorry for that! I'll get a photo for you in a couple of hours when I have the hat to hand. And yes I should have thought about just emailing the company! I will do that and report back. Many thanks everyone.

 

Also on a side note - wow about the involvement with the crown!

 

Right here we go, the owner's initials.

 

Seeing that the initials are actually custom woven (or a sewn in applique) into the lining before it is inserted in the hat, is a nice touch and more expected of a firm such as Lock. I originally thought it was some sort of ink stamp which seemed so odd to me.

 

How cool to see one of The Queen's hat blocks!

Editing this to ask...is this indeed a photo of one of the blocks used to make one of the Queen's hats? It usually would say HRM The Queen, and this one is missing the "Royal" part. But that writing is an in-house thing, not meant to be seen. Is this a block from Lock?

Do you have a photo of the whole block, as that appears to be only the bottom? I would love to see it.

 

Generally, in the US, the brown hat bands were from the 50s. Into the med 60s they changed to black.
An excellent quality hat

 

Maybe the "in house" just neglected to use HRM on the block, but instead, just HM as they may have just written it as they would address her as "Her Majesty"! So interesting to see this photo of this block. Couldn't help but wondr what size hat she wears!

 

Here you go Ruth, sorry for the delay. I've lightened it so you can see it better. It's such a dark day here in Edinburgh!

 

No worries, I've messaged Lock & Co in the hope they'll be up for getting some photos and letting us know. 50s or 60s makes some sense given the age of the family member I bought it from, but I'd like to nail it down a little further if possible!

Many thanks to all for your help.