my sister brought this query to me, I said the lining looked 70's/80's from men's hats I've had with similar quilted finishes, and that the fur most resembled rabbit from all that I could find (it's the only fur I know of with this tabby pattern), however this is not the meaning of the word following 'Mex' (fur) on the label, nor have I been able to identify it, by translating all types of fur into russian to compare! I presume the little critter could reflect the fur used or might just be he maker's logo. Your thoughts please?
No idea on the fur. I used to be able to read the cyrillic alphabet and I had a dictionary somewhere but I've thrown that out... It's a bit hard to read, but I think the word underneath the big letters reads as "Leningrad". Leo.org is my go-to translater for words and meanings, according to it, the word here written as "MEX" means simply fur. The word after it - no idea, I haven't yet figured out how to type cyrillic font into Leo, so I can only translate German to Russian or Russian words into German that use the same characters. The big letters below read as "ROT-FRONT". Front, according to Leo, can really just mean "front" as in our sense of the word. But Rot - I don't know. It doesn't mean red, that I know, the Russian word for that is a different one. Karin
Can you get a photo of one of the sides of the hat that shows the ear flaps? I am unsure of fur type at this point but seeing another angle may help me better. These hats have also been made for a long time and they're still being made but many of the 80s Russian trooper hats did have that quilted lining whereas the more contemporary ones I have seen do not.
Lots of those Russian trooper/ushanka hats out there! https://www.google.com/search?biw=1...H9GU&pbx=1#q=russian+trooper+fur+hat&tbm=shop A number of them are faux fur; any chance your is pile too? Can you peek underneath anywhere to see if it's a pelt or not? This one looks like a similar fur to yours, and says it's mink (also has a quilted lining): http://www.ebay.com/itm/VINTAGE-Uni...XCELLENT-/131075829524?_trksid=p2054897.l4275
There are a lot of faux fur trooper hats. I think the fur of Melanie's looks real but being I cannot get a positive id on it from the photos shown, the possibility of it being faux is still a possibility. If you cannot see pelt or feel pelt under there you can also pull a few furs from the inside by the lining and do a burn test. If the fur burns slow, melts, and smells like plastic, or a nail salon it's faux. If it burns fast and smells like hair it's real. The fur in the listing Carrie posted doesn't look like Mink. Based on the closeup it looks like dyed Muskrat. Melanie's may be dyed Muskrat as well. I cannot conclusively say though based on the photos shown so far though. A side shot and maybe a closeup may help id fur type better.
More pics added. Looks like it's too well sewn up to get into. That seam is where the brim joins inside. She said the skin looked like orange peel.
Ok, thank you. I cannot tell if that is skin from those photos. The skin should feel like soft suede or leather rather than an orange peel. She really needs to do a burn test to verify whether it's real or faux. She can either snip a few furs or pull a few furs from inside where the fur edges meet the lining or any inconspicuous area where the furs won't be missed, burn them, watch, and smell. Again, if real it will burn fast and smell like hair. If not, it will burn slow, melt, and smell like plastic. If it is real the side shot looks most like Russian Squirrel to me. I tried to find a Russian Squirrel hat but could only find a Canadian Squirrel hat but the resemblance is close enough so let me show you. I think with this one if it's real she needs to describes the texture as it feels, note that it is real but that she is unsure of the fur type unless someone locally can help her identify. http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/VINTAGE-REAL-CANADIAN-SQUIRREL-FUR-HAT-unused-0-1-21-/160798601698
Ok I will get her to do that. I'm still messing around with the cyrillic characters on google translate (where you can used a cyrillic keyboard in upper and lower case) to guess at the words printed. Ok so I've got: MAY (haven't cracked the characters of this word yet) CCCP - USSR (making the hat pre-1991) POT can translate as mouth or trap, and фРОНТ as front or forefront. Probably the brand or makers name: (I found the same animal logo and name on this hat.) MEX ОБЪЕДИНЕНИЕ Fur association or union ЛЕНИНГРАД Leningrad ФКА - FSA (this is an abbreviation I think, possibly something to do with the fur authority?)
Great you were able to translate the rest, and that Google can do it! I wasn't getting any further with Leo, but hadn't realised that Google would do Russian too . I use Leo mostly at work and translate just words, which works better for me. Karin
