Ars Lenci Cloche, Circa 1928

Have you ever looked at an object, admiring it, so long that you convinced yourself you had to have it? That’s what happened to me with this hat. I was having a hard time justifying the purchase, but after months of longing to add this to my collection, I bit the bullet, so to speak. My general rule about buying things that are in the upper end of my budget is that I ask myself, “How sad will I be if someone else buys this?” In this case I decided I would be very, very sad.

You may of heard of Lenci as a maker of felt dolls. The company was formed in Turin, Italy in 1918 or 1919. The first product was the dolls, but in 1927 they decided to branch out into fashion items for women and girls made from the same felt as the dolls. The line got a lot of good fashion press in both Europe and the United States.

The entire hat is constructed of felt, with colorful felt appliques of stylized flowers. It’s in very good condition, with a few tiny moth nibbles. This is, after all, made of wool felt.

This illustration is from a March 1928 issue of Women’s Wear Daily. And how about that umbrella?

This illustration is in the collection of the Museo Nacional de Artes Decorativas in Madrid. My hat also has a contrasting brim like the model in the foreground.

Here’s the label. There must have been Lenci stores in New York, Paris, London , and Manchester. I did read a reference to a store in Paris.

Lenci garments and accessories are quite rare. There is currently a darling girl’s bonnet listed on etsy, and a really sweet little sewing kit attributed to Lenci. This hat came from the collection of long-time Canadian collector Alan Suddon, who died in 2001. My thanks to Cora Ginsburg LLC for the information, the ads, and most of all the hat.

1920s California Sport Hat

If you follow me on Instagram then you have already had an opportunity to ohh and ahh over my new hat.  Well, it’s not exactly new, as it dates to between 1928 and 1930, though it has never been worn. And to make it even better, the original box was included with the hat. You may wonder how such things survive, but as someone who has had the pleasure of visiting several old stores that looked like they had been swallowed up in some time travel vortex, there are treasures like this still to be found.

I didn’t find this hat in a dusty old store storage room. It came from Dallas, Texas, from the shop of Vintage Martini. And thanks so much to Jonathan for spotting it and letting me know of its existence. Everyone needs friends who help them shop.

I thought it was rather humorous that at California Sport Hat was made in Milwaukee, so I spent some time googling. At first I got only ads for the brand, all dated from the late 1920s and very early 30s. When I added Milwaukee to the search I got a bunch of links to the Federal Trade Commission Annual Reports of 1930 and 1933.

Thanks to Google Books, these reports have been digitized and are available online. I had no idea that government reports could be so interesting. I could barely get past the cases of a maker of cotton shirts who made the consumer think their product was linen and of a men’s hatter who was taking old hats and refurbishing then, and then selling them as new. It seems like cheaters and those willing to stretch the truth to its breaking point have always been with us.

So what was the deal with California Sport Hats? There had been a complaint filed in 1929 by makers of hats located in California that the Milwaukee hats were false advertising, and even worse, cutting into their profits. There had been an earlier complaint and in 1928 the makers, Everitt & Graf, Inc., put the “Made in Milwaukee” line in the lining of their hats to try and fend off a lawsuit.  Instead, the line pretty much proved the case, and in 1930 the company was issued a cease and desist order from the FTC.

Everitt & Graf evidently complied with the order, as in 1932 the FTC closed the case. I didn’t find any ads for California Sport Hats after 1930, and I wasn’t able to find out what happened to Everitt and Graf.

The “Reg. U.S. Patt. Off.” line is interesting. I could not find any reference to either California Sport Hat or to Everitt & Graf in the Patent Office database. And it’s weird that there are two T’s in that abbreviation.

But regardless, what a peachy hat! According to the box, the color is Blush Rose. There’s a little turned down brim in the front, and the hat can be worn with a slight tilt.

The graphics on the box were used as evidence in the complaint. The illustrations of palm trees, which I’m pretty sure do not grow in Wisconsin, were pointed out as being associated with California, and were meant to deceive.

It really is the box that makes this set so special. By the 1920s Americans were benefiting from labor laws that allowed working people to have more leisure hours. And to be clear, this was not a high-end product. The  price tag is still present, and so I know this model retailed for $4. Part of the complaint against Everitt & Graf stated that their prices undercut the actual California makers, whose hats started at $5, with most costing much more.

And wouldn’t this hat be perfect paired with this 1920s knit sports dress?