After nearly a month of back-and-forth emails trying to get PayPal set up for them, figuring out shipping, actually shipping the package and then having it be delayed by that horrendous train wreck in Wolf Point, Montana, my long-awaited hat is finally HERE! This hat was my reward for working a 21-day stretch of B&B bookings this July (with only 2 real days of "rest"). This July 2012 has been our best month ever at the inn, and I felt it deserved an appropriate hat!
This breathtaking, museum-quality "Art Bern Hats by Frank Palma" piece consists of a brown felt base with upturned brim and a double-faux-bird decoration on the right side. It is just amazing! I am so insanely excited to be able to add it to my growing collection of vintage Frank Palma faux bird hats! I'm a little unsure as to the time period for the hat, however. My best guess would be late 1940s - early 1950s, but I could be wrong...? The hat, while definitely having seen some abuse, is still in surprisingly good shape. The felt and netting are intact, as are the feathers. The biggest problem is that age has made the glue used to attach the feathers begin to disintegrate. The seller warned me about this in advance, and when I received the hat I spent some time carefully re-gluing the loose feathers. I'll probably still have to glue a few more as general wear makes them come loose, but that's not a problem. This is a common occurrence with feathered hats of this age, and I have become rather adept at repair work.
My husband insisted that I buy the 1940s brown one-piece dress suit with attached peplum train - which we found at a local antique store last weekend - to go with the hat. I think the combined effect of the hat and the dress is killer!
Welcome home, Frankie!
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