Hat

Description

A ceremonial cocked bicorne hat, trimmed with ribbon. Known as a "chapeau de bras", this hat is made from dark brown fur felt (probably beaver), silk ribbon and a small stamped copper or copper alloy bald eagle decoration set into the center of a large cockade (decorative bow). The interior of the hat is lined in cream colored satin with a lithographed logo and business information for a hatter in Philadelphia named Daniel Oldenbergh. The lining is deeply creased from the folded placement inside the hat and because of this fragile state, the lining was not fully unfolded during 2015 cataloguing. This is a ceremonial military style of hat, worn often by military officers. This style of hat discussed in the book From Clothing Through American History: "Navy officers wore their hats "fore and aft: - that is, with the points at front and back, while Army officers usually wore them sideways on the head."