ChasFink
Justified & Ancient
- Joined
- Jan 22, 2016
- Messages
- 2,512
I just saw a TV commercial featuring a little girl in a deerstalker hat, and it reminded me of an odd coincidence - or was it?
Back in my college days I had a lovely wool deerstalker myself. It was a brown houndstooth weave, looked very much like one depicted on a Sherlock Holmes anthology I owned, and in my opinion was superior to others I had seen. I bought it at a gift shop near my home at the time.
A couple of years later, I was between flights at the Shannon, Ireland, airport. Browsing through the duty free shops, I came across a large selection of hats made by the company that made my deerstalker: Millar's of Clifden, Connemara. I decided to buy one as an alternate to the deerstalker which, due to its connection to the fictional detective, was sometimes laughed at. I settled on a nice green tweed.
One day a fellow student made reference to my Sherlock Holmes hat - but she meant the green one, not the deerstalker! I soon realized she was making a reference to the hat worn by Basil Rathbone in the "modern day" Holmes films set in the 1940s. I admitted my hat was similar, although that wasn't a factor when I bought it.
I threw away the deerstalker when it became quite worn, but in recent years tried to find a replacement. Unfortunately Millar's doesn't seem to make them anymore, and they also don't appear to sell many outside their own shop. When searching for it, however, I came across evidence of an online auction for one of Rathbone's later Holmes hats.
It is indeed the same style as the one I had, down to the pattern of the cloth. It looks greenish here to my eye, but I believe this one is brown. The manufacturer? Millar's of Clifden, Connemara.
I'm not sure if I still have mine somewhere, but if I can dig it out I will begin wearing it again.
Back in my college days I had a lovely wool deerstalker myself. It was a brown houndstooth weave, looked very much like one depicted on a Sherlock Holmes anthology I owned, and in my opinion was superior to others I had seen. I bought it at a gift shop near my home at the time.
A couple of years later, I was between flights at the Shannon, Ireland, airport. Browsing through the duty free shops, I came across a large selection of hats made by the company that made my deerstalker: Millar's of Clifden, Connemara. I decided to buy one as an alternate to the deerstalker which, due to its connection to the fictional detective, was sometimes laughed at. I settled on a nice green tweed.
One day a fellow student made reference to my Sherlock Holmes hat - but she meant the green one, not the deerstalker! I soon realized she was making a reference to the hat worn by Basil Rathbone in the "modern day" Holmes films set in the 1940s. I admitted my hat was similar, although that wasn't a factor when I bought it.
I threw away the deerstalker when it became quite worn, but in recent years tried to find a replacement. Unfortunately Millar's doesn't seem to make them anymore, and they also don't appear to sell many outside their own shop. When searching for it, however, I came across evidence of an online auction for one of Rathbone's later Holmes hats.
It is indeed the same style as the one I had, down to the pattern of the cloth. It looks greenish here to my eye, but I believe this one is brown. The manufacturer? Millar's of Clifden, Connemara.
I'm not sure if I still have mine somewhere, but if I can dig it out I will begin wearing it again.
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