Montgomery Ward sold Cowboy Hats from 1883 to early 1900's.

If you know the history of cowboy hats, you'll know that Montgomery Ward was one of the first stores in the world to sell cowboy hats. In the early 1870's they were selling a precursor to the cowboy hat, the "Men's Panama Hat". Then in 1878 Montgomery Ward began sales of the direct predecessor of the cowboy hat, the "Men's Planter's Hat". When John B. Stetson moved west from Philadelphia, he saw that the cowboys were taking the Men's Planter's Hats and reforming the brims and crowns to their own unique individual tastes. He returned to Philadelphia and produced the worlds first "Cowboy Hat", the "Boss of the Plains". In 1883 Montgomery Ward began offering their own line of "Cowboy Hats", followed 7 years later by Sears, Roebuck and Co. (info from: http://www.jhhatco.com/jh.nsf/pages/Cowboy+Hat+History).

Hat felt is in fantastic condition. Satin liner is loose from hat and has some light staining...also needs to be ironed and reinserted in hat. Leather head band has a couple tears in it, but logo and "XX Quality" mark show well. Original hat band and neck string are in good condition, as is the original label (inside head band). Size 7 3/8 (23 1/8" circumference).

Montgomery Ward sold cowboy hats from 1883 until the early 1900's. It seems that not many of these remain, as doing a web search I can find these mentioned in Cowboy Hat history's, but I can find NO actual examples. This should probably be in a museum or well cared for collection. Now you can own this incredibly rare piece of American West/Cowboy history.