Black fur felt hat with feathers

Source catalog description

This description refers to material held by Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture. Visual details below describe the original material.

A black fur felt hat with feathers. The hat is made of blocked fur velour and is flat at the top of the crown. The bottom of the crown tapers inwards giving the crown rounded sides. The sides and front of the hat are decorated with black feathers that are adhered to the hat and arranged horizontally. All the feathers’ tips face to the proper right. A small strip of black self-fabric trim is adhered to the back of the hat where the feathers are absent. The brim of the hat tapers outwards and is slightly longer on the front than on the back. The fur velour folds inwards to hat’s interior at the edge of the brim. A metal stiffening wire is hand-stitched to the edge of the brim. The raw edge and wire are hidden by a black petersham rayon ribbon sweatband, which is machine-stitched to hat.

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