Castor hat

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The castor hat (also castor hat , from the Latin castor " beaver ") is a felt hat made from beaver hair . The hat, worn by men and women from the 17th century to around the middle of the 19th century, was a forerunner of the cylinder . It is still worn today as part of traditional costumes.

Different hats made of beaver hair felt
French men's fashion around 1830

Origins and Distribution

The use of the fur felt from shorn beaver skins for headgear in Europe dates back to the 16th century. This fashion was reinforced in the 17th century by the import of the skins by Dutch settlers from North America . Around 1780, English country nobles wore the black felt hat with a high, cylindrical head made from the soft underhair of beaver fur for the first time . This had a more or less broad brim . According to the English range, the beaver pelts used for hats were called parchment beavers , the rest of the coatbeaver . The black, undyed hats were made from the back hair of the beaver fur, the gray and colored hats from the belly. The sloping long guard hairs were used as material for stockings, gloves and hats, the skins for bag work or as sieve floors. A castor hat was either a full, half or a quarter castor hat, depending on whether the felt consisted exclusively of beaver hair, half or fourth.

The beaver hair matted very well and castor hats are said to have an exceptional durability . They are said to have been “so durable that when they were worn they were sent back to La Rochelle, where they were processed for sale in Spain. But even from there they returned to La Rochelle, this time to be made up for Brazil. After all, the same felt hats are said to have ended up as barter goods for the Portuguese on the African Negro coast! "

Castor hats are also mentioned in the dress codes of the 17th century. They were considered so precious that even the first class was forbidden to wear whole castor hats , i.e. those made only of beaver hair felt. In the Danzig order of 1642 it is said that “noble citizens, merchants, so acting in Grosso and similar notables” are forbidden “precious Castor hats”. The Szczecin dress code of 1634 stipulated: "Whole castor hats [...] must be completely dismantled in all stalls." With half a castor hat , only half of the felt consisted of beaver hair, so there were also quarter castor hats . The city of Brunswick was in 1630 for the first stand half Kastorhüte to "those of decorative and clothing belonging to the first state: Ebenermassen they shall no hats of gantzen Castor use, but when they want, only half Castor hats to wear allows them be three Reichsthalers under penalty. ”They were expressly forbidden to the other classes under penalty.

In the economic encyclopedia of Krünitz from 1783 it says about beaver hats:

“They are one of the most beautiful and best goods in England, France and Germany; and are divided into half and whole castor. The latter is sold for 6 to 8 Rthlr. Many of them are sent to Spain from Holland and France. At Bautzen and the Oberlausitz fine castor hats are manufactured that are sent into many kingdoms and countries. If one did not want to mix some fine wool under a hat of castor hair, then the fine castor hair would not be able to be milled into a felt with great effort and expense. And because the beaver hats are expensive, the hatters use them sparingly; hence, even with a pound of hair, they can cover 12 hats. Sometimes hare and rabbit hair must also run under the beaver hair. "

Later, the headgear, also known as beaver hat or high hat , became a symbol of the French Revolution and found widespread use in all western countries. Women's hats were adorned with additional decorations, such as feathers. From 1830, silk hats replaced the castor hat and the much lower cylinder was created .

In 2018, a report on the auction of the North American Fur Auction (NAFA) said: "14,000 spring beavers were particularly interested in the hat makers".

The castor hat in literature

Castor hat

As a typical piece of clothing of its time, the castor hat was immortalized in numerous literary works. This is how Bettina von Arnim writes in Clemens Brentano's spring wreath :

“The castor hat was too alluring for me; I put it on, it looked good on me, I was like mom, because her image became clear to me again - and dad loved me in front of all children, I think I can keep my hat without sin. "

In the short story The Indian Hut by Jacques-Henri Bernardin de Saint-Pierre we can read:

"For better or worse, the doctor had to take off his coat made of English wool, his goatskin shoes and his castor hat."

Adolph Freiherr Knigge formulates the following sentence in the story of Peter Clausen :

"I walked up and down the room carefree, put on the beautiful Castor hat."

Theodor Fontane writes in Stine :

"She stopped at all the shops, the longest in front of the window of a cleaning shop, from whose colorful contents she alternated between a red sash with gold fringes and then a brown castor hat with heron feather as the most beautiful."

In Dostoyevsky's novel The Demons , Nikolai Vsevolodowitsch appears in a duel with Gaganov:

"... dressed quite lightly, wearing a coat and a white castor hat."

A building in Frankfurt am Main

North side of the Römerberg in Frankfurt am Main. The house no. 32 English beaver is the third from the right

By merging the “Ullner” and “Selzer” houses on the Römerberg in Frankfurt am Main , house no. 32, called the English Kastorhut , was created in the 18th century . This baroque building was demolished when Braubachstraße broke through in 1904/1906.

literature

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Emil Brass : From the realm of fur , 1911, publishing house of the "Neue Pelzwaren-Zeitung and Kürschner-Zeitung", Berlin. Pp. 597-603
  2. ↑ a b CG F [???]: fur trade. Use of fur goods . In: General Encyclopedia of Sciences and Arts . Leipzig 1841, August Leskien (Hsgr.), Pp. 333–334.
  3. ↑ Heinrich Dathe , Paul Schöps, with the collaboration of 11 specialists: Pelztieratlas . VEB Gustav Fischer Verlag Jena, 1986, pp. 115-120
  4. ↑ a b Paul Schöps, in connection with Kurt Häse, Friedrich Hering, Fritz Schmidt: The beaver and his fur . In: Das Pelzgewerbe 1956 No. 6 Vol. VII / New Series, Hermelin-Verlag Dr. Paul Schöps, Berlin, Leipzig, pp. 222-235
  5. ↑ a b F. A. Brockhaus : General Encyclopedia of Sciences and Arts. Published by JS Ed and IG Gruber, Leipzig 1841. Third Section OZ, keyword "Fur"
  6. ↑ JB Brebner: The exploration of North America . Wilhelm Goldmann Verlag. Bern, Leipzig, Vienna, 1936
  7. ^ Fritz Schmidt: Das Buch von den Furztieren und Pelzen , 1970, FC Mayer Verlag, Munich, pp. 109–115
  8. ↑ Eva Nienholdt, Berlin-Charlottenburg: fur in dress code , The Fur Trade ., Hermelin-Verlag, Volume XVI, 1951 No. 1, Paul Schöps, Berlin, Frankfurt / Main, Leipzig, Vienna. P. 78
  9. ↑ If the author is not stated: North American Fur Auctions July 5 to 10, 2018 . In: Pelzmarkt Newsletter 08/18, August 2018, Deutscher Pelzverband, Frankfurt am Main, p. 2.