Posted by Prue Eckett on August 23, 2002 at 21:17:46 from 210.55.85.213 user Prue_Eckett.
In Reply to: Soft Brown Felt hat posted by Andrew Craig-Bennett on August 23, 2002 at 14:09:00:
to me it looks like a felt miner's hat commonly worn from about the middle of the 18thC onwards. Gold miners in Otago certainly wore them and I've seen pictures of the Californian goldrush with miners wearing these same type of hat.