I used to have a hat that was my favorite of all hats. It was a black Stetson Gun Club Dealer, XXXXX beaver felt. It was a flat crowned hat and the shape fit my head perfectly making it very comfortable. It was also a quite nice looking hat to boot. Sadly, a couple of years back it suffered a horrible accident. I have been checking in every Western shop I come across to find another one. All of the shops I have checked in the last couple of years either didn't have that particular hat or didn't have one in my size.
This morning I stopped at a small truckstop in Richmond, KY for breakfast. As I pulled in I noticed a large Western wear and tack shop next door. After breakfast I wandered over there to check it out. To my susprise they had quite an assortment of Stetson hats.
Sure enough, there on the display wall was the very hat I was seeking, a Stetson Dealer. I picked it off the wall expecting to go ask if they had this one in my size. I glanced at the tag inside the hat, 7 1/8. My size, right there in my hand. I tried it on and it fit exactly as I remembered. Perfect.
Without another thought I carried it up and asked the man to fetch the box for it as I was taking it. He happily obliged.
As soon as I got it back to the truck I removed the factory hatband, removed my rattlesnake hatband from the Rodeo King I'd been wearing for the past couple of years, and installed it onto the Stetson. Now it looked like my old hat. I've never found a Western style hat that fits my head nearly as well as the Dealer does and am very happy to have found this one.
If you've ever seen the movie Crocodile Dundee (and who hasn't?) the Stetson Dealer looks quite a lot like the hat he wears in that movie (without the stitched up cut and the crocodile teeth).