A traditional silk top hat is made from a shellac-reinforced cheesecloth and covered with hatters’ plush, a fine silk weave with a very long nap that lies flat to the hat’s surface and produces the typical elegant mirror-lustre.
It is known that in the 1950s, the last remaining looms of this expensive and delicate type of silk were destroyed by their owner in France after a violent break-up with his brother. Since this material is no longer produced, traditional silk top hats in wearable or even mint condition are getting rarer and more valuable with each passing year.
Nowadays, the standard for newly produced top hats is either Melusine fur or simple grey felt. Both modern alternatives reach neither the splendour nor the elegance of a traditional silk top hat.
Typically, people from the turn of the last century had much smaller head sizes, making top hats in good condition in larger sizes from 7 1/4 | 59 almost impossible to find and therefore highly valuable.