The rumor that was going to be for sale is indeed correct. My source at Profiles in Courage tells me the original hat will be sold in the March auction. Another post said this sold last for $12000 a few years back.

This isn't your normal Life Magazine or TV Guide item. Or autograph.

What's something like this worth today?



Big question --->>> the hat --->>> :cowboy:

searchers,

Do you have a picture that you could put on the tread or a site to go to? We'd like to see what you are talking about.

Cheers, Hondo B)

Are you saying that indeed the hat that JW wore in The Searchers is for sale? Yes, it would be great to see a picture. Obviously, I would love to have it, but couldn't afford the second mortgage on the house...

GSP

That's the same hat that set the world record for a hat - I think about 8 years or so ago - for 12000$. (Yul Brynner's personal hat, worn in Mag 7 and others, came in for 8000$). I think it has been re-sold for 15000$ in between. As I remember, it has the WB-label sawn in with the actor's name.

The whole gorgeous piece!!!

http://home.comcast.net/~militaria/jw2.jpg

And if any of you pilgrims forget where this came from...http://home.comcast.net/~militaria/jw3.jpg

If any of you have the DVD, watch carefully as the group first approaches the Indian village. Ward Bond is wearing a BLACK hat. John Wayne is wearing a BROWN hat, this hat. Watch the scenes where he raises his neice up into his arms. This hat on the head of one of the world's greatest male stars AND right there with one of the finest female stars, Natalie Wood, as a very young lady of 18 years.

How does it get better than THAT??? :cowboy:


So, based on some this INTEL, anywhere from $15,000+++.

Sorry, but that's not the same hat, not the same label that was sold once. And if you look closely this one isn't the hat from the searchers. The label looks correct even though there should be some research concerning the production number. Ethan Edwards wore a black hat. That's as sure as the turning of the earth. :agent:

As Sheriff Curley said: "You want to take my advise - you don't take this trip."

Nice to see the moths haven't got it.
For my records could you give me the measrements of the hat.
There is always some one wanting a hat like that.
Size................crown..........brim

And did the studio have the X's marked on the inside band?


Rick

itdo, if you watch the movie carefully on dvd you'll see the hat he wears is brown at the end. Ward Bond wears a black hat and Wayne's is clearly brown. If I had a way of capturing images from the dvd I would, but I can't... But I'll search the Net.

As a matter of fact, I have seen the hat sold a couple of years back, with correct label, the one that sold for the world-record 12000$. I'm not saying anymore than it was a different hat than this one. Compare for instance the high crown of the brown hat with the one in the film.
Is it possible that I saw this one - the brown here - on Ebay not too long ago?
Sorry for being such a pain in the neck but there just are to many forgeries out there, trying to look like the real thing. I'm not saying this one ain't genuine - I'm just saying that there should be some doubt.

I knew I had the original catalog around somewhere. Here's the original sales catalog. Looks like the same hat to me?

http://home.comcast.net/~militaria/jwhat.jpg

Yup, hat IS for sale by same Auction House! And now they have a live auction hookup with eBay.

John Wayne Hat on Hollywood Auction (http://cgi.liveauctions.ebay.com/aw-cgi/eBayISAPI.dll?RedirectEnter&partner=777701&loc=http%3A%2F%2Fcgi%2Eliveauctions%2Eebay%2Ecom%2 Fws%2FeBayISAPI%2Edll%3FViewItem%26item%3D22301727 47%26category%3D52933%26ssPageName%3DADME%3AB%3AEF %3AUS%3A1)

12 to 15 grand! :cowboy:

Hi searchers,

I have just seen a clip of the searchers on Channel 4 Best 100 films for info The Film was No 69, but the hat he wore didn't look anything like the one shown in your clip.



Regards

Arthur

Heck- i'd mortgage the house, sell the cat, etc. for it if it were real.....But, that autographed tongue depressor's pretty cool. An older friend of mine was JW's mother's nurse around 1960 in Long Beach. Wow- what a terror she was! Jane said the brother was nice, but the 1 time she met Duke was the best.

I'm not saying it is JW's hat but from looking at my Searchers poster and the movie it does look like it. If it truly was JW's hat I could see it getting 12,000+ but I would want proof.

Originally posted by dukegirl@Mar 14 2004, 06:50 PM
Jane said the brother was nice, but the 1 time she met Duke was the best.
My Great-grandmother met the Duke on the set of True Grit, she lived near by. She was in love with that man till she died. Even had life size posters of him in her room, and she was in her mid eighties.

I suppose you could research the Warner Bros Property tag. I used to be in communication with a guy who ran a John Wayne web site a while back. He was one of the experts who verified it back several years when it went up the first time.

John Wayne kept his boat the Wild Goose in Sequim Bay back in the 70's. Then it was just cabins around the bay and a few nice small homes. JW owned a huge track of land extending from the water's edge to probably a mile back. Family still owns a house up there. When JW died he gave the land to the Port Authority of Port Angeles IF they'd build a marina. They did. The John Wayne Marina in Sequim WA.

But back to the 70's. We used to drive out to the Olympic Pen. to go up to Hurricane Ridge and just plain hang out because it was so nice there. Well, that hanging out takes beer. So we stop at the AM/PM Mini Mart or whatever it was called then, 7-11, private place, whatever. We open the door to get our beer and there walking out the door at the same time is John Wayne with two six packs in his hand. Looked lit up like the White House Christmas Tree! Walked by us with a "'scuse me boys" and was gone after we patted him on the arm and said something entirely unintelligible like "wow" or maybe we just wet ourselves.

Man looked great in person. We had no idea at that time about the Wild Goose or the connection to his land which was so close by. In those days Dean Martin spent time with him. No telling who was just a few hundred yards away. Now if only JW had said, "'scuse me boys, party?"

Hey searchers -

That's a great story! What a thrill to come that close to JW, even if it was only for a few seconds.

Haha - how old were you then? Throwing back a few cold ones with the Duke would REALLY give you a story to tell, wouldn't it?

About 20.

A few years before I accidentally ran into Elvis in of all places Luxembourg. Huge crowd of people moving toward my buddy and I who were going to a Luxembourg fair. We were watching this crowd approach and couldn't figure out what was going on. 1970 or early '71. Then this guy with long sideburns and very very black hair walks directly into us splitting my buddy and I. Elvis. No words. Wasn't impressed at the time. Thought of him as a throwback to the 50's. Since then I have appreciated his music very much and wish I had given him a moment of respect when I had the chance.

As to JW, at least on that occasion we had enough wits about us to say hello Mr. Wayne. I'm 6'1" and he seemed to tower. A real presence. But my boat is now anchored in the marina that bears his name and I've tossed back a few beers in the very spot where the Wild Goose once graced our beautiful Sequim Bay.

http://home.comcast.net/~militaria/goose.jpg

More than once I've said to the air, "here's to you Mr. Wayne."

I ran the film "The Searchers" in my editing machine and freeze framed each scene that the hat changed in size and color!

In the first part of the film his hat was black.

When he was shooting the buffalo the the hat was brown with a peak.

When he went into the Mexican Cantina before he went to the Indian camp to meet the Chief the hat is a white large wide brimmed flat topped hat.

At the Wedding and big fight his hat is a dark colored.

At the end of the film, it is a brown hat that looks like the one that was put up on this site. But you can not tell if it is the same brown hat or not.

Chilibill :cowboy:

I think he wears several hats. Doesn't the movie take YEARS for him find his niece? He's got a pocketful of gold, he can afford a new hat when he needs one.

Just to show you how well the film flows together, I have never actively noticed all the different hats John Wayne wore in that movie. You're right, searchers, the movie does span several years and obviously 4 seasons a year, which would easily account for different hats. I guess, for me at least, everything seemed to fit in where it was, and I just never noticed.

I know I will the next time we watch The Searchers.

Mrs. Chester :angel1:

P.S. Being a hat kind of a guy, Chester has noticed these things, especially the white hat as being rather unusual for a hat that the Duke would wear.

Well it will be interesting to see how this auction goes. I think it's the 30th? Wednesday? I've watched those scenes over and over on our old Laser Disc player and I'm positive it's the same hat at the end.

You see all the John Wayne memorabilia they are auctioning off? They have the vest, shirt and scarf from True Grit. You know they sold JW's hair piece for over ten grand, now that's not my kind of memorabilia but it WAS from The Shootist.

Searchers, you're really eager to tend our attention to this auction. But think about that: From the same seller, the same vest and shirt and everything was auctioned off before, at the Bonham auction, not too long ago. This lot went for 48000$. And was returned. It seems they had authenticity problems since all the other bidders backed out, too. The hat? One can't tell for sure just by freeze-framing the disc. As I said before, the black hat was sold a couple of years ago, for 12000$, having the correct labels. Be very careful about these things, guys. For prices like these, one should be dead sure. Just my two cents.
So long!

They had the items from the Marilyn Monroe home. After she died, with no family, her home with all the contents was just, sold. The owner just recently sold a ton of stuff through these guys. The catalog is very interesting if you're a Marilyn fan. I think they do their research. In the end, it's the auction house who takes in the shorts if something goes bad. 48 grand, wow. All I need from that movie is the scene of JW going over the fence at the very end.

I was hoping to get as much intel as possible before bidding...

Somebody liked it enough to pony up...