Hat, tricorne hat

Tricorne or three-corner hats were the normal male headwear for all but the very poorest in the late seventeteh and eighteenth centuries. They could be made of felt, leather or silk, like this one. It is edged in gold lace, a wide braid of metal thread that would have glittered brightly when new. The hat still has some feathers inside. The long pile melusine (silk felt) imitated the sheen of beaver fur, a much more expensive material at the time. The hat is trimmed on the inside brim with white ostrich feathers that have now lost their fluff. The inside stiffening is the original cardboard, visible because the lining is missing.