John Wayne "26 BAR" Cowboy Hat
From the esteemed Ray Bentley Collection, this original John Wayne Stetson cowboy hat is an extremely neat artifact from cowboy history.
The interior band of the hat has the bold 26 BAR ranch mark in Stetson gold along with the logos and John Wayne’s name, and still has its original Stetson hat box.
John Wayne bought the 26 BAR Ranch in 1964 near Eager, Arizona with some business partners, and spent time at the ranch over the years. After he died, the Wayne family sold the ranch in 1979.
Additional history & context below.
Details & Measurements:Brim is 4 1/2 " around, and the hat size is a 7
Original period Stetson hat box
Box measures 17" x 18" x 9" deep
Very good condition with little wear
Factory-applied gold lettering reads “Made by Stetson especially for John Wayne” and the “Nudie’s Rodeo Tailors North Hollywood logo
The famous shop of Nudie Cohn (1902-1984) – a living legend in his own right – was the most important supplier of custom clothes and costumes to the stars of Hollywood from the 40s to the 80s
From the esteemed Ray Bentley Collection, this original John Wayne Stetson cowboy hat is an extremely neat artifact from cowboy history.
The interior band of the hat has the bold 26 BAR ranch mark in Stetson gold along with the logos and John Wayne’s name, and still has its original Stetson hat box.
John Wayne bought the 26 BAR Ranch in 1964 near Eager, Arizona with some business partners, and spent time at the ranch over the years. After he died, the Wayne family sold the ranch in 1979.
Additional history & context below.
Details & Measurements:Brim is 4 1/2 " around, and the hat size is a 7
Original period Stetson hat box
Box measures 17" x 18" x 9" deep
Very good condition with little wear
Factory-applied gold lettering reads “Made by Stetson especially for John Wayne” and the “Nudie’s Rodeo Tailors North Hollywood logo
The famous shop of Nudie Cohn (1902-1984) – a living legend in his own right – was the most important supplier of custom clothes and costumes to the stars of Hollywood from the 40s to the 80s
From the esteemed Ray Bentley Collection, this original John Wayne Stetson cowboy hat is an extremely neat artifact from cowboy history.
The interior band of the hat has the bold 26 BAR ranch mark in Stetson gold along with the logos and John Wayne’s name, and still has its original Stetson hat box.
John Wayne bought the 26 BAR Ranch in 1964 near Eager, Arizona with some business partners, and spent time at the ranch over the years. After he died, the Wayne family sold the ranch in 1979.
Additional history & context below.
Details & Measurements:Brim is 4 1/2 " around, and the hat size is a 7
Original period Stetson hat box
Box measures 17" x 18" x 9" deep
Very good condition with little wear
Factory-applied gold lettering reads “Made by Stetson especially for John Wayne” and the “Nudie’s Rodeo Tailors North Hollywood logo
The famous shop of Nudie Cohn (1902-1984) – a living legend in his own right – was the most important supplier of custom clothes and costumes to the stars of Hollywood from the 40s to the 80s
➼ History & Context
American actor and icon John Wayne was one of the most well known actors of all time and practically synonymous with the Old West. Known as “Duke,” he starred in 179 film and tv series over his illustrious career that spanned silent films in the 20s all the way through Hollywood’s Golden Age and into the 1970s, and posthumously received the Presidential Medal of Freedom.
Born May 26, 1907 in Iowa with the name Marion Robert Morrison, the man America loved grew up in Southern California. As a youth, a local fireman gave him the nickname “Little Duke” after his constant airedale canine companion Duke, and as he much preferred that to Marion, the nickname stuck throughout his life. Interestingly, one of his teenage jobs in an ice cream shop was for a man who shod horses for the nearby Hollywood studios.
Starting off in small parts, most of which in Westerns, at Fox after leaving USC – he lost his football scholarship after a fateful bodysurfing accident – Wayne finally reached stardom with 1939’s Stagecoach. He remained a top box office draw for over three decades.
His career was long and storied, and his contribution to American film and the concept of the Old West and Frontier America cannot be understated. As he himself had engraved on a plaque:
"Each of us is a mixture of some good and some not so good qualities. In considering one's fellow man, it's important to remember the good things ... We should refrain from making judgments just because a fella happens to be a dirty, rotten S.O.B."
