Before treatment.
This Top Hat and Leather
box was owned by Thomas Cole and now is displayed at
Cedar Grove, Thomas Cole's Home in Catskill,
NY. The
pair are only a few of Cole’s personal belongings that
the site owns that are not artist tools. The location of
the hat maker’s address was between Cole’s New York City
home and a favorite frame shop. The 1850’s was the
heyday for the silk Top Hat. The hat becoming the
tallest and the brim the narrowest.
Each component of the hat and its box had deteriorated. The
detached sweat band was discovered at the bottom of the hat
box.
The leather box is lined
with a brown and blue printed fabric and became detached to
the box's lid. Crushed and deformed sections were supported
and the fragments positioned.
