Original Item: Only One Available. Created from original parts this is a recreation of a late 19th century United States Marine Corps USMC bicorn hat for an officer. It is beautiful and offered in very good condition. This is a collapsible high quality black sealskin fore and aft hat, or cocked hat, with gold wire tassels (which should have a red wool base) and a large red feather plume. The exterior also features a gilt enlisted EGA insignia (this should be an officer insignia), USMC Eagle Globe Anchor button and bullion embroidered ribbon. On the interior that black satin lining is in excellent condition and bears in gold lettering that reads:

WM. H. HORSTMANN
PHILADELPHIA

Leather sweatband in very nice condition. Size is approximately US 7 (56cm).

A chapeau bras is a type of hat made to be compressed and carried under the arm without injury. It translates literally as “hat arm.” Such hats were a popular style worn on dress occasions by gentlemen in the 18th century.

WILLIAM H. HORSTMANN & SONS, Manufacturers of Dress Trimmings and Military Goods.5th & Cherry Streets, Philadelphia, PA.This house was founded, in 1815, by William H. Horstmann, a native of Cassel, in Germany.He had learned the trade of silk-weaving in France, and, emigrating to the United States in 1820 and established himself in Philadelphia as a manufacturer of fringe, laces and trimmings of various kinds until 1935.

The Battle of Guantánamo Bay was fought from June 6 to June 10 in 1898, during the Spanish–American War, when American and Cuban forces seized the strategically and commercially important harbor of Guantánamo Bay, Cuba. Capturing the bay from the Spanish forces was instrumental in the following Battle of Santiago de Cuba and the subsequent invasion of Puerto Rico. Although overshadowed by the land and sea battles at Santiago, the establishment of the United States naval base at Guantánamo Bay and the rout of defending Spanish troops by American and Cuban forces was important in the final Spanish defeat.