Some Guy’s Hat

Some Guy’s Hat

german hat, old hat, antique souvenir pins, koziol

 

So.  One day, I bought Some Guy’s Hat at a flea market in the Black Forest.  I bought it because it was covered in vintage souvenir pins that I recognized from a recent visit to the Koziol factory museum in Michelstadt.  I’ve always been drawn to souvenir trinkets and had fallen for the Koziol pins the instant I saw them at the museum.  Now, here I was with my very own someone else’s hat, filled with mementos of 29 places Some Guy had visited in the 1950’s-1960’s.

Soon after, it came to me that Some Guy’s Hat really should return to all of these places, see the sights, and learn how things have changed over the past 50+ years.  I’d been hoping that Some Guy would have stayed within a radius conducive to one big road trip, but it turns out he visited a few far-flung places outside of Germany.  This almost caused my husband to put the kibosh on this adventure, but I was able to convince him that the trips are worth making.  (The most convincing argument was how many of these towns might have their own breweries or at least feature beer unfamiliar to him; it didn’t hurt that some of the pins had wine bottles dangling from them, obligating us to take Some Guy’s Hat wine tasting as well.)

Now that I have anthropomorphized Some Guy’s Hat, join me as I embark on a mission to take him on a trip down memory lane.

Koziol is still a family-owned factory, but now makes household products with fun design—stuff you find in your kitchen and bath.  No more souvenir pins, sadly.  Truth be told, I’d buy a souvenir pin of my toilet.