A PAINTED PRESSED FELT CEREMONIAL PARADE FIRE HAT

Details

A PAINTED PRESSED FELT CEREMONIAL PARADE FIRE HAT
LABELLED WM TEMPLE, COLUMBIA, PENNSYLVANIA, MID-19TH CENTURY

The blue-painted pressed felt top hat with red-painted banners lined with black-paint, on the front inscribed in gilt-lettering VIGILANT/HOSE, the back with gilt-painted horn with brown-painted stripes and black painted shadow, the inside cotton lining centering a gold printed inscription, WM. TEMPLE,/FRONT STREET,/COLUMBIA, PA/, also inscribed in pen JHMifflin and Mr. J.H. Mifflin--6¼in. high, 11½in. wide, 13in. deep

Lot Essay

Once owned by John Houston Mifflin, 1807-1888, this parade hat was worn in ceremonial parades by volunteer firemen. John Houston Mifflin, who lived in Philadelphia on land which is now part of Fairmount Park, was a portrait painter who was educated at the Pennsylvania Academy of The Fine Arts as well as in Europe. As well as a portrait painter, he was also an accomplished poet who published in 1835 a volume of poems titled Lyrics. After his marriage to Elizabeth Anne Bethel Heise in 1844, he abandoned his painting and poetry to care for his ailing wife.