[CR]Walt's cycling caps on EBAY - their origin ?

(Example: Humor:John Pergolizzi)

From: <emeneff@earthlink.net>
To: <classicrendezvous@bikelist.org>
Date: Mon, 8 Aug 2005 13:28:22 -0700
Subject: [CR]Walt's cycling caps on EBAY - their origin ?

Anyone know who might have sewn the Bianchi cap ? (Ebay auction # 7175006904)

I know that the La Vie Claire hats were mass-manufactured by a nameless factory in France, but I believe the Bianchi hats were "artisan crafted" by HAND in the Reparto Corse atelier. Some of them were rumored to be sewn by none other than Felice Gimondi's blind second cousin, twice removed, Bertha - but these rumors are so hard to nail down. Does anyone have any memories from a visit to the Reparto ? Or perhaps someone has access to Bianchi's personnel records and time cards from roughly 1887 to 1975 - this should not be hard to do since Italian companies are well known for keeping excellent records and archives, especially for anything involving taxes. Perhaps there is someone in the Veterans Cycling Club in the UK who might recall ? Bertha was supposedly @5'3 and 380 lbs; so she would have been hard to miss. Supposedly her stitching was finer than any of the other seamstresses and many professional riders would have no one else sew their hats except Bertha. The other true tip-off that it is a Bertha original is the small bits of chocolate bar wrappers that she unsuspectingly and lovingly sewed into the various seams.

Of course IF Walt's hat IS a genuine Bertha sewn original, well the bidding is going to be interesting. Once the Japanese collectors get involved who knows how high the final value will go. I am lucky in that I already own a genuine Bertha-sewn cycling cap, and while it doesn't do anything better than the other hats I have (in fact she accidently sewed the brim on the top of the hat - I guess her Phlebitis was bothering her that day), I get a special thrill in knowing the origin for my assorted cycling kit. Having my special hat also acts to soothe my battered ego when I get run off the bike path by that rather aggressive old character on his mass-produced Peugeot PX-10.

Anyone else out there have a Bertha-sewn hat they'd like to reminisce about ? I am sure that there are many others who share my passion for these matters ! You can respond off-list if the reply is more than 35000 words.

Respectfully Yours,
Mike Fabian in cloudy San Francisco