Abeaver hat is ahat made fromfeltedbeaver fur. They were fashionable across much ofEurope during the period 1550–1850 because the soft yet resilient material could be easily combed to make a variety of hat shapes (including the familiartop hat).^[1] Smaller hats made of beaver were sometimes calledbeaverkins,^[2] as inThomas Carlyle's description of his wife as a child.^[3]

Used winter coats worn byNative Americans were a prized commodity forhat making because their wear helped prepare the skins, separating out the coarser hairs from the pelts.^[4]

To make felt, the underhairs were shaved from the beaver pelt and mixed with a vibrating hatter's bow. The matted fabric was pummeled and boiled repeatedly, resulting in a shrunken and thickened felt. Filled over a hat-form block, the felt was pressed and steamed into shape. The hat maker then brushed the outside surface to a sheen.^[5]

Evidence of felted beaver hats in western Europe can be found in Chaucer'sCanterbury Tales, written in the late 14th century: "A Merchant was there with a forked beard / In motley, and high on his horse he sat, / Upon his head a Flandrish [Flemish] beaver hat."^[6] Demand for beaver fur led to the near-extinction of theEurasian beaver and theNorth American beaver in succession. It seems likely that only a sudden change in style saved the beaver.^[7]

Beaver hats were made in various styles as a matter of civil status:

• the Wellington (1820–40)
• the Paris beau (1815)

• 

  the D'Orsay (1820)
• the Regent (1825)
• the clerical (18th century).

In addition, beaver hats were made in various styles as a matter of military status:

• the continental cocked hat (1776)
• Navy cocked hat (19th century)
• the Army shako (1837).^[8]

The popularity of the beaver hat declined in the early/mid-19th century assilk hats became more fashionable across Europe.

Early modern records refer to "castor" and "demicastor" hats, derived from the French and Latin word for beaver, "castor". Demicastor was a felt made from beaver, rabbit fur, and wool.^[9] In Scotland,Anne of Denmark gave a castor hat to her husbandJames VI as aNew Year's Day gift in January 1591. She also gave castor hats to her servants, including the secretaryCalixtus Schein.^[10] James VI played cards with theDuke of Lennox for the stake of a new "black castor hat lined with velvet".^[11] In April 1665, a Sussex vicar recorded his purchase of a "shaggy demicastor hat of the fashion".^[12]

A Biberhut or Bieber Hit (Biber is the German word for beaver) is a hat worn by someAshkenazi Jewish men, mainly members of Hasidic Judaism.Two variations exist; the Flache (flat) Bieber Hat, which is mainly worn by adherents ofSatmar Hasidim and some Yerushalmi Jews, and the Hoiche (tall) Bieber Hat also referred to as the Polish Hat, worn by most otherHasidic Jews.

• Examples
• 
  A silk reproduction felt hat,Lower Fort Garry NHS
• 
  Shapes and styles of beaver hat 1776–1825
• 
  19th century Masonic Knights Templar Beaver Fur hat
• 
  English military engineerJohn By (1779–1836)
• 
  Edward Arthur Walton –The Beaver Hat

• List of hat styles
• List of fur headgear

Media related toBeaver hats at Wikimedia Commons

• 16th-century fashion
• 17th-century fashion
• 18th-century fashion
• 19th-century fashion
• Hats
• Fur
• Beavers and humans
• Fur trade
• Victorian fashion
• Military equipment of the Union (American Civil War)

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