Help me pick a caubeen

[dfmacliam]

Help! LOL I am hoping to get some advice from you good people.. I am wanting to get a caubeen to wear with my kilt. I am going to have Steve Ashton make me a box pleat in the Learnerneck tartan.
Here are my options.... A green caubeen or a black with a red band. The black intriques me because it resembles the dress blue uniform that the Marines are so famous for. Match that with a red hackle and my Marine Corps clan badge.
The green would be practical, but... I would enjoy your opinions..Thank you in advance

DaNeil

[English Bloke]

Get one of each... gives you more options.

What is your hat size?

[macwilkin]

Do you mean a caubeen, as in an Irish caubeen?

http://www.londonirishrifles.com/caubeen.cfm

http://www.glengarryhats.com/irish_caubeen.php

or a bonnet/balmoral?

Regards,

Todd

[dfmacliam]

yes an Irish caubeen .. I have been talking to JByous about one and he threw the black one into the pot to consider.. I am a 7 year Marine Corps Infantry veteran and I would like to represent my Scot/Irish heritage along with my pride of serving in the Marines. I wear a 7 1/8 they will make custom fit.
I am English born (Suffolk) but I would feel uncomfortable wearing another services badges, even though my grandfather, uncles, and cousins served in the Royal services it's not me.

[planemaker]

I bought mine here.....

http://www.glengarryhats.com/otherha...sa0uh068nquef1

[Zardoz]

whatever you decide, you can't go wrong with JByous. I have a couple custom tams from them, first rate.

[PiobBear]

Another endorsement for J. Byous. I've been wearing one of their caubeens for several years, and an quite happy with it. Great folks to do business with, too.
Alternatively, since you'd like it to comemorate your military service, you might want to consider a WW II style tam from Penny's of Thunder Bay;

[O'Callaghan]

The United Irishmen of the 18th century wore a green shamrock in their caubeens, but I don't know what colour their hats were. People still wore caubeens as daily wear back then, so I imagine they were whatever colour they already owned.

The IRA wear black caubeens. That could make black a good or bad colour depending on your PoV.

The British Army wear green caubeens (only in Irish regiments of course). That also could sway you in either direction.

My YouTube viewing of Irish (civilian) pipe bands in the Republic of Ireland indicates they mostly wear black glengarries (but never, ever, with a diced band). However, a few bands wear green caubeens, and some older footage shows that this was the older style, but I haven't seen video or pictures of any pipers in a black caubeen. Over the same period their kilts have tended to change from green or saffron to tartan (not 'Irish' tartans, AFAIK, but rather random fashion tartans or even Black Watch), but again some still wear solid green or saffron kilts.

The only ROI military pipe bands I am aware of are the Air Corps and the 28th Infantry. The Irish Air Corps band wear their uniform hat, which is a blue glengarry, in fact they just wear their regular blue uniform from the waist up, but with a saffron kilt. OTOH, the INA 28th Infantry band wear a black caubeen with orange band and orange ribbons, which is like one of the caubeens that J Byous sells, and they wear it with the a cap badge and a green hackle. They also wear saffron kilts, FWIW. Byous sell various hackles including green ones, although they are cheaper on eBay.

All joking apart, a black caubeen could be seen as the uniform of an illegal organisation in certain places. AFAIK the IRA is illegal in the Republic of Ireland as well as in the UK, which no doubt explains some of the above. An orange band and orange ribbons would however mark your caubeen as INA (the genuine ROI army), and not IRA. The IRA would not be seen dead wearing anything orange!

I have a green caubeen. Mine is British Army surplus, but I have a green shamrock badge pinned on it (real shamrocks being scarce around here). Sadly, it's a bit on the small side, even though the marked size should easily fit me. I suspect this may be due to the squaddies' practice of deliberately shrinking them to fit.

I have been tempted to buy a 'one size fits all' green tropical caubeen from J Byous. AFAIK their 'tropical' caubeen is the only caubeen you can get anywhere that has functional ribbons that actually adjust the size of the hat, but not the only caubeen they sell, or the most expensive. British Army caubeens are identifiable by their lack of any ribbons atall, FWIW.

[Zardoz]

With respect, "The IRA wear black caubeens" is a somewhat broad and perhaps not entirely accurate statement. Being the type of paramilitary group that it is, they don't have regular 'uniforms'. While the modern IRA does have an ad-hoc "dress uniform" generally only seen in the 70's at funerals and other photo ops, it's headgear generally consists of a black beret, not a traditional caubeen. It's like saying the flatcap or newsboy is IRA headgear because the volunteers wore them in the 20s!

Without getting into politics, wear what you want! I doubt think anyone, at least in the US, is really going to see you and make a Hat = IRA connection or call you out for wearing a black caubeen!

[Brian Boru]

Peacekeeper,
There is also Alexis Malcolm Kilts ( www.alexismalcolmkilts.com) that offer caubeens, I have one each of theirs, a green RIR and a black civilian model, they also offer the Canadian type ($60.00) that has a lower crown and rosette and ribbons. They have hackles and other pins you can put on and each one comes with a badge tab / stiffener inside so that it supports whatever type of badge you put on them. I have my pewter Irish family badge (Duffey) on the green one and a Irish Harp badge on the black one. They have a size chart, just measure your head and then check what size in cm you need, they also adjust with a hidden velcro tab in the band. The black one's peak stands taller than the military green one. Malcolm's get them from the manufacturer who supplies them to the Canadian military, I think. They are $70.00 + shipping by priority mail. I'm quite pleased with both of mine, and Mrs. Malcolm is a pleasure to talk with.

Cheers,

Brian