What Makes Some Vintage Hats Cost More?

What Makes Some Hats Cost More?
Is it the size, style, color, or label?

When I first started collecting hats, I wondered why some hats were reasonable and others cost so much. I would start bidding on a hat and put the the price I would pay up to $40 and loose the hat because it closed the auction at $150 or $200. Wow, was I off the mark! What caused that hat to go so high? Was it the fancy way it was made? Was it the rich color? Or was it popular with bidders for some unseen reason? I didn't know much about hats and quickly realize I needed to do some studying about vintage hats. I bought several vintage hat books on okay and soon foundout,not all hats are created equal.

What exactly Makes a Vintage Hat more Valuable?
If you look at all the hats displayed on okay for sale, you willrealize there are probably over 2500 hats available to bid on.What makes some hats sell for $2.00 and another sell for $400? I found out that the looks of a hat will catch the attention of bidders, so if I really liked it, so did a lot of people.
Designer's labels

Then I realized that if the hat had a famous label it could bring more.
American hat designers, like Jack McConnell, Adolfo, Hattie Carnegie, Lilly Dache, Mr. John, Frank Olive and Sally Victor seem to bring higher prices than the average. These designer's hats were flamboyant high impact stunners.
The French names, like Agnes, Chanel, Christian Dior, Elsa Schiaparelli, Yves St. Laurent also would bring high prices.Their hats were also dramatic and dazzling.
Hats withlabels from high-end department stores like Gumps, I. Magin, Marshall Field