Antique Western Americana Leather Cowboy Hat Folk Art Frontier Gold Days? For Sale

This fantastic rare piece of Western Americana has wear and patina consistent with the age of the leather. The side of the top has a short tear and without padding to the top one side is indented. If you place padding in the top the short tear is less visible. We were told this is from back in the gold rush days but they might have been feeding us a line of bull. Please use your own judgement but this great hat is definitely very old.