A good quality circa 1920s French hat display mannequin made for Christys' Hats by Mancor Mitchem. Mitchem made advertising and shop displays in the 1920s/30s. This mannequin is made of Beritex – a type of pressed resin that is harder than plaster, and more like an early bakelite plastic.

Stockport in Cheshire was a hub of hat-making in England in the 1700s and 1800s, with 53 hatting firms there by 1864 including Christys. Stockport Museum is home to ‘The Christy Collection’, testimony to the influence the company had in this proud hatting town. The Christy Papers include a 500 page booklet detailing its trade marks registered around the world at the height of the British Empire. At its height, the Stockport factory alone employed 3,000 local people and was always managed by direct descendants of the company’s founder. By 1843 Christys was the largest hat and cap making factory in the world.