My new tam

[Ryan Ross]

It's a very nice job that you've done, good sir!

Really an excellent job. To add to the confusion, I am not sure that Old Hippie's attempt at taxonomy holds any water, with all due respect to Old Hippie, who is a gentleman and a scholar. I've seen many non military tams that have a band below the disk, including at least one of the offerings on the Scottish Tartans Museum web shop...now everyone can start throwing things at me...

I agree. While I'm not quite sure on what all the proper nomenclature is, here's the idea that I have:

A Basque or millitary beret has no seam at the outer edge(meaning not cut and sewn) and just a bit of edging material or a bead around the, for lack of a better term, "head hole".

A Balmoral is a formalized style of bonnet which has no seam at the outer edge, does not have an overly large outer diameter, has a band bound with ribbon, has a toorie, has ties in the back, has a cockade, and commonly has a quilted lining and dicing around the band.

A tam is a cut and sewn bonnet, usually with a band and a toorie.

Bonnet, I believe (in our context), is a more general term that describes traditionally Highland Scottish headgear that is descended from the old and ubiquitous broad bonnet, which is knit and felted, has a band, was (and is) seen in a variety of outer diameters, and may or may not have a toorie; to this idea, all of the above, save the beret, would be considered bonnets, as would the Glengarry and the so called "Hummel".

Does that sound about right to anyone? Or completely wrong, for that matter?

[KiltedDixon]

Nice work!