Is it shell cordovan? Picked up an old pair of Florsheim imperial longwings (Pic heavy)

SomethingsFishy · Oct 17, 2012

Saw these today and something just compelled me to buy them. Black is an unusual color for shell, I know, but I can't find a single finely-spiderwebbed crease on them like you get with normal leather- all smooth valleys. 5 nails too, which I've heard is a feature to look for on these guys... I paid eight bucks. Did I strike gold, or waste eight bucks?

Sadly, gold or no, they're a size too small for me, so I'm flipping them.

MyOtherLife · Oct 18, 2012

Welcome to Styleforum.
They are shell but I wouldn't say gold. They are probably 25 years old.

rebel222 · Oct 18, 2012

Black is not an uncommon shell cordovan color. Those are shell cordovan. They aren't worth that much, so I wouldn't say you struck gold.

dbhdnhdbh · Oct 18, 2012

You will not get rich, but they are certainly worth what you paid for them, and somewhat more. What size are they?

cptjeff · Oct 18, 2012

Properly cleaned up, you should be able to get about a hundred bucks out of 'em. Shell imperials sell, though you might get a little less for those, since they have the 80's logos that make people hesitate. Perfectly good shoes, but that's when the quality of Florsheim was going downhill generally.

dbhdnhdbh · Oct 18, 2012

Depends on whether the quality was going down on the shells. True that people look for the "old style" Florsheim logo. The 5 nails will help, V cleat heels would as well. A hundred might be optimistic, but you never know with bidding wars on ebay. But well over $8.

SomethingsFishy · Oct 18, 2012

Unfortunately, I don't have anything to clean them up with, and can't afford to spend any money on them :/

They are 9.5D. If I list them on Ebay, how much should I expect them to fetch?

Ashlandleather · Oct 18, 2012

Definitely shell. Give them a brushing at least to clean them up? They look pretty scuffed too. I'd give 'em $100 on ebay if they were cleaned up.

makewayhomer · Oct 18, 2012

you might be able to get $100, yeah,

black wont fetch as much as any other color

Harold falcon · Oct 18, 2012

Definitely shell.

Please polish them, immediately.

dbhdnhdbh · Oct 18, 2012

If you or a friend has a shoe brush, brush them until they shine. If you have some black magic marker, go over the edges of the soles. The new owner will want to do elaborate reconditioning anyway. You just want some nondestructive way to make them look pretty for the photographs.

SomethingsFishy · Oct 19, 2012

Listed them! Starting bidding at 75, no reserve. No matter what, I'm going to make an enormous profit, it isn't such a big deal if I get 80 instead of 100. Thanks for all the help!

Patrologia · Oct 20, 2012

Lexol

Is it shell cordovan? Picked up an old pair of Florsheim imperial longwings (Pic heavy)

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