Austro-Hungarian school of shoemaking - Page 84

Hello everybody,

I've come into the possession of two pairs of shoes, which I believe are by Georg Materna. There is no branding on the shoes themselves, so it would be good to have someone knowledgeable confirm their identity. They came to me in shoebags labelled "Materna-Schuhe by Dellantonio" - I believe Dellantonio is the current owner of the shop - and the sole treatment looks about right. I would particularly appreciate anything Fritzl might have to say about them.

These will be going on B&S: the brown pair are marked a size 8, the black pair a size 9. Both are also marked with a number 5, next to the size number. That could be a width fitting (?).

The brown pair lack the cushion that is usually present, beneath (as in the case of the black pair here) or (more usually) on top of, the insole leather. On both, the insole appears to be one continuous piece of leather. My apologies for the atrocious explanation - I do not have a technical mind! Some pictures of the insoles of the brown pair, though.





And here are the shoes themselves. I assume they are made in box calf like the shoes in the OP, but to be honest I wouldn't trust myself to tell the different between box calf and shell cordovan.

I am a size 9/9.5, so had high hopes for the black pair. However, they are significantly too narrow, albeit I was able to squeeze them on. For reference, the C&J Connaught (236 last) in 9 E fit me perfectly.









And the brown pair in size 8:









Hope the photos are of interest, sorry they aren't of better quality.

They definitely look like Materna to me.

+1. Nice ones at that.

Those are beautiful, I only hope that was not a derby.

Thanks for your comments. It's good to have confirmation that they're Materna's. I've also had a couple of kind messages from Fritzl. I'll stick them on B&S once I've swotted up on what an appropriate price would be.

I love derbies myself, add911, especially on typical central European lasts. Oxfords fit me far better than derbies and I wish the opposite were true. Oh well.

OK: They're on B&S. Sorry for the plug.

I'll make this a slightly more substantive post by mentioning that I recently found in the attic a pair of 'Austro-Hungarian' boots, from the time when those two nations actually were united, in the dual monarchy. One of my great-great-(etc., not going to count)-grandfathers on my dad's side was a Viennese Jew. An interesting character, who spent some of his life working as a spa doctor in Jerusalem. We have some medals which he received when his own Emperor visited the spa. They are really quite extravagant, given that they were probably awarded for splashing water on the old man's eczema...probably well-earned, come to think of it. Anyway, these boots belonged to him. The leather is dry and cracked and so on, but they'd once have been very, very nice, so maybe I'll post photos at some point. Alas, they are not button boots.

I'm a grad student and have already made the fateful decision to specialise in 19th-century America...but I am ever-more fascinated by Austria-Hungary in the same period. Maybe I'll write my thesis on the transnational connecting tissues between blobby lasts in North America and Mitteleuropa.

The medallion on the black pair is fantastic. I'd roll the dice on those were they a 42.

This hasnt been mentioned but visitors to vienna can stop by the SHOE museum in the 8th district

http://www.schuhmuseum.at/engl/index_e.html

Watch out! - The museum is only open one afternoon per month (unless you come as a group with an additional nine mates):

http://www.schuhmuseum.at/engl/offnungszeiten_e.html