Check Out These Florsheim Imperial Shells... Did I Buy Wisely?

[Starter]

Hello, many thanks to anyone willing to impart their expertise...

I'm aware there are several iterations of this shoe, the vintage USA-made ones, the early India-made ones, the later India-made ones, and the Ducky Browns. And maybe more I'm unaware of.

I recently picked up a pair of the India-made shoes, as evidenced by the printing in the interior pic. I've read that the early India-made versions were generally of higher quality than the later ones... Is it possible to tell from these pics which version I have?

The shoes are never-worn NOS, with what are described as a few marks from storage... The most egregious of which appears to be a circular mark on one of the soles. Nothing in the pics bugged me, but I'm also not looking with an expert eye. I'm pretty unfamiliar with these shoes beyond my Google research.

All I can tell you is that they looked nice to me. I paid $364 shipped. Did I do well? Just okay? Get taken?

 

[firefit]

For a second I had thought you said VINTAGE Florsheim Cordovan shell shoes... I was like... WHAT? THOSE LOOK BRAND NEW! They're alright, but I do believe Florsheim has problems with construction/quality. I own a pair of cordovans. I paid for a pair of used allen edmonds cordovan shell shoes on ebay, and they were alright. They fit well. I don't think Florsheim's fit is all that good either. I'd be happy to see you invest in allen edmonds. They have a sale right now. But if you can't return them, oh well. Tell me how they fit and give me an update!

 

[Starter]

Hmm... thanks for the reply! from what I've read, older USA-made Florsheim shells were very nice, with quality comparable to or slightly better than the AEs... when manufacturing moved to India in the late 90's, the quality was initially comparable, but fell off after 2-3 years... nothing I've read has said the vintage US and early India shell shoes were poor quality or uncomfortable...

I'm trying to determine if there is a way to identify these shoes as the earlier higher quality India-made shoes, or the later poorer quality. Something easy, like different soles, branding, etc. And also if $364 shipped was a decent deal...

Cheers!