Gucci Loafers

[Lafont]

Just acquired almost on the spur of the moment a pair of men's black Gucci loafers from a vintage clothing shop. Is there someone out there really sufficiently familiar with Gucci loafers to answer a few questions?
These are absolutely authentic, I'm sure. They still have leather soles with the Gucci logo on them and they have it inside, etc. I'm wondering about the metal decoration. It's not the standard decoration I see on recent Gucci loafers or another one I'm finding on some recent more casual Gucci shoes (nor the one with the red and green either, though the lady had one of those too from the same man), but a chain type of thing with the loops on both ends.
This metal is a bright gold color (assumably brass), even though the shoes are obviously well worn (that is evident from the soles and heels; the leather, a very simple, classic design, looks quite excellent) but is still very bright and new looking.
Questions: I can keep looking on websites, etc., of course, but right now does anyone know if Gucci made these loafers over the years with the metal decoration of various designs, such as sort of "rope?" I assumed so when I purchased these yesterday (and who knows - they could be as old as the '60s or '70s), but now looking on the web I'm not so far finding anything other than the usual few designs. So I'm wondering if something happened to the original metal decoration and these are recent replacements. Second, could Gucci loafers have a bright metal such as this? If it's brass, and I hope it is, it would have to have been laquered, I'd assume. Can't quite picture someone trying to keep polishing the decoration. A nuisance to use black shoe polish with, too, but that's how all of these loafers are. Somehow I picture a more antiqued-type brass for a Gucci loafer. Or perhaps just a brass that acquires a patina which no one wants to remove.
Ideas, please, and sorry - I don't have a good means of taking a digital photo but surely you can picture a simple rope chain sort of thing with the two C-shaped loops....

 

[gumercindo]

No ideas on your questions, but from all accounts on this board, Gucci loafers from some time ago were made very well - unlike the stuff that is made now. Nice find!

 

[Lafont]

Thanks. Okay, in the past few minutes I've found references to Gucci's loafers with the "rope horsebits." One seller even refers to them as "gold." Wow - I wonder. They do kind of look like real gold and, if so, are they plated? Anyway, I'll try to post an image I just found, though the shoe design is not like mine (mine is more "the classic," I'd say:

http://www.back-in-style.com/slidesh...productid=5080

So now, assuming which I believe I can these decorations are original to these shoes, does anyone have any information as to if this is gold? If it's brass my same questions still apply - why so shiny and new looking? A laquer? Anything else, such as when made or original price? And thanks for the comment, by the way.

 

[mishon]

From the looks of these, are you sure you did not buy women's shoes? Btw, I love my Gucci loafers.

 

[Lafont]

Heavens, no. As I said, my shoes don't look like these except the rope. And I have seen Gucci rope horsebit patterns of leather on shoes advertised as men's. My shoes otherwise look exactly like the classic men's Gucci loafer in design. No rope around the heels either. Cheesh!

 

[cancel.sing]

FAIK, Gucci loafers had brass horsebits until Tom Ford made them silver in the 90's. I'm no expert, but I've read that somewhere. Sorry, I don't know more than that.

 

[Lafont]

What exactly do you mean by "silver?" Sterling? I see new men's Gucci loafers at our Saks, for example, which look like brass (I think; now I have to look again) and certainly on the web? Or do you mean brass- or gold-plated over silver, like a vermeil?

 

[cancel.sing]

Originally Posted by Lafont

What exactly do you mean by "silver?" Sterling? I see new men's Gucci loafers at our Saks, for example, which look like brass (I think; now I have to look again) and certainly on the web? Or do you mean brass- or gold-plated over silver, like a vermeil?

Sorry, I should have specified that I meant the original, iconic Gucci loafer. The horsebits are now silver in colour; I don't know if they're sterling or not. I doubt it. The current incarnation of the original you can see here with a silver bit. I searched around the web for a good 20 minutes but I couldn't find any definite answer for you. Sorry I couldn't be more help.

 

[Lafont]

Thanks very much! Can't wait to get back to our Sak's, which is the only store in Greater Cleveland I can think of that sells men's Gucci shoes - to see the details on what they have. I know they've got some extremely expensive Gucci athletic shoes. That looks like a blue ribbon of sorts under the horse bit - right? For that kind of money they can supply a sterling ornament.
That leads me to another question - were the Gucci ornaments brass at all? Or gold or gold-plated? I associate brass with shoes but perhaps they wanted to be "above" that.... for cachet.

 

[alliswell]

When it comes to these bits, 'Silver' means chrome plated brass. 'Gold' is brass. Think of belt buckles. Real silver would tarnish with time; brass won't, and no-one's putting gold on a shoe.

 

[rach2jlc]

Originally Posted by letmebefell

and no-one's putting gold on a shoe.

...sounds like something Bijan should get into (haha).

 

[Lafont]

There are, though, articles of clothing giving gold ornaments, such as some men's blazer buttons. I know brass is standard (actually, probably beyond standard) but I've read in Flusser some were always gold of some sort. Same with eyewear, for example - in that case definitely gold-plated. My own are in that caregory and Cartier is known for their gold-plated eyewear.

 

[Lafont]

I now have some decent photos of the Gucci slip-ons I have been referring to. As you can see, they have the rope horsebits (gold plated???) and I don't see any reason to believe the shoes are women's. Does this help in anyone's possibly giving me a time period the shoes might be from? Thanks!