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Help Identifying George Cleverly Boots / Leather

jamescilo

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Hello, I picked up these George Cleverley boots and I wondered if anyone might be able to help identifying what the grain leather on the toe caps / tongue is and also whether there's a name for this style? They are quite large so I am guessing the number 11 inside refers to the size, is the other number a model number? Searching online I see a lot of reference to reindeer leather, but I'm not sure if this is quite the same.
Many thanks in advance for any help
 

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Reiver

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No idea, from a distance I was thinking kudu but when I zoom in I see it has a printed texture which looks like diamond shapes.

Interesting boots
 

Journeyman

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Searching online I see a lot of reference to reindeer leather, but I'm not sure if this is quite the same.

Interesting. The captoe and the strip at the back of the boots do have the cross-hatched appearance of Russian reindeer leather. Also, Cleverley does have a reputation for working with supplies of Russian reindeer leather from the 1786 wreck of the Metta Catharina.

However, complicating matters is the fact that you can also get "Russian calf", which is deliberately cross-hatched in the same sort of pattern.

I've never had a pair of shoes made from Russian reindeer leather, but I was given a credit card wallet made from it some years ago. It had a distinctive smell (a bit of a sort of tobacco and whisky smell) and the leather was also (in my wallet, at least) prone to dryness and a bit fragile. The little tears in the leather at the back of one of the boots in your photo reminds me of the Russian reindeer leather in my credit card wallet - but then again, it might just mean that the leather in the boots needs some care and attention!
 

jamescilo

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Thanks for the replies, I had wondered about something like antelope as well, but reading about the Metta Catharina leather had made me think it could be that. It doesn't really have a distinctive smell but does definitely seem somewhat fragile, here's another picture of the tongue you can see where it's worn at the corner. Looking at it now the cross hatching on it does look quite irregular.

Searching a bit more I found a similar pair on this thread, wholly from the grain leather and without the broguing around the laces, so maybe these are a variation
 

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dieworkwear

Mahatma Jawndi
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That looks like Russian reindeer

Also, 11 is not the size. Those look to be bespoke shoes. I have bespoke shoes from Clev and the insides have similar markings, but that section says something like 7 - 17 and I wear a size 9D.
 

bengal-stripe

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That looks like Russian reindeer

Those look to be bespoke shoes. I have bespoke shoes from Clev and the insides have similar markings, but that section says something like 7 - 17 and I wear a size 9D.

It's the date of production, in your case July 2017, for @jamescilo it's January 2011. It's probably the date the order was placed.or it might be the date the upper was made, but it can't be the date of delivery as that would have been several months in the future.

Yes, and I agree on the (probable) use of Russian reindeer leather.
 

jamescilo

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Thanks for the further information, that's very helpful, I thought that didn't look quite right as the size, but misunderstood as the size is quite close to that.
 

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