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mormonopoly

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A vintage Florsheim shoe question today:

It seems like Florsheim long wingtip bluchers are the predominant available style today. I see much less PTB and oxford, or strap styles.

Vintage PTB still commands high demand and resale price. But oxford and strap styles seem low in availability and in resale prices.

e.g.

Any thoughts on why that is?

From about the 1970s onward, the Florsheim imperial longwings and ptbs we’re pretty much the only high quality shoes Florsheim was making. The other styles went downhill in quality fast after the 60s, so are rarer because they’re older. The shoes after that we’re low quality and this didn’t last and aren’t worth much. That’s my theory at least.
 

stook1

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So another tidbit from my deconstruction to nail the heels. Beneath the liner is some fabric glued over what was most likely a thin foam pad. This pad was completely dried out and crumbling. I replaced it with a piece of soft leather insole from some donor shoes.
View attachment 1230024 View attachment 1230023 View attachment 1230022
I should really save all this for the full write up.../shrug

That looks identical to what happened with the sock liner on my British walkers. I'm not sure if your solution is better than mine but I ended up buying a tacco sock liner, which has some foam under the leather. My concern was that the angle might be slightly off if I just used a strip of leather. I did consider that option as well and it likely would have been absolutely fine.

Just throwing this out there since it's probably a common issue and you took pictures while I neglected to do so.

Good job on the heels. Looking forward to your write up!
 

actionjbone

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A good day for some Royal Tweed.

IMG_20190826_122836081_HDR-01.jpeg
 

happypebble

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So, when "The Hanover Shoe" arrived in the eBay box, the pair just looked sad. Covered in dust and dirt, with a set of totally wrong laces, tied in knots so bad I had to cut them to get the laces out. Not pretty. I wiped them down, brushed them, did a couple coats of conditioner, replaced the laces, cleaned out the interiors, went over the sole edges, and did a little bit of liquid black polish. I'm kinda pleased with the results...ready to wear.
1230250
 

HalfHuskyBite

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Hey guys,

I just thought I'd share my girlfriend recording my shoe shining experience with some shoes. Please criticize and I'll try to do better next time.





I look up to The Elegant Oxford channel, Bedo's and all those guys out there in that shoe recrafting/restoration space.
 

Raimar

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I've been considering one of those but I can't seem to find any way to reference the size of the foot piece . No way to tell in those ebay photos

Check goodwill every once in a while. Just search for "cobbler". You can get sets with multiple sizes. I got mine there, but need to clean the rust before I can use it.

https://www.shopgoodwill.com/Item/70851070
 

tcbinnc

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They are very different shoes. I've owned four pairs of the AE Cambridge in shell (sold three, kept one for personal) and with the double oak soles they're noticeably heavier than the ET Wright/Bostonian. Also, the colors on the pairs I've handled were darker than the almost salmon color on my ET Wrights. Here's a listing pic from a pair I bought on eBay. View attachment 1229850
And after removing some of the polish the prior owner had been slathering on them. View attachment 1229853
As you can imagine, this is the pair I kept.
View attachment 1229854
Those are very nice. Stately and elegant.
 

mreams99

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For last year’s challenge, we had a limit of $15. I found a pair on eBay that interested me. They were listed for $18 or best offer. I offered $14, and was rejected. I tried explaining my limit and tried negotiating to $15 with no luck. He would not come down below $15.95.

That pair didn’t sell. It got relisted over and over. Recently it was listed for $15.95 or best offer. This was below our new limit of $17.50!

Of course I offered $14 again.
(And it was accepted.)
 

stook1

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For last year’s challenge, we had a limit of $15. I found a pair on eBay that interested me. They were listed for $18 or best offer. I offered $14, and was rejected. I tried explaining my limit and tried negotiating to $15 with no luck. He would not come down below $15.95.

That pair didn’t sell. It got relisted over and over. Recently it was listed for $15.95 or best offer. This was below our new limit of $17.50!

Of course I offered $14 again.
(And it was accepted.)

I've had this kind of thing happen to me before -- more than once, in fact. It annoys the crap out of me. Who the F doesn't take an offer that's $3 below the ask. Glad you got them for your price finally. ;)
 

smfdoc

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radio3

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I’m having problems with Saphir Renovateur darkening some of my shoes too much. Could anyone recommend their favorite leather cleaner and leather conditioner? I’m in Europe and don’t seem to be able to find Lexol or Venetian Shoe Cream. I guess they are American and get talked about a lot on web sites because so many are American.

Any other suggestions besides those 3? I’m surprised there aren’t some famous British products, for one.
 

actionjbone

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A good day for some Royal Tweed.

View attachment 1230077
The right vamp's mild cracking didn't get any worse during the day, since I thoroughly conditioned them before wearing.

Still, I saturated the shoes with the non-color-changing neatsfoot when I got home, just to be safe. It's old leather, after all. And I'm not sure how deep the conditioning got before.

They're damn comfy, so I don't want them to wear out quickly.
 

actionjbone

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I’m having problems with Saphir Renovateur darkening some of my shoes too much. Could anyone recommend their favorite leather cleaner and leather conditioner? I’m in Europe and don’t seem to be able to find Lexol or Venetian Shoe Cream. I guess they are American and get talked about a lot on web sites because so many are American.

Any other suggestions besides those 3? I’m surprised there aren’t some famous British products, for one.
Could you tell us more about the shoes - brand, leather type, condition, etc.? (And pictures would be great. They may or may not help, we just want to see them. :) )

There are lots of products, and not all leathers absorb them the same way.
 

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