Vintage Dress shoe appreciation, tips, maintenance and advice

[CWOyaji]

The auction's up, ends tonight. Starting bid's $19.99 so have at it.

Spoiler: This page intentionally left blank, solicitation by prospectus only...

Need new heels but otherwise good condition

 

[suitforcourt]

@suitforcourt is bankrolling a very worthy project. For those new to the story, here was the status quo pro ante on that pair.
View attachment 1299122
To reunite them, I had to nearly empty one of the deep bins you can see piled up on the left here which was 2/3 filled.
View attachment 1299123
But from this will come a redemption story worthy of being recycled into a jury summation. I know it can be done.

These are all pics from the cobbler. New insoles, cork, and Vibram lug soles.

 

[actionjbone]

I had these gorgeous Hanovers for a few months, great condition and all leather construction.



They were too wide on me, and I never found an insole that made them work. So I put them up on eBay.

No takers for a while, then I got an offer from some guy in Buffalo. Negotiated the price and packaged them up, then I noticed the shipping address:

Sole Man.

Whether he's planning to wear them or resell them, I'm glad they're going to someone who can appreciate them.

 

[CWOyaji]

These are all pics from the cobbler. New insoles, cork, and Vibram lug soles. View attachment 1299139 View attachment 1299140 View attachment 1299141 View attachment 1299142 View attachment 1299143 View attachment 1299144

What an improvement! Here's as far as I was able to get them before shuffling them off to Buffalo.

 

[Jiqea]

I was looking at these Forbush cordovan Norwegians yesterday on eBay. They were listed as being from the 1930's. This got me looking into the history of Forbush, to see if these shoes were possibly that old. As it turns out Forbush and Brown shows up in the newspaper archive in 1900, and by 1904 the company was just advertized as Forbush. They disappear from record in 1934. They were located in North Grafton Massachusetts, and their shoes were featured side by side with Edwin Clapp and Stetsons in many of the top shoe stores.

There are very few examples of their shoes pictured on the web, although I did find a beautiful pair of spade sole Oxfords on the NOS w/box blog from Japan. They were possibly made from elk leather if they are the same pair that shows up in the Forbush 1932 advert. The 1930's and 40's were truly the golden era of men's footwear.

 

[suitforcourt]

I had these gorgeous Hanovers for a few months, great condition and all leather construction.

View attachment 1299138

They were too wide on me, and I never found an insole that made them work. So I put them up on eBay.

No takers for a while, then I got an offer from some guy in Buffalo. Negotiated the price and packaged them up, then I noticed the shipping address:

Sole Man.

Whether he's planning to wear them or resell them, I'm glad they're going to someone who can appreciate them.

Brian (cobbler at Sole Man) is a very skilled artists. He has bought a few pairs from me which he later flipped. Great guy to deal with.

 

[suitforcourt]

Thanks, but I need to go 11.5 in C width. That particular pair was in excellent condition - serves me right for not bidding high enough.
I do have these incoming, which takes out some of the sting
View attachment 1299128

I have developed 3 new skills to remove the sting of losing out on shoes I really want:

1. Bid as high as I am willing to. I never bet on others not being interested or noticing shoes;

2. Being content with what I have. These are material goods after all. I try to buy experiences and not things. Still working on this one;

3. Realizing no matter how rare, other pairs do eventually show up. This is how I ended up with 3 pairs of Golden Harvest in varying sizes and conditions.

Don’t stress. There are many other pairs waiting for you.

 

[CWOyaji]

Thrifted these C&J for Peal & Co./Brooks Bros. a few days ago, and while prepping them for sale noticed that someone wasn't

keeping up with their pedicures on the right foot only. Sorry for the image but there it is. Only the lining was damaged.

Luckily the inside lining of this gator purse is a good match. A little cut, sanding to thin the patch and gluing with barge cement should fix it.

 

[CWOyaji]

Not shoe-related, but a nice piece of leatherwork I thrifted for $2.50 yesterday. This is a fly reel case by Holland Sport (AKA Mulholland Leather, late of San Francisco) made from Latigo saddle leather.

Nice shearling inside and I doubt it has ever been used.

Fly fishing is trendy right now, so I think it should do OK.

 

[friendlygoz]

Mystery year J&Ms today for church.

 

[smfdoc]

Seems to be going in the right direction. More to be done.

 

[happypebble]

@suitforcourt is bankrolling a very worthy project. For those new to the story, here was the status quo pro ante on that pair.
View attachment 1299122
To reunite them, I had to nearly empty one of the deep bins you can see piled up on the left here which was 2/3 filled.
View attachment 1299123
But from this will come a redemption story worthy of being recycled into a jury summation. I know it can be done. By the way, these black Banister captoes made their way from the depths of The Bins to the luxurious green velvet of Classic Shoes For Men. Another redemption story!

Any tips on digging through those big blue bins? I was in a thrift store looking at them one day but didn't quite know where to start.

 

[happypebble]

I have developed 3 new skills to remove the sting of losing out on shoes I really want:

1. Bid as high as I am willing to. I never bet on others not being interested or noticing shoes;

2. Being content with what I have. These are material goods after all. I try to buy experiences and not things. Still working on this one;

3. Realizing no matter how rare, other pairs do eventually show up. This is how I ended up with 3 pairs of Golden Harvest in varying sizes and conditions.

Don’t stress. There are many other pairs waiting for you.

3 pairs of GH. I'm so jealous. I would be over the moon to have ONE pair in my size.

 

[lemmy127]

3 pairs of GH. I'm so jealous. I would be over the moon to have ONE pair in my size.

I'll take this comment to mean that people in this thread would want to draw and quarter me if I bought the one in my size available on eBay and dyed it a different color?

 

[suitforcourt]

I'll take this comment to mean that people in this thread would want to draw and quarter me if I bought the one in my size available on eBay and dye it a different color.

I was going to offer the suggestion of immediately retaining legal counsel.

Instead, I offer you a STRONG recommendation that you hire armed bodyguards.

Dyeing Golden Harvests??????