Vintage Dress shoe appreciation, tips, maintenance and advice

[friendlygoz]

Vintage violation: AE Bartlett today.

 

[Vincent George]

The $25 J&M shell with the frazzled tassels look a lot better in person than in the listing photos. I wore some Hanover tassels to the unboxing for good luck. I’ll post cleanup pics later. View attachment 1734918

I get a raging shoe boner for the old JM logos.

 

[ccpl14]

I get a raging shoe boner for the old JM logos.

Vintage Crown Aristocraft is the best vintage logo hands down

 

[MathMan314]

Vintage violation: AE Bartlett today. View attachment 1734968 View attachment 1734969

This reminds me that I meant to take a picture of the AE Adams I was wearing today. Found them in really good shape last week for $20 with shoe trees included. Those Bartlett look great!

 

[CWOyaji]

Have some shell Yumas incoming. Unlike @Oshare I have never actually seen a pair, so I'm curious to see what all the excitement is about.

Spoiler: They may be duds, but we'll see.

 

[barutanseijin]

Have some shell Yumas incoming. Unlike @Oshare I have never actually seen a pair, so I'm curious to see what all the excitement's about.
View attachment 1735002

Spoiler: They may be duds, but we'll see.

View attachment 1735004

I saw those and passed. I didn’t think there was a chance they’d fit & me trying to squeeze into shell 12 would tear the shell. Curious to know how it goes.

 

[smfdoc]

It's time for the NOS Hanover PTB review as they arrived yesterday. These are L.B. Sheppard signature, which were the better line for Hanover. After some clean-up of dust they were ready for some new laces and a photo. The photo shows my commitment to the group as it was 10 degrees out there.

I earlier described my search for a EEE Made in USA Florsheim PTB, only to discover they did not come in EEE. I then found an 11EEE Florsheim that was made soon after Florsheim went to India. I compared it to my 93602 and found the quality of both to be essentially identical. These Hanover PTBs, being 11EEE, would make for a nice comparison with the Florsheims. Not a true apples to apples, but pretty close. First, comparison is the color. This was take indoors under room light and no enhancements. The Hanover is on the right. To my eyes the colors are nearly identical with perhaps a touch of red in the Hanover. However, this may be the luck of the draw as there are differences in shade on can find in many shoe brands. In person, they look the same to me.

The leather quality of the upper seem comparable, but I am no expert. The grain on the Florsheim is smoother compared to the Alpine-like grain in the Hanover. First, the Florsheim and then the Hanover.

The most significant external difference is the joining of the upper to the eyelet section. The Florsheim joint is folded inwards and the stitching cannot be seen. Same as the current AE Leeds.

The Hanover appears to overlap and then sewn on both sides of the joint. The Florsheim joint is perhaps "dressier" and the Hanover a touch more casual. Who is to say?

There is very little to compare the stitch per inch, but it can be seen around the throat of the shoe. The Hanover SPI is higher than the Florsheim.

The soles are the same thickness and both have a channel to recess the stitching. The external measurements of the Hanover sole was slightly longer and wider than the Florsheim. This did not translate to a larger fit internally as both shoes felt the same on my feet and both closed to the same degree when laced.

In summary, there are slight differences as one would expect but nothing for me to declare one of them better than the other. At the end of the day, I now own two pairs of brown PTBs with no distinct preference for either pair. There are worse problems to have.

 

[vestbash]

Vintage violation. I just found a Lobb Lopez loafer at Goodwill. I’m not sure I understand what the fuss is about. Is there any fuss? View attachment 1734698 . A lot of vintage shoes seem better quality to me than these. What am I missing?
View attachment 1734696 View attachment 1734697
Unicorn leather?

this model of lobbs with the diamond patterned insole debuted very recently, so these shoes are at most only about 2 years old.

 

[stook1]

It's time for the NOS Hanover PTB review as they arrived yesterday. These are L.B. Sheppard signature, which were the better line for Hanover. After some clean-up of dust they were ready for some new laces and a photo. The photo shows my commitment to the group as it was 10 degrees out there.

View attachment 1735147

I earlier described my search for a EEE Made in USA Florsheim PTB, only to discover they did not come in EEE. I then found an 11EEE Florsheim that was made soon after Florsheim went to India. I compared it to my 93602 and found the quality of both to be essentially identical. These Hanover PTBs, being 11EEE, would make for a nice comparison with the Florsheims. Not a true apples to apples, but pretty close. First, comparison is the color. This was take indoors under room light and no enhancements. The Hanover is on the right. To my eyes the colors are nearly identical with perhaps a touch of red in the Hanover. However, this may be the luck of the draw as there are differences in shade on can find in many shoe brands. In person, they look the same to me.

View attachment 1735148


The leather quality of the upper seem comparable, but I am no expert. The grain on the Florsheim is smoother compared to the Alpine-like grain in the Hanover. First, the Florsheim and then the Hanover.

View attachment 1735155

View attachment 1735156


The most significant external difference is the joining of the upper to the eyelet section. The Florsheim joint is folded inwards and the stitching cannot be seen. Same as the current AE Leeds.

View attachment 1735162

The Hanover appears to overlap and then sewn on both sides of the joint. The Florsheim joint is perhaps "dressier" and the Hanover a touch more casual. Who is to say?

View attachment 1735163

There is very little to compare the stitch per inch, but it can be seen around the throat of the shoe. The Hanover SPI is higher than the Florsheim.

View attachment 1735164

View attachment 1735165

The soles are the same thickness and both have a channel to recess the stitching. The external measurements of the Hanover sole was slightly longer and wider than the Florsheim. This did not translate to a larger fit internally as both shoes felt the same on my feet and both closed to the same degree when laced.

View attachment 1735166

In summary, there are slight differences as one would expect but nothing for me to declare one of them better than the other. At the end of the day, I now own two pairs of brown PTBs with no distinct preference for either pair. There are worse problems to have.

I have a very similar pair of nettletons. I will edit this post with a couple of quick pics taken from similar angles for comparison purposes just so we have the grain PTB trifecta.

Here goes...

-Last shape is, unsurprisingly, a bit more chunky than Florsheim and Hanover.
-Grain seems maybe closer to @smfdoc Florsheim pair with somewhat less texture than the Hanvoer.
-Quarter construction is similar to the Florsheim
-Welt SPI seems similar to the Havover. Upper SPI, not certain. Seems tough to tell to me how they line up tbh. All 3 seem good. The upper stitching on the Nettleton shows less overall than the other 2 pairs but I think that's intentional for all of the pairs.

Seems like it's hard to go wrong here with any of them and they are each solid choices in their own right. I think I have the strongest preference for the leather texture of the Hanover and I also like the stitching style on the quarters somewhat more than the Florsheim / Nettleton style.

 

[smfdoc]

All of my Florsheim talk resulted in selecting the trusty 93602 LWB for an indoor day. The temperature outside has soared all the way to 16 degrees.

 

[CWOyaji]

I saw those and passed. I didn’t think there was a chance they’d fit & me trying to squeeze into shell 12 would tear the shell. Curious to know how it goes.

They're not my size either, but I think someone will want to buy them. I was surprised that the auction didn't do better for the seller, but he didn't put the magic word "Yuma" in the listing description so they didn't get as many bids as I thought they might.

 

[CWOyaji]

It is a good looking badge. These are 11 1/2 C, BTW.

 

[friendlygoz]

Shell AE Graysons for tassels Tuesday (I just made that up… it’s not bad though, right?)

 

[friendlygoz]

It is a good looking badge. These are 11 1/2 C, BTW. View attachment 1735289 View attachment 1735290 View attachment 1735291

wow those cleaned up well. I love the tassel taming technique. Would love to see how that works out.

 

[CWOyaji]

I wetted the tassels with Leather Milk and used the wire tie from a bag of coffee, cut in quarters, to keep them in order. I think it looks a lot neater than having them splayed out. Then just fingertip amounts of the same lotion on the uppers, and a bunch of brushing and buffing. These shoes were in much better condition than they appeared to be in the original listing, so they didn't need much work.

The Yumas I have coming in will be a more challenging project. They're pretty beat.