Vintage Dress shoe appreciation, tips, maintenance and advice

[memoriastoica]

Mason Executive Imperials. They keep getting more comfy.

 

[VintageZealot]

A bit of proof of life from me, I've still been browsing but haven't had much time to post lately.

I have a backlog of pictures I've taken but have yet to post, so I'll start with these late 1950s Freeman loafers. I've posted these before but they were very stiff and dry then and I think the images looked a bit washed out, so I took these images later.

The creases are highlighted by the direct sunlight and in person are much less noticeable than they are here. When I got these they were so stiff they wouldn't bend at all and were basically unwearable but with a lot of conditioning (especially to the soles) they're now much better and I wear them all the time without issue.

These originally came from a store called Sholem's which had it's own logo inside one of the shoes in place of the typical Freeman logo.

They came with some accessories such as this pair of very mid century looking shoe trees. They seem to be lasted to the shoe as they fit inside perfectly, so I suspect they are original.

The original box came with them as well, and this is the only original shoe box I have so far.

As a bonus, here's a 1957 Freeman ad showing some similar models with the same logo found inside one of the shoes.

 

[Nealjpage]

On my feet for Easter Monday are these shell Alden for BB. They look OK in person but look like **** in photos.

On my wrist is my latest project. This Hamilton automatic is circa 1957. Hamilton had some pretty awesome names for their watches in the '50s, like Boatswain and Nordon and Transcontinental and Stormking. This one? K-455. (Cue sad trombone sound.) Overall it was a straightforward service.

 

[Nealjpage]

On my feet for Easter Monday are these shell Alden for BB. They look OK in person but look like **** in photos.

When did SF start censoring my colorful language?

 

[friendlygoz]

AE St Denis from the mid-1980s. I bought these on a whim. They looked a little bit like some thing my grandfather would wear after a round of golf, so I put a patina on them to jazz them up.

 

[friendlygoz]

On my feet for Easter Monday are these shell Alden for BB. They look OK in person but look like **** in photos.
View attachment 1937611


On my wrist is my latest project. This Hamilton automatic is circa 1957. Hamilton had some pretty awesome names for their watches in the '50s, like Boatswain and Nordon and Transcontinental and Stormking. This one? K-455. (Cue sad trombone sound.) Overall it was a straightforward service.
View attachment 1937613

Great stuff all around. You service your own watches?! Wow.

 

[Nealjpage]

Great stuff all around. You service your own watches?! Wow.

During the pandemic I took a new job where I was working from home. Mrs. Nealjpage also works from home. After about two weeks of my being home 24/7, she started to get sick of even hearing me blink. "Maybe you should find a hobby or something else to do," she passive-aggressivly suggested one afternoon. I decided watch repair was right up my alley. I'm not sure why I thought that, but I foolishly did. And here I am.

 

[sam67]

Great stuff all around. You service your own watches?! Wow.

On my feet for Easter Monday are these shell Alden for BB. They look OK in person but look like **** in photos.
View attachment 1937611


On my wrist is my latest project. This Hamilton automatic is circa 1957. Hamilton had some pretty awesome names for their watches in the '50s, like Boatswain and Nordon and Transcontinental and Stormking. This one? K-455. (Cue sad trombone sound.) Overall it was a straightforward service.
View attachment 1937613

Have you tried the high-grit sanding on those shoes? My hat is off to the guys here for that! I just did a pair of shell Bradleys and they look great. And just this moment I realized I used 1500 on them when I thought I was using 3000.

Just out of curiosity, how do you polish or buff the watch case?

 

[suitforcourt]

When did SF start censoring my colorful language?

It's been a few months now. Instead of shoe p*rn, it gets translated to "shoe appreciation"

 

[smfdoc]

Today is a red letter day for me. I started this thread nearly 7 years ago when I first became interested in Vintage shoes. I searched Ebay and it did not take terribly long to find some Florsheim shell LWBs. Perfect. They fit and now to get some in calf and a pair of shell PTBs. The calf versions started showing up to add to the collection, but never a pair of shell PTBs. Surely they are there, but I must be missing them. I intensified by daily Ebay searches to multiple times per day without success. This went on for months and I finally discovered the problem after perusing the Florsheim catalog on vcleat.com.

Unlike the calf and shell LWBs, the shell PTBs were only made up to an E width and I am a EEE. No WONDER my months of intensive searching was fruitless. It's hard to find something that does not exist. My only hope was that some guy back in the day special ordered a pair in EEE width and that they survived to 2023 in usable condition and that they would find their way to Ebay AND that I would find them AND get the seller to cancel the auction to sell them to me. So far, that has been an impossible dream...until today.

This seller listed a pair of Florsheim shell PTBs in 11EEE. He knew they were special order because they contain the name of the customer instead of the style number. Not the best photos, but here they are:

As these are Royal Imperials they are likely a 97624 model made in the 1990s. Vcleat says they are "uncommon." As an added bonus, they unknown original buyer spent a few extra dollars and picked up Florsheim trees and these come with the shoes.

The moral of my tale is that non-existent shoes do sometimes exist and pigs will occasionally fly. Pictures when they arrive and get cleaned up.

 

[smfdoc]

Speaking of PTBs, Hanover LB Sheppards for some errands.

 

[Nealjpage]

Just out of curiosity, how do you polish or buff the watch case?

I clean the case parts in my ultrasonic cleaner. If they need to be polished, I use a polishing cloth that I bought at a craft store.

 

[Vincent George]

Imperial Tuesday. Paired with this late 50s early 60s union made in USA blazer.

 

[Nobleprofessor]

Today is a red letter day for me. I started this thread nearly 7 years ago when I first became interested in Vintage shoes. I searched Ebay and it did not take terribly long to find some Florsheim shell LWBs. Perfect. They fit and now to get some in calf and a pair of shell PTBs. The calf versions started showing up to add to the collection, but never a pair of shell PTBs. Surely they are there, but I must be missing them. I intensified by daily Ebay searches to multiple times per day without success. This went on for months and I finally discovered the problem after perusing the Florsheim catalog on vcleat.com.

View attachment 1937687

Unlike the calf and shell LWBs, the shell PTBs were only made up to an E width and I am a EEE. No WONDER my months of intensive searching was fruitless. It's hard to find something that does not exist. My only hope was that some guy back in the day special ordered a pair in EEE width and that they survived to 2023 in usable condition and that they would find their way to Ebay AND that I would find them AND get the seller to cancel the auction to sell them to me. So far, that has been an impossible dream...until today.

This seller listed a pair of Florsheim shell PTBs in 11EEE. He knew they were special order because they contain the name of the customer instead of the style number. Not the best photos, but here they are:

View attachment 1937689

View attachment 1937691

As these are Royal Imperials they are likely a 97624 model made in the 1990s. Vcleat says they are "uncommon." As an added bonus, they unknown original buyer spent a few extra dollars and picked up Florsheim trees and these come with the shoes.

View attachment 1937697

The moral of my tale is that non-existent shoes do sometimes exist and pigs will occasionally fly. Pictures when they arrive and get cleaned up.

What a great adventure! Congrats on finding them! A little (or a lot) hard work pays off!

 

[Nobleprofessor]

How about something a little different? This group has such spectacular collections, these aren’t quite as rare as they would be elsewhere.

1965 Florsheim 92649 Black Shell Cordovan LWB. It’s a shame how much less common these are versus the 93605.