Vintage Dress shoe appreciation, tips, maintenance and advice

[smfdoc]

It's a Florsheim PTB kind of Sunday.

 

[eTrojan]

I am one of those people who tries to improve my photos and lighting is important. There are windows on the left that allows morning light, a small desk lamp in front and a floor light on the right side. These give the shoes a chance to reflect light from multiple angles and look their best. The floor light has 5 levels of brightness and can look white, cool blue or warm tan.

Be careful, or you might be recruited for a second career as a shoe stylist.

 

[JFWR]

How good quality were O'Sullivans?

 

[VintageZealot]

English made brown suede wingtips for Lefcourt. I don't know who made these as there's conflicting information out there, or much about the store Lefcourt other than it was a high end store located at 400 Madison Avenue.

Interestingly enough, the green velvet website has the exact same pair of shoes though I'm skeptical of the accuracy of all the information provided: https://classicshoesformen.com/the-...rt-suede-full-brogue-oxford-circa-1960-44-5d/

These look like a balmoral rather than an oxford (hard to know with how interchangeably those terms are used) which is less common for a wingtip shoe. Their low cut profile is a bit unusual as well. I think they are from around the late 1950s or early 1960s.

I don't think these are the original heels.

 

[smfdoc]

How good quality were O'Sullivans?

O'Sullivan was actually the brand of the heel. They were used by multiple companies to one degree or the other, but the Mason company seemed to use them for many years. People selling used shoes on Rbay will frequently see the O'Sullivan name on the heel and assume that was the brand name of the shoe. As for Mason Imperials, the consensus is that they were a middle tier, but some guys here just love their pairs. Oddly, I have a pair of shell Mason Imperials and they did not use the O'Sullivan heel.

 

[suitforcourt]

O'Sullivan was actually the brand of the heel. They were used by multiple companies to one degree or the other, but the Mason company seemed to use them for many years. People selling used shoes on Rbay will frequently see the O'Sullivan name on the heel and assume that was the brand name of the shoe. As for Mason Imperials, the consensus is that they were a middle tier, but some guys here just love their pairs. Oddly, I have a pair of shell Mason Imperials and they did not use the O'Sullivan heel.

View attachment 1980513

I'm one of those guys. I own 2 pairs of Mason Executive Imperials. Definitely a tier 2 brand but I enjoy wearing mine.

 

[memoriastoica]

I'm one of those guys. I own 2 pairs of Mason Executive Imperials. Definitely a tier 2 brand but I enjoy wearing mine.

I love them too! I have two: one in light brown and one in black.

 

[NewDenimBootHead]

First wear of the new-to-me Florsheim Imperials 93602. This is my first venture into vintage shoes and I am liking how it turned out. Purchased from -bay with a cleaning with sapphir leather soap, applied two coats of Venetian Shoe Cream and then shoe polish. Seller put a lot of black polish on to hide some flaws and show off leather grain. Cleaning the burgundy-looking pair to reveal this tan LWB was a fun exercise. (I noticed color from picture of the tongue) Also, seller told me that the date of manufacture was Sept. 1980. Anyway, comments welcome and forgive me on sock choice. Monday scramble to get to work - no thought. 😅

 

[smfdoc]

First wear of the new-to-me Florsheim Imperials 93602. This is my first venture into vintage shoes and I am liking how it turned out. Purchased from -bay with a cleaning with sapphir leather soap, applied two coats of Venetian Shoe Cream and then shoe polish. Seller put a lot of black polish on to hide some flaws and show off leather grain. Cleaning the burgundy-looking pair to reveal this tan LWB was a fun exercise. (I noticed color from picture of the tongue) Also, seller told me that the date of manufacture was Sept. 1980. Anyway, comments welcome and forgive me on sock choice. Monday scramble to get to work - no thought. 😅 View attachment 1980795 View attachment 1980797

Welcome to the thread and the rabbit hole that is vintage shoes. Your pair looks great after the clean-up. You should also post a "before" picture from the Ebay ad if you can still find it. We love to see the transformation.

 

[NewDenimBootHead]

In

Welcome to the thread and the rabbit hole that is vintage shoes. Your pair looks great after the clean-up. You should also post a "before" picture from the Ebay ad if you can still find it. We love to see the transformation.

thank you for the encouragement, and the suggestion. I don’t think that I would have sought out a listing without watching this form for a manner of months. Posting pictures to this thread, does educate and encourage others who might be interested in the “hobby.“

As requested before and new pics from today:

 

[eTrojan]

I’ve decided that this is spectator week. I’ll start with my Sanford spectators and my seersucker suit. Not particularly vintage, but I don’t think this combination is available anymore, either.

 

[eTrojan]

I love them too! I have two: one in light brown and one in black.

Same. While the construction isn't on par with Florsheim, the last fits my foot better.

 

[memoriastoica]

Bonkers final cost of this auction: https://www.ebay.com/itm/3856955197...=true&nordt=true&rt=nc&_trksid=p2047675.l2557

 

[mormonopoly]

Bonkers final cost of this auction: https://www.ebay.com/itm/385695519777?mkrid=711-53200-19255-0&siteid=0&mkcid=1&campid=5338039091&toolid=10001&nma=true&si=sp09gOVpFOpTLf%2BSB8w66tT1fkU%3D&orig_cvip=true&nordt=true&rt=nc&_trksid=p2047675.l2557

Who would pay that much?


In all seriousness, I was definitely hoping to get them for less, but I wasn’t going to miss out on them. In my decade plus of collecting pre-60s shoes, I’ve never seen another pair like this.

 

[suitforcourt]

Bonkers final cost of this auction: https://www.ebay.com/itm/385695519777?mkrid=711-53200-19255-0&siteid=0&mkcid=1&campid=5338039091&toolid=10001&nma=true&si=sp09gOVpFOpTLf%2BSB8w66tT1fkU%3D&orig_cvip=true&nordt=true&rt=nc&_trksid=p2047675.l2557

I was expecting north of $1000 given your description