Vintage Dress shoe appreciation, tips, maintenance and advice

[WoolyLamb]

Excellent pair and I agree with several rounds of moisturizing. Suggest Bick 4 or Venetian Shoe Cream as they work well but there are also others. There is a lot of life remaining in the soles and heels. I would really suggest you wear them as is and only start having work done if it is really needed. I just would not make a change for the sake of change. Get some shoe trees, clean them up and post some pictures.

I have Bick 4 and was planning to do a few rounds of that. I also have Saphir Medaille d’or Pate de Luxe with no color that i was planning to add in a light coat. Is that something better left for calf skin?

My concern with the heels is the uneven wear that exists since I already wear those specific areas unevenly.

​

 

[smfdoc]

I have Bick 4 and was planning to do a few rounds of that. I also have Saphir Medaille d’or Pate de Luxe with no color that i was planning to add in a light coat. Is that something better left for calf skin?

My concern with the heels is the uneven wear that exists since I already wear those specific areas unevenly.

​

Those sound good to me. As for the heels, do what you feel is needed for your enjoyment of the shoes. Some people swap out the V cleat as an automatic step because of their suicide nature. Other do not.

 

[Raimar]

I wish these Edwin Clapp had been closer to my size

 

[pasadena man]

Dack’s kudu whole

Dack’s kudu wholecuts… View attachment 2057453 View attachment 2057455

I think I have said it before but these are the favorite kudu I've seen posted here, because of the way the color brings out the strong grain. On some postings you have to look twice to tell it is kudu. Not in this case.

 

[pasadena man]

It is odd that I check this thread daily since the majority of postings seem LWB’s, and I have eight pairs already, with no discernible gaps in the collection. Must be the comity of the thread.

But I digress. I have a question, which is, what are the biggest vintage “gets” you have picked up over the years?

I have twenty some pairs of good leather shoes, maybe half vintage. There are four vintage purchases which I particularly treasure though:

-Florsheim 93605 Horween # 4 shell LWB’s (not a big surprise on this thread)

-Florsheim 93606 Horween # 4 shell PTB’s (ditto)

-Alden Horween # 8 shell LHS’s (the more patina the better on this model for me)

-Edwin Clapp Alligator NST’s (My precious. Was surprised to find in excellent shape at a reasonable price in my narrow 11 B size. Apparently, I came upon them in the first hour of listing).

What are some of the most prized “gets” for others, planned or unplanned?

 

[VintageZealot]

I wish these Edwin Clapp View attachment 2058591 had been closer to my size

Those happen to be my exact size... 👀
Did you end up getting them?

 

[suitforcourt]

It is odd that I check this thread daily since the majority of postings seem LWB’s, and I have eight pairs already, with no discernible gaps in the collection. Must be the comity of the thread.

But I digress. I have a question, which is, what are the biggest vintage “gets” you have picked up over the years?

I have twenty some pairs of good leather shoes, maybe half vintage. There are four vintage purchases which I particularly treasure though:

-Florsheim 93605 Horween # 4 shell LWB’s (not a big surprise on this thread)

-Florsheim 93606 Horween # 4 shell PTB’s (ditto)

-Alden Horween # 8 shell LHS’s (the more patina the better on this model for me)

-Edwin Clapp Alligator NST’s (My precious. Was surprised to find in excellent shape at a reasonable price in my narrow 11 B size. Apparently, I came upon them in the first hour of listing).

What are some of the most prized “gets” for others, planned or unplanned?

The comity, camaraderie, and the people here allow me to click on this thread many times a day, without feeling weird or cultish.

But to your main inquiry - I'd love to get some of those rare spectators that always seem to land in the lap of @mormonopoly .

I mean, I probably own over 15 pairs of LWBs. So no need for more.

A pair of captoes, or some kind of captoe brogue would also add some variety to my vintage collection.

I'd really love to find a pair of Lee Kee in my size. My family roots motivates me to find something from this brand.

 

[smfdoc]

It is odd that I check this thread daily since the majority of postings seem LWB’s, and I have eight pairs already, with no discernible gaps in the collection. Must be the comity of the thread.

But I digress. I have a question, which is, what are the biggest vintage “gets” you have picked up over the years?

I have twenty some pairs of good leather shoes, maybe half vintage. There are four vintage purchases which I particularly treasure though:

-Florsheim 93605 Horween # 4 shell LWB’s (not a big surprise on this thread)

-Florsheim 93606 Horween # 4 shell PTB’s (ditto)

-Alden Horween # 8 shell LHS’s (the more patina the better on this model for me)

-Edwin Clapp Alligator NST’s (My precious. Was surprised to find in excellent shape at a reasonable price in my narrow 11 B size. Apparently, I came upon them in the first hour of listing).

What are some of the most prized “gets” for others, planned or unplanned?

I wish I could find some of the more rare vintage shoes, but needing a eee limits the possibilities As even Florsheim did not offer all styles in eee. This means my best finds are usually a NOS or minimal use LWB. The rarest would likely be the Florsheim PTBs because they took the longest to find in the non stock eee.

 

[WoolyLamb]

Just wanted to show some progress pictures. Luckily all were very low on dirt and caked polish. The loafers have have an extra step over the others and are completely dry. So interesting to see the differences in shell colors.

 

[Raimar]

Those happen to be my exact size... 👀
Did you end up getting them?

Sorry, I did not. Don't have much space. I have (mostly) stopped buying shoes just because they are cool. And I still haven't gotten around to sell the ones I have that are not in my size. I am 8.5E / 9D.

 

[_cameosis_]

btw, i don’t know if it’s scamming season or what, but this is how the pair of black oxfords from britain arrived today - a genuine wtf moment (part of me is impressed by this level of audacity):
View attachment 2057525
View attachment 2057527
i took a video of the envelope opening to make sure that i have enough corroborating material for my refund claim.
shoes - € 11
shipping - € 16(!!)
import tax - € 8

@tightlines20171 on ebay

guy basically tripled the price for the shoes. in the boot thread, i had posted pictures of the scammer from the usa hiding a cut and split on the red wing 213 boots.

got a full refund, so i’m pacified.
the guy had the audacity to call on ebay support himself instead of offering a solution or responding to my message. ebay then made quick work of him in light of the evidence.

poshmark on the other hand is a disaster, no response or action from customer support other than: »hey, someone else will get back to you, happy poshing!« 🤢🤢🤢

 

[WoolyLamb]

got a full refund, so i’m pacified.
the guy had the audacity to call on ebay support himself instead of offering a solution or responding to my message. ebay then made quick work of him in light of the evidence.

poshmark on the other hand is a disaster, no response or action from customer support other than: »hey, someone else will get back to you, happy poshing!« 🤢🤢🤢

This is why I tend to stay on ebay mostly.

 

[_cameosis_]

This is why I tend to stay on ebay mostly.

here’s the weird part about ebay. they have deleted my feedback for him and allowed him to restore his 100% … customer service told me that it’s handled internally, but i’m not really buying it. how can someone be warned about a seller’s behavior if they delete feedback that basically says what he did, and which led to the refund? money/profit over everything.

re: poshmark -- the 213s were long on my wish list. i will have to invest more to have them restored, and at the end of the day i can live with that; what pisses me off is that customer-unfriendly behavior by poshmark, reflects very poorly on them. i open up claims only in egregious cases like these two. it is what it is.

 

[eTrojan]

Filed under: "You win some and you lose some"

Finally had a pair of 13A Florsheim 93606s show up on eBay. Auction with reasonable starting bid, so no wrangling over price. Put in a first bid to see if there was movement (nothing at the time) and then put my max bid in a snipe tool. About a day before the auction ended, someone upped my bid by $1. No more action until the last 5 seconds of the auction, when it jumped another 50%. Someone else got them for $1 more than my max.

I don't love the Florsheim last, so it's no great loss. I just hope the other bidder plans to actually wear them and doesn't think there's a flip opportunity here with a truly obscure size. I'd rather stick the seller with a pair of unsellable shoes than reward them for their "industriousness."

 

[WoolyLamb]

Filed under: "You win some and you lose some"

Finally had a pair of 13A Florsheim 93606s show up on eBay. Auction with reasonable starting bid, so no wrangling over price. Put in a first bid to see if there was movement (nothing at the time) and then put my max bid in a snipe tool. About a day before the auction ended, someone upped my bid by $1. No more action until the last 5 seconds of the auction, when it jumped another 50%. Someone else got them for $1 more than my max.

I don't love the Florsheim last, so it's no great loss. I just hope the other bidder plans to actually wear them and doesn't think there's a flip opportunity here with a truly obscure size. I'd rather stick the seller with a pair of unsellable shoes than reward them for their "industriousness."

Opportunity cost really. Sometimes I take the costco mentality with auctions. No guarantee it will be there later so whats a few bucks more. Just have one less meal out on the town.