Vintage Dress shoe appreciation, tips, maintenance and advice

[Oshare]

Let's change up the topic from poo, puke, and ugly shoes.

How many pairs of shell shoes do you own? I am at 11. For now.

3 pairs of 93605.

1 LWB from Herbie Butler (custom Florsheim).

1 PTB - mystery Florsheim.

2 pairs of Florsheim PTBs (black and burgundy).

2 AE MacNeils (black and burgundy).

1 Hanover LB Sheppards - PTB.

1 Hanover for Barrie PTB, on the way.

Much better to think about than ugly shoes!

Let’s see. I am up to 8... ?
Hmm... I might be overlooking a few.

Main rotation shoes:
1 Florsheim 93605 LWB
1 Bostonian Crown Windsor LWB (wearing these today)
1 Bostonian Crown Windsor shortwing

Trying to decide which of these fit best, but currently have:
1 Hannover shell PTB
1 Barrie Ltd Bootmakers shell PTB
1 Florsheim 93606

Need to find new homes for:
1 Florsheim 97626
1 mystery shell PTB, perhaps by Stuart McGuire

When I get home tonight I should take a proper inventory.

 

[wasmisterfu]

Reminds me of when my son vomited on some commuters on metro north. They were surprisingly enough relatively cool about it.

That’s because getting thrown-up on isn’t the worst thing that can happen on a metro-north train.

Next Stop: The Spanish Inquisition

America's busiest stretch of rail makes for a commute only a sadist or a car manufacturer could love

www.newsweek.com

A couple of choice quotes:

"Honestly, it's gotten to the point where hitchhiking a ride to work with a serial killer seems like a more pleasant way to travel than commuting another day with Metro North," says Jim Byrne, communications manager at the The Calhoun School, an elite private school on Manhattan's Upper West Side. Laura Lamorte, a director at MacMillan publishers, says she has seen train floors plastered with silver duct tape, presumably covering holes and cracks. One rider last Friday tweeted that the train that morning was "a practice drill for fighting your way through zombie hordes."

 

[smfdoc]

Let's change up the topic from poo, puke, and ugly shoes.

How many pairs of shell shoes do you own? I am at 11. For now.

3 pairs of 93605.

1 LWB from Herbie Butler (custom Florsheim).

1 PTB - mystery Florsheim.

2 pairs of Florsheim PTBs (black and burgundy).

2 AE MacNeils (black and burgundy).

1 Hanover LB Sheppards - PTB.

1 Hanover for Barrie PTB, on the way.

Uh, 19 with 2 on order. ? Don't mention this to my wife.

 

[wasmisterfu]

Uh, 19 with 2 on order. ? Don't mention this to my wife.

Only if you stop telling her that I’m the reason you’re doing weird stuff to those Mason’s.

 

[eTrojan]

Let's change up the topic from poo, puke, and ugly shoes.

How many pairs of shell shoes do you own? I am at 11. For now.

Looks like 16: 5 LWB, 4 shortwing, 2 PTB, 2 split-toe, 2 loafers, 1 saddle oxford. Not a single pair of Florsheims in the lot.

2 - AE MacNeil (black and burgundy)
1 - Keith Highlander LWB
1 - Cordwainer Wright 386 LWB
1 - Alden 975 LWB

3 - AE Cambridge (all #8)
1 - ET Wright 396 (shortwing bal)

1 - AE Leeds
1 - Hanover LB Sheppard PTB

1 - Alden 2210 NST
1 - AE Walton (cognac)

1 - Alden 563 Tassel loafer
1 - Alden 457 Penny loafer

1 - Hanover Saddle Oxford

 

[actionjbone]

Let's change up the topic from poo, puke, and ugly shoes.

How many pairs of shell shoes do you own? I am at 11. For now.

3 pairs of 93605.

1 LWB from Herbie Butler (custom Florsheim).

1 PTB - mystery Florsheim.

2 pairs of Florsheim PTBs (black and burgundy).

2 AE MacNeils (black and burgundy).

1 Hanover LB Sheppards - PTB.

1 Hanover for Barrie PTB, on the way.

Man, I'm behind. I only have three: a 93605, some LB Sheppards, and a pair from Barrie.

 

[CWOyaji]

I have more pairs of shell cordovan shoes than I need, and fewer than I want. But after thinning the herd of duplicates, I'm down to about twenty.

 

[wasmisterfu]

Let's change up the topic from poo, puke, and ugly shoes.

How many pairs of shell shoes do you own? I am at 11. For now.

3 pairs of 93605.

1 LWB from Herbie Butler (custom Florsheim).

1 PTB - mystery Florsheim.

2 pairs of Florsheim PTBs (black and burgundy).

2 AE MacNeils (black and burgundy).

1 Hanover LB Sheppards - PTB.

1 Hanover for Barrie PTB, on the way.

I only own 2:

A pair of Alden 974’s (short-wing oxford, Tremont last)
A pair of Alden 975’s (LWB, Barrie last).

Both are Color #8.

Technically I have a 3rd pair of Shell. Somewhere in a box in my basement (or storage unit) is a pair of utterly ruined AE Cambridge’s that I got when I was ~17, before I had any appreciation for fine shoes and such (my father bought them for me to go with my first BB suit). I just thought they looked cool and my dad got a good deal on them because they were an abandoned special order the store was stuck with.

For about a decade, they were my only dress shoes, and because I wore (and continue to wear) dress shoes pretty much all the time, I proceeded to wear them into the ground. For at least the last five years of their life, I probably wore them every single day. I wore them in horrible weather, almost never put trees in them, and the only care they got was when my fathers local cobbler would resole them (and, to me, they always came back looking new). Eventually they developed a stress crack between the vamp and the quarter and, being a feckless idiot, I didn’t do anything about it. So it got bigger until the shoe was unwearable.

About 6 years ago I found them in a box, by this point I had long since begun my collecting ways. What I saw shocked me. They were actually in far worse condition than I’d remembered (funny how what you consider acceptable changes). They were basically falling apart (insoles splitting, missing French piping, totally worn through linings). I’m still horribly ashamed of what I did to those shoes.

 

[ccpl14]

Let's change up the topic from poo, puke, and ugly shoes.

How many pairs of shell shoes do you own? I am at 11. For now.

3 pairs of 93605.

1 LWB from Herbie Butler (custom Florsheim).

1 PTB - mystery Florsheim.

2 pairs of Florsheim PTBs (black and burgundy).

2 AE MacNeils (black and burgundy).

1 Hanover LB Sheppards - PTB.

1 Hanover for Barrie PTB, on the way.

Let’s see...

AE: Brown Strand, Black Park Ave, burgundy Bradley, black Leeds

Vintage Florsheim: 93605 (x3), Black WTB, 97624 (x2)

Vintage Hanover black tassel loafer

Vintage Weyenberg burgundy WTO (just took possession today, in fact)

So 12?

 

[M635Guy]

How many pairs of shell shoes do you own? I am at 11. For now.

I've got 8 - in the name of shoe Appreciation list with pix:

- 93605 from 1968. I've decided I'm not old if I have shoes older than me

- Grant Stone Cognac shell PTB

- AE natty shell Strand (need to get a patina'd pic - true of most)

- AE Bourbon shell Higgins Mill (waffling on keep vs. sell)

- Alden #8 Naval boot

- Alden Ravello wingtip boot

- Alden Mahogany shell Indy boot - crappy/distorted shot of awesome boots

- Alden Ravello shell NST derby

 

[Oshare]

Much better to think about than ugly shoes!

Let’s see. I am up to 8... ?
Hmm... I might be overlooking a few.

Main rotation shoes:
1 Florsheim 93605 LWB
1 Bostonian Crown Windsor LWB (wearing these today)
1 Bostonian Crown Windsor shortwing

Trying to decide which of these fit best, but currently have:
1 Hannover shell PTB
1 Barrie Ltd Bootmakers shell PTB
1 Florsheim 93606

Need to find new homes for:
1 Florsheim 97626
1 mystery shell PTB, perhaps by Stuart McGuire

When I get home tonight I should take a proper inventory.

I knew I was missing something. Totally forgot about my Aldens! Not sure on the model numbers so just going from my very faulty memory.

Captoe blucher #2160 (?)
Saddle shoes#974 (?)

So the total is up to 10.

Actually thinking I should try to replace the Aldens with examples that fit better. These were some of the first shell shoes I bought, before realizing that many Aldens run large.

 

[happypebble]

Wowsa...it blows my mind that you guys all have multiple pairs of shell shoes. Someday I'd like to find one of my own. There's got to be a cheap beater pair out there.

 

[Oshare]

Wowsa...it blows my mind that you guys all have multiple pairs of shell shoes. Someday I'd like to find one of my own. There's got to be a cheap beater pair out there.

I wish our apartment was big enough with storage for multiple pairs of 93605s and other vintage shoes.

But tiny apartments in Tokyo are not conducive to growing shoe collections.

 

[madhat]

Let's change up the topic from poo, puke, and ugly shoes.

How many pairs of shell shoes do you own? I am at 11. For now.

3 pairs of 93605.

1 LWB from Herbie Butler (custom Florsheim).

1 PTB - mystery Florsheim.

2 pairs of Florsheim PTBs (black and burgundy).

2 AE MacNeils (black and burgundy).

1 Hanover LB Sheppards - PTB.

1 Hanover for Barrie PTB, on the way.

Just broke 30. Only 1 vintage shell though

 

[kilowatts]

Hi guys:

I have three pairs of shell. Florsheim LWB and PTB along with AE Leeds.
I had several more but they went to Marius as they didn’t quite fit.
I’d like another pair of Alden chukkas in 11E or 11.5D, anybody?

Kilowatts