Vintage Dress shoe appreciation, tips, maintenance and advice

[actionjbone]

Alright folks, bought these as a project pair last year. Have not had the time to restore these, and forgot about them. Was clearing out my storage and found them again. Totally molded. Yuck! Luckily there were packed in a plastic bag.

It’s a (probably 1960s) pair of Shell Cordovan Florsheim Royal Imperial.
Size 9.5 B
93606

If any of you are up for the challenge to (try to) restore them. They’d be yours for the cost of shipping!

Only condition is I would like to see a followup post with the result! Or perhaps this would be a good pair for the shoe restore challenge.

If multiple people are interested I’ll pick one at random.

Shoes are in Netherlands, but can ship worldwide.

Issues with the pair:
- mold
- leather looks super dry and dull in places

Photos below

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Shoes arrived today.

Good news! These come from my favorite Florsheim period - the "*******" sizing phase! These 9.5B shoes seem to fit my 10.5D feet, just a little snug by the toes.

So far, they're not half bad. I started with two mild all-over scrubbings with Bick 1, to get off the surface filth. Then a little conditioner. And of course, cedar shoe trees. Will decide on next steps tomorrow.

 

[happypebble]

So happy to see another pair of GH turn up! I still have it on my bucket list to find a pair in my size.

Oddball Golden Harvests arrived today. They are indeed covered in polish. Would love to know the story here. I put a little Reno’Mat to the toe cap on one - these are salvageable, but it’s gonna take some elbow grease to get there and there will always be some “patina” in the brogue holes. Should make for an interesting look.
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[eTrojan]

Alden shell loafers today, because I was too tired to bend over and tie laces.

 

[ccpl14]

So happy to see another pair of GH turn up! I still have it on my bucket list to find a pair in my size.

Turns out they’re spectators!

still a ton of work to go on these. This is after cleaning with some denatured alcohol. May need to go full acetone and/or bleach bath on these yet.

 

[friendlygoz]

Turns out they’re spectators!
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still a ton of work to go on these. This is after cleaning with some denatured alcohol. May need to go full acetone and/or bleach bath on these yet.

Crazy. Can’t wait to see how they come out. Good call with the beer. That helps everything.

 

[suitforcourt]

Crazy. Can’t wait to see how they come out. Good call with the beer. That helps everything.

Ah yes, beer. The cure all.

Every episode of "Cops" starts with:

Officer, I admit I had a few drinks...

 

[sandfourman]

These may just be the most interesting vintage shoes I've seen. The seller has three pairs of these 1960s Florsheims in Purple, Red, and Green.

Vintage Florsheim PURPLE FAUX SATIN RIBBON TIE OXFORD SHOES Size 8D | eBay

They're fabulous! Shoes appear to be unworn. Both soles have the letter "D" on the bottom (faintly). Fabric, bow tie, and heels are in fantastic shape.

www.ebay.com

I would kill to find these in a size 12

 

[thomas199023]

Shoes arrived today.

Good news! These come from my favorite Florsheim period - the "*******" sizing phase! These 9.5B shoes seem to fit my 10.5D feet, just a little snug by the toes.

So far, they're not half bad. I started with two mild all-over scrubbings with Bick 1, to get off the surface filth. Then a little conditioner. And of course, cedar shoe trees. Will decide on next steps tomorrow.

Great to hear! That was quite fast. LMK how the mold removal goes!

 

[friendlygoz]

Is one of you vintage_shoe_guy1 on eBay? This selller has some pretty choice vintage shoes including some nice black shell Florsheim LWBs.

 

[smfdoc]

Once upon a time...a man could stroll downtown, enter a store with Florsheim on the sign and order a pair of shell cordovan Yumas. The man would happily produce the pair seen below. Judging from the date code and style under, these are from 1986. If you have some real loose money laying around with no purpose, and wear a 10D, this very pair NOS can be had for $1,800, but he is considering offers. Not my listing.

 

[Nobleprofessor]

There are not many better things than Alden Shell Cordovan LWB.

 

[Shoonoob]

Turns out they’re spectators!
View attachment 1283382

still a ton of work to go on these. This is after cleaning with some denatured alcohol. May need to go full acetone and/or bleach bath on these yet.

Someone should be publicly flogged for doing that to those shoes! Good luck with the cleanup.

 

[friendlygoz]

Once upon a time...a man could stroll downtown, enter a store with Florsheim on the sign and order a pair of shell cordovan Yumas. The man would happily produce the pair seen below. Judging from the date code and style under, these are from 1986. If you have some real loose money laying around with no purpose, and wear a 10D, this very pair NOS can be had for $1,800, but he is considering offers. Not my listing.

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This seller has some nice stuff and not all of it is priced like this. I thought the seller might be one of our own.

 

[smfdoc]

This seller has some nice stuff and not all of it is priced like this. I thought the seller might be one of our own.

Agreed. I just thought the Yumas were so special that I wanted to show the pictures of a NOS pair. They are pricey because they make the shell from unicorns.

 

[friendlygoz]

Agreed. I just thought the Yumas were so special that I wanted to show the pictures of a NOS pair. They are pricey because they make the shell from unicorns.

They are special. Unicorn shell... mmmmm... sounds delicious.