Thursday, December 27, 2012

Bustle Era Boots!








From the seller:

Here's a really classy pair of Victorian shoes!! They had to have been really high style in their day! Note the scalloped cut around the buttons and around the top of the shoe....Not to mention the maroon velvet!!!!

These shoes are black leather and maroon velvet and the black upper part is maybe canvas?. They are in amazing condition!! The maroon velvet is in very nice clean soft condition and shows very little wear. The black canvas part is stiffer and shows more wear. The backs of the heels show some light scuffing. There are 9 black buttons on each shoe and are the original as far as I know. Around the high top on the inside, is what I think is cream colored soft kid leather. Very quality!

The bottom of the shoes are impressed 4 1/2. Also impressed on the sole of each shoe above the 4 1/2 are two overlapping circles; One reads "Guaranteed All Solid" and the other circle reads "Steel Shank" and has an outline of a boot or shoe in the middle of it. These circles are both quite faint. Also, the inside of one shoe is marked 4 1/2 with the number 486. I don't think these shoes were worn much as there is still an applied stamp on one of the heels which says McKay Sew. Mach. Association Lic. Stamp with a patent date of August 14, 1860 (see photo)!! 1860...WOW!

I don't know what the 4 1/2 would translate to in today's sizes but the exterior measurements are: 9.75" long, 2.75" wide (at the widest point of the ball of the foot), and about 8.5" high including the heels which are about 1 1/8" high.



From Me:

I doubt these beauties were ever worn. Although the patent says "1860", the style suggests 1870's or 1880's (a few in this style are seen as early at the late 1860's, when the bustle came into style). The actual patent on how the shoe is to be constructed.

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