Vintage Spade Sole Shoes

[cookie]

http://cgi.ebay.com.au/ws/eBayISAPI...PageName=STRK:MEWA:IT&ih=017#ebayphotohosting

 

[Dinerman]

http://cgi.ebay.com.au/ws/eBayISAPI...PageName=STRK:MEWA:IT&ih=017#ebayphotohosting

Don't you wish you could find new production shoes with a spade sole like that?

 

[Marc Chevalier]

Don't you wish you could find new production shoes with a spade sole like that?

Ah yes, spade-sole shoes. The handsomest of all masculine footwear, IMO.


There's a history to them. Spade soles, which Florsheim preferred to call "custom extension soles", became very popular for men's shoes from 1910 to around 1920, then died in the Jazz Age. The style was revived in the early 1930s, but petered out in the '40s (though sharp dressers of the 'zoot suit' set wore them into the '50s).


Interestingly, spade soles became a lasting component of fancy cowboy boots, and can still be seen on some modern examples.

.

 

[cookie]

1940s Stetson Spade Soles






Not cheap but these in my size is not to be missed.

 

[Tomasso]

Nice!

They kinda look like cordovan.

 

[cookie]

Not cheap but these in my size is not to be missed.

As I said not to be missed so I bought the other pair!

"She comes walking down the street
That's the kind, hey,
That's the kind I want to meet
I think I'm making it up
I should be putting it down
and it's beginning to show
I get it fixed in my head
and it won't let go"

"Oh, I can't help myself
when I feel this way
I want to be someone else
When I get this feeling
it gets in my system
I can't put the brakes on"

With apologies to Icehouse who were fabulous at the two recent concerts in Sydney for the bushfire and cyclone victims

 

[Tomasso]

Cookie, are they cordovan?

 

[cookie]

Cordovan/Shell Stetsons?

They have not arrived yet to tell exactly. Is that a shell cordovan "beef roll" or just calf creasing? Did Stetsons do cordovan/shell? The colour was described as a reddish brown.

 

[Tomasso]

Is that a shell cordovan "beef roll" or just calf creasing?

It looks like cordovan.....but it is just a pic.....[huh]



Regardless, they're very sharp.

 

[cookie]

Philly Spade Soles - not one but 2 x pairs

My greatest eBay score to date.

One seller with two pairs of Stetson brand Philly spade soles in my size 10.5D. They have been conditioned and given a Colonill polish treatment . The original eBay pix:





Enjoy the results - you are not likely to see such marvels again in this lifetime methinks....

 

[reetpleat]

My greatest eBay score to date.

One seller with two pairs of Stetson brand Philly spade soles in my size 10.5D. They have been conditioned and given a Colonill polish treatment . The original eBay pix:





Enjoy the results - you are not likely to see such marvels again in this lifetime methinks....

Wow. Quite a find. What city did they come from?

How much, if I may ask?

 

[cookie]

"Philly" Spade Soled Shoes

Not unsurprisingly the item location was listed as : Monongahela, PA


I paid USD232 for both....plus shipping on top to Oz

 

[cookie]

I would like to post these beauties for the great American shoe/Spade Sole file.

They are Hendon Brand sold at Wallach's 5th Ave store.

They were supposedly 10C size but I suspect more like 10.5C.

 

[Tomasso]

This is a 1k shoe today.

 

[scotrace]

A bad image, but these are shoes worn by Johnny Depp in Public Enemies.

Probably the best looking pair of shoes I have ever seen. A perfect spade sole.

 

[cookie]

"These are "ever so me", Clapp or no Clapp"

These are SPECtacular...

Ditto:

and these Crosby Square are one of the best black and white specs ever...so sleek...

 

[BinkieBaumont]

"Mr Cookie, i'm not a Huge fan of that "Hour glass figure" look, not in a shoe "

 

[Marc Chevalier]

"Mr Cookie, i'm not a Huge fan of that "Hour glass figure" look, ..."

That's called a custom extension sole; it's known colloquially as a 'Philly spade sole'. A lot of cowboy boots have nearly identical soles. How do you feel about cowboy boots, Binkie?

More views:

Here's another one. Not mine, unfortunately:

.

 

[cookie]

"Mr Cookie, i'm not a Huge fan of that "Hour glass figure" look, not in a shoe "

Then you don't know the meaning of voluptuous.. old bean...pip pip!

 

[BinkieBaumont]

"Mr Cookie has been an awfully great sport explaining it all to me about the "Splade Sumfink" but i keep seeing an hour glass figure"