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Last night I lost an auction for a pair of vintage Weejuns that I’d been watching for ten days. The seller had agreed to ship to the UK, which was very nice of him, but at the last second when my bid went in I got an error message from Ebay saying seller hadn’t selected ‘ship’ worldwide. Too late the hero, and they went for buttons. I’ll have to watch that in the future.
My thoughts then turned to Florsheim Imperials – the long wing brogue version to be exact. I’ve been keeping an eye out for a pair in my size and in really top condition for some months to replace the shell cordovan pair I had some years back that were too small for me. I’ve seen NOS in the box models but these went for big money, I’ve seen minty plain toe redbone scotch grain, which are very nice, but I think I prefer cordovan in those and of course many a pair of the classic light tan grain brogues.
There are always lots of Imperials on US Ebay, some totally mullered (always described as Excellent Near Mint Condition) and others simply listed by people selling some strange old man’s shoes. These are the ones I look out for and last night I found a seller with the very rare chocolate brown Scotch Grain long wings. They were my size (and no B or C fitting) plus the shipping quote to the UK was only $23.00. In like flynn with the ‘buy it now ‘ and for £30 a very nice pair of unusual colour Florsheims Kenmoor.
By the way don’t be tempted to buy modern Kenmoor they are made in far flung climes now and cheap and tacky looking. This pair does not have it’s original V-cleat but I don’t mind that, they are deathly dangerous walking around the London Underground!
Nice shoes. I like your Ebay style Weejun, taking risks on badly listed bargains, that’s how it’s done. It’s a hit and miss strategy but in my experience the hits outweigh the misses. Good to see a fellow traveller who isn’t afraid of slighty worn shoes either. I’ve been looking for brown Florsheims myself for years and they really are a rare sight. I eventually picked up some reddish brown 1960s pebbled longwings that might be this “redbone scotch grain” you mentioned. Could you elaborate on this colour? Nice one.
Thanks for popping over 1966.
I saw another pair of these on Ebay recently and the seller was pointing out how rare they were. It then occurred to me that I had never seen any that colour and so stared searching around and found no mention of them. The colour that you have sounds exactly like the Redbone Scotch Grain – a darker than the light tan colour and a slight orangey brown to them.
Next time I see a pair described as Redbone on EBay I will post an image over on Film Noir Buff
weejun-quite an attractive pair of Florsheims -especially in that shade of brown.
to give a perspective on original cost , I bought a black pair of Florsheim Wing tip Imperials on sale in 1981 for $ 90- -list was like 125-which served me well in to the early 1990s–I suspect this pair is indeed pre 1970. nice post pic–
max
Great post WeeJun, it’s a wonderful thing when you come across a quality pair of vintage shoes, made to last, worn by? I love vintage shoes too, I’ve been wearing my E. Pucci derby shoes for a while, but am selling them soon. I tweeted yer blog post dude, always an honour to meet a vtg shoe lover 🙂 Take it easy Howard.