In my recent eBay haunting, I've collected a number of interesting items - a leather punch, a cast iron fluting iron,
two early Victorian slippers, and a pair of Edwardian button boots.
As with all the antique shoes I buy, I veer towards oldies that have seen better centuries. Usually they're wrinkled, they're flakey, they're teeny-tiny, and they're cheap, all great attributes to have for study pieces, rather than display. The idea of *wearing* these doesn't even enter my head.
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| The real McCoy - 100-year-old button boots...on my feet! I normally wear a 7.5 B width. |
...Except for these button boots. I got them on eBay for a shockingly low price, thinking it'd be nice to have them in my growing collection, as a reference point for
Tavistock. I didn't even read the measurements, but when they arrived, looking like they'd been run over by a truck, they kindof looked...well...surprisingly big, for Edwardian shoes. Lo and behold, they fit! I mean...they REALLY fit (I'd say like gloves, but they're shoes, so that doesn't really work.)
So Chris and I took some shoe cream to them, along with most of a tin of Kiwi Parade Gloss, and hot-spooned these puppies into the wee hours of the morning. After all was said and done, holy cannoli, they're shiny and lovely and quenched.
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| After polishing. The leather is still worn, but in some places it almost looks new. |
I wore them tonight to the High Desert Steam Christmas Party, and I can't wait to wear them again to whatever the next Victorian event might be. The costume/history geek in me is squeeing with delight!
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| My "formal" Steampunk costume - I need to make a shorter skirt now to show off the boots! |
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