Extremely Rare 1920s 20s Twenties Art Deco Perforated Two-Tone Chocolate & Fawn Apron-Toe Oxford Spectator Correspondent Educator Shoes by Rice & Hutchins Boston w/ Presto Grip Heels | Size Men’s US 9 C | Unbelievable Details | Museum Costume Collection Worthy | Jazz Age | Prohibition | Anarchism | Sacco & Vanzetti | Boardwalk Empire
Details:
* Manufacturer: Rice & Hutchins, Inc., High Street, Boston, Mass. (Established in 1866 and dissolved in 1929, R&H was one of the most successful American shoe companies of the 1910s; notably, its South Braintree facility was located directly adjacent to the Slater & Morrill factory involved in the Sacco and Vanzetti case, with R&H employees appearing as witnesses in the trial)
* Country of manufacture: United States of America
* Decade: 1920s, 20s, Twenties, Nineteen-Twenties
* Shoe type: Perforated apron-toe spectator/correspondent (oxford)
* Style / look / period: Art Deco, Jazz Age, Roaring Twenties, Prohibition, Lost Generation, Silent Film, Dada, Surrealism, Anarchism, Nicola Sacco, Bartolomeo Vanzetti, Carlo Valdinoci, Henry Miller, Boardwalk Empire
* Estimated size: Men’s 9 C US / 42 EU / Women’s 10 ½ US
* Upper material: Chocolate brown (apron, eyelet facings, counter) and fawn (vamp, quarters) calf leather
* Outsole material: Bovine soling leather
* Insole: Leather
* Lining: Kidskin (?)
* Heel type: Leather with rubber “Presto Grip” top-lifts / heel-pads (please see condition remarks below)
* Welt: Goodyear
* Laces: Fawn 5 mm flat cotton
* Eyelets: Hidden punched
* Edge finishing: Flat, gimped
* Branding: “EDUCATOR SHOE | REG.US.PAT.OFF.” debossed in block letters on inner heel liner; “Presto Grip” embossed on heel
* Perforated vamp and quarters for a well-wicked/ventilated foot in warmer temperatures
* Collar backstay reinforcement at counter seam for durability
* Bar-tack stitching at throat
* Divine Deco details
* Incomparable craftsmanship
* “Orthopedically correct”
* 100% authentic vintage 1920s Educator Shoes made to exacting standards during the Golden Age of the needle trades in America
* NOT REPRO
* NOT NEW
Measurements:
* Insole width: 3 ¾"
* Insole length: 11”
* Outsole width: 4”
* Outsole length: 11 ½”
* Outsole thickness: 1 cm
* Heel height measured from chest: ½”
* Heel height measured from upper edge: 7/8”
* Waist: 2 ½”
Note on fit: Have you been scouring the universe in vain for genuine 1920s men’s footwear that actually fits? Well, here, while no size is explicitly indicated, we have roughly a size 9 C, which, compared to the innumerable Bs, As, AAs, AAAs that pervade the vintage shoe market, gives you quite a bit of breathing room. In any case, please review the measurements listed above, as well as all the photographs provided, to ensure a proper fit. No returns will be granted based on fit unless the measurements are shown to be vastly inaccurate — a highly unlikely eventuality.
Condition:
* In superb shape for nonagenarian/centenarian footwear
* Structurally sound
* Upper leather still quite supple
* Outsoles and heels show moderate wear, but have years of life left in them
* Minor surface scuffs, scrapes, nicks on uppers
* Slight crocking along top-line and other edges
* A few hairline cracks on apron
* Typical light creasing of vamp leather in MTP joint area
* Inner heel liners, debossed with Educator Shoe logo, relatively well preserved
* Cloth tongue linings worn
* Left shoelace is frayed where it rubs against last eyelet
* Please note that the Presto Grip heel pads have taken on a certain ceramic quality with age (imagine a Syracuse China heel designed by Adelaide Alsop Robineau), which makes them rather slippery, i.e., unsafe, particularly on smooth surfaces, meaning that if you intend to wear the shoes, rather than merely keep them in your footwear archive or such, it would be highly advisable to have your cobbler carefully remove the Presto Grips, and replace them with either leather or a new rubber heel-pad; otherwise you could, Presto, find yourself in the Grip of a halo brace
Please closely review all photos provided.
Inquiries and offers welcome.
Price: $300
Free shipping within the continental United States