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Deadstock Nettleton pebble grain longwings

AlanC

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My deadstock Nettletons from ebay arrived today. My quest for a perfect pebble grain longwing is certainly over.

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These soles look like just the thing for snow and ice:

p1012179ta0.jpg
 

AlanC

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Justdog said:
...how old?

I'm not sure exactly, but from what I know of Nettleton and since they have a full leather heel, I'd guesstimate them to be late '50s-60s. There may be others here with a better idea of that.
 

AlanC

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kschurch said:
Wow Alan!

Quite possibly the holy grail of dress shoes...or at least one of them.

Was it a highly contested auction?

Thanks, all! I got them Buy It Now for $75. With comparable Aldens pushing $400 these days it was a good buy.
 

Marty M.

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Score one for Alan.

Yowzer Alan, those are the ultimate Classics's. I forgot about Nettletons. They were a nice shoe. Are they still around? Btw, what does "longwing" mean?
Marty Mathis
 

AlanC

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Marty, note how the wing of the wingtip doesn't taper away at the side but extends all the way around the side of the shoe to the heel counter. That is a longwing, the most famous version being the Florsheim Kenmoor, although all the old makers did them. You would be familiar with the AE MacNeil, certainly.

Sadly, Nettleton is no more. They were one of the real old US makers; they were bought out, made ugly shoes, and then closed in the late 80s, I think. Their factory was in Syracuse, NY (I think it's loft apartments now) and used the motto 'The World's Slowest Made Shoe' or something similar.

Perhaps in view of our new forum (re)focus, a wingtip thread might be in order.
 

Marty M.

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Aha, now I see....

AlanC said:
Marty, note how the wing of the wingtip doesn't taper away at the side but extends all the way around the side of the shoe to the heel counter. That is a longwing, the most famous version being the Florsheim Kenmoor, although all the old makers did them. You would be familiar with the AE MacNeil, certainly.

Sadly, Nettleton is no more. They were one of the real old US makers; they were bought out, made ugly shoes, and then closed in the late 80s, I think. Their factory was in Syracuse, NY (I think it's loft apartments now) and used the motto 'The World's Slowest Made Shoe' or something similar.

Perhaps in view of our new forum (re)focus, a wingtip thread might be in order.

Thanks for the education my friend.
Marty Mathis
 

The Shooman

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AUSTRALIA
l absolutely love them and have been very jealous of you all week.

l always look for Nettletons on ebay, but hardly ever see the pairs with the full leather heal. How do you get these things?

All the dead stock appear to be in very narrow widths. True?

l'd love to know the seller if you'd please.



Regards: The Shooman.
 

AlanC

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The Shooman said:
How do you get these things?
I must be livin' right.

All the dead stock appear to be in very narrow widths. True?
I don't know if that's true or not. I'd say non-standard widths probably stood a better chance of not being used over the years, though.

l'd love to know the seller if you'd please.
Seller was 'alleyascot'.

Tell all the boys at FNB 'hi' for me.
 

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