Andrew Upton Posted 7 April , 2011 Share Posted 7 April , 2011 I would be extremely grateful if anyone could shed some light for me if these boot are of Great War vintage or later issue. I saw them for sale today at £125 and they were in all but mint condition. I believed they were of Great War vintage based on certain features, but couldn't be certain, and £125 was too much for a chance purchase on the off-chance. However, I took some pictures, and in getting home and comparing them to previously posted material (some quoted below) I wonder if they were indeed field service boots of the period and am now kicking myself slightly for having not picked them up there and then if they are: http://postimage.org/image/kgw53ytg/full/ http://postimage.org/image/kht7uwp0/full/ http://postimage.org/image/ki4smc5g/ http://1914-1918.invisionzone.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=143174 What's hard with studying boots is conflicting sources encountered-I think primarily due to the independence the industry was given--so its possible that what the industry called a boot is not what the WO/RACD called a boot. Case in point is the History of N'Hants published in the 1920's calls boots slightly different than IAW RACD info and issue info-- Below is a plate from that work--The B-5 as shown is not a B5 IAW WO/RACD and there is no such thing as a Cavalry Boot 1916--Officially it was a Boot, Field, Mounted Services and just a predecessor of the 1917 boot. <img src="http://img43.imageshack.us/img43/4654/nthamptingreatwarjpg.png" border="0" class="linked-image" /> Boot, Field, Mounted Services RACD Pattern Date Notes 8448/1915 19-Jul-15 New Pattern 8848/1916 No date found Renewal 9556/1917 14-Jul-17 New pattern Joe Sweeney Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andrew Upton Posted 7 April , 2011 Author Share Posted 7 April , 2011 http://postimage.org/image/kid2b2mc/ http://postimage.org/image/kiqalukk/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wainfleet Posted 7 April , 2011 Share Posted 7 April , 2011 Andrew I wouldn't kick yourself too hard. The toecap is certainly postwar, so whilst I don't think these are WW2 I would place them some time between the wars, probably in the 1920s. Regards, W. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wardog Posted 7 April , 2011 Share Posted 7 April , 2011 My single 1919 toecase boot has the same marked toe plate. The studs have the name Giles across them. Regards, Paul. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andrew Upton Posted 7 April , 2011 Author Share Posted 7 April , 2011 Thanks for the posts gentlemen, I've sent a message to Joe directly to ask his opinion and see what he says as well. They seem to have a mixture of war-time and late/post-war features, and despite some beautifully crisp marks no obvious date... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Joe Sweeney Posted 8 April , 2011 Share Posted 8 April , 2011 Andrew, I agree with Wainfleet I think postwar early to mid 20's prior to most boots going black in 1927 with pattern 10085. I've only seen Field Mounted Services boot pattern details during the war without toecase. The toecase was originally introduced for ankle boots intended for troops in Italy in May 1918 and in July 1918 there was discussion on providing to BEF. By 17 Sept 1917 all ankle boots were to be made with a toecase--have not found a similar instruction on FMS boots. Did you have a chance to look inside at the instep to see if there was a date? Joe Sweeney Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Grovetown Posted 8 April , 2011 Share Posted 8 April , 2011 Herewith a 1916 dated pair, with the the triple top fastening; changed to single with LoC 9556/1917 as above. I'm sure I've seen one of the 'name' dealers marketing a pair of 'Andrew's boots' recently as a pair of WWII DR boots. Cheers, GT. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andrew Upton Posted 8 April , 2011 Author Share Posted 8 April , 2011 Did you have a chance to look inside at the instep to see if there was a date? Thanks Joe and everyone else who contributed. I tried to have a look inside as well as out when I handled them, but the only thing I could see was what appeared to be the size "8" stamped again. I've actually rung the place they were being sold at and reserved them - if they are very early post-war then they still very much fit in with my area of interest, and I feel if I leave them I will regret it later. They certainly would be hard to improve apon condition wise! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
samg Posted 3 May , 2011 Share Posted 3 May , 2011 hi, i have what i think are a pair of 1919 boots and wanted someone to give me advice on them but i am having trouble uploading any pictures,it keep saying file is too big,can anybody help me with this problem,thanks-sam Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
4thGordons Posted 3 May , 2011 Share Posted 3 May , 2011 hi, i have what i think are a pair of 1919 boots and wanted someone to give me advice on them but i am having trouble uploading any pictures,it keep saying file is too big,can anybody help me with this problem,thanks-sam Sam - files must be under 100kb to post them directly on the site. If you are having trouble reducing them I would be happy to do it for you if you email the pics to me. (FWIW if you reduce the dpi to about 72 and the file dimensions to 5x7" you will usually get a file that is sufficently large for viewing and of a sufficiently small file size) Alternatively, (and probably preferably) you can host the pictures on Flickr or Photobucket and then post the link to the forum. This will save the forum bandwidth. Chris Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
samg Posted 3 May , 2011 Share Posted 3 May , 2011 hi chris, thanks for the reply i would send them to you but i m now having problems sending pictures through hotmail, messages ok but not photos, bear with me -sam Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
samg Posted 3 May , 2011 Share Posted 3 May , 2011 hi,managed to sort out some photos of my boots,if anyone can tell me anything about them,i have been told they are dating to 1919 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
samg Posted 3 May , 2011 Share Posted 3 May , 2011 slightly bigger pictures of boots Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
samg Posted 3 May , 2011 Share Posted 3 May , 2011 slightly bigger pictures of boots Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JCR Posted 12 May , 2011 Share Posted 12 May , 2011 I have a pair of these. I think they are Second World War private purchase officer boots, made by the Lotus company. They are great boots. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andrew Upton Posted 22 February , 2019 Author Share Posted 22 February , 2019 (edited) I thought I would give this thread a bit of a bump. Though I ended up selling the original pair of boots that started the thread to fund another purchase I was able to acquire another pair of Field Service Mounted Boots at a bargain price recently, a true "9556/1917 14-Jul-17 New pattern" pair. They had, however, been slightly modified in two ways. Each has had the top closing strap removed, which is the obvious one, and I wonder if any forum members can guess the second that is no longer visible in the picture below? Edited 22 February , 2019 by Andrew Upton Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andrew Upton Posted 22 February , 2019 Author Share Posted 22 February , 2019 A clue - rear of boots. No zips, as guessed on Fb... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andrew Upton Posted 23 February , 2019 Author Share Posted 23 February , 2019 The answer was correctly guessed on Fb, so time for the reveal here. They survived by being converted into a pair of ice skates in the interwar period, so after they arrived I merely removed the screws holding the skates in place. I will probably leave these holes alone as the boots display just fine as is, though I may replace the missing straps: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Grovetown Posted 24 February , 2019 Share Posted 24 February , 2019 I have no idea how you thought we could guess that - although, admittedly, someone managed - yet look like a pretty buy regardless! I'm not sure I'd bother with replacing the top straps, although perhaps a few strategically located hobs might take care of the plate holes. Cheers, GT. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andrew Upton Posted 25 February , 2019 Author Share Posted 25 February , 2019 17 hours ago, Grovetown said: I have no idea how you thought we could guess that - although, admittedly, someone managed - yet look like a pretty buy regardless! I'm not sure I'd bother with replacing the top straps, although perhaps a few strategically located hobs might take care of the plate holes. There was rather more active participation on Fb, which quickly worked out it was something to do with the soles. Once added rubber soles and heel spinners had been eliminated a guess that conversion to ice skates had occurred swiftly followed... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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