Need help dating Hook, Knowles & Co. shoe molding/cast

Z

zekeinterest

Registered Guest
Hello everyone,
I recently discovered a Hook, Knowles & Co. Shoe molding or shoe cast. I'm not even sure what it is called. From what I can tell it was used by the cobblers to form their shoes. Through another forum page on this website, I learned a little about Hook, Knowles & Co. I learned that they are a very reputable shoe making company based in London from the mid 19th century to the early 20th century. They even made shoes for the royal family, and some of their shoes are in major museums.
This got me pretty excited and interested about this shoe molding.
I can't find any moldings like this online, nor can I find any distinguishable markings on this mold other than its tag. Anyone with information, questions, or comments, feel free to reply. Your help will be greatly appreciated. How old are these? What are they technically called? Are they of significant historic or monetary value? Is there any way to find out?
Here's a picture. There is an L carved into the side. I'm assuming this is for the left shoe.
Picture45.jpg
 
Hello, they look like boot trees - they're for supporting the shape of the boot, so it doesn't fall down and crease. I think they're still being made as they're useful if you wear boots and don't want them to get scrunchy. Yours are obviously quite old though, antique if not vintage but they're missing the shoe part at the front. You can see where the shoe would slot in. They come apart into pieces, so that you can put them in snugly.

If you search online for wooden boot trees you'll find similar ones: there are several on ebay, which should give you an idea of value, although they would be worth more if they were complete.
 
Hi, Nicole is correct they are for supporting the shape of boots that have already been made. The classic British shoemakers still sell boot and shoe trees for hand made footwear. The way the top leans forward suggests to me that they are for riding boots, which somewhat lengthens the time they could date from. I do think they are probably antique but narrowing down the date will be difficult, for a cut off date you can see when Hook Knowles & Co last resided at both those addresses.
They are made far more interesting however by the cavity cut within - I believe this is for a glass/silver flask - quite amusing to think they were hiding alcohol within their boot trees!
 
Thanks everyone for the very helpful info. The cut-out in the wood I guess is what threw me off the most. That is why I thought it was a molding of some sort. That is very interesting to hear that they could have been used during the prohibition days, concealing alcohol.
Thanks for all your help everyone. This will help me greatly in the future. It will also give me something interesting to look for at estate sales, antique shops, and other random places. I seem to find a lot of riding/ equestrian pieces in my area. Now I just have to find the other side of this boot tree. I may never find it if it belonged to a drunken cowboy.
Cheers
 
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