*Custom-Made/Bespoke LEE KEE, Hong Kong, “CAMEL HIDE” Desert Boot: 46-46.5D (US 12-12.5D)

€840.00

SOLD to a Gentleman in Austria
Maker/Marke:
Size:
Styles: , ,

  • Arabian Kamel Hide
    Desert Boot / Chukka Boot
    Custom Made / Bespoke
    By Hong Kong’s great traditional master shoemaker
    Lee Kee
    Euro 840

    The old Asia hands among us will remember Lee Kee, the custom shoemaker in the lobby of the Peninsula Hotel in Hong Kong. Their shoes represented the height of luxury, not to mention prices, and they specialized in exotic reptile leathers, alligator, crocodile, lizard, snake and the forbidden giant sea turtle (also a reptile), listed here. I have no doubt that somewhere in the outer districts of the city Lee Kee’s workers were eating what did not go into the shoes, but we were spared that sight in his pristine showroom in the Peninsula. This was more than 20 years ago and Lee Kee no longer terrorizes the now protected amphibians of the world. We shall have to content ourselves now with his vintage handcrafts.
    This particular boot is made from a exceptionally rare and unusually comfortable leather, the hide of Arabian Camel. Lined, as it is, with an equally soft glove leather, it promisses a boot of unequaled comfort.

     

     

    Both the Chukka Boot and the Jodhpur Boot derive from the 19th century British presence in India, and the discovery of the game of Polo in the 1850s by British tea planters on the Burmese border with India. (A ‘chukker’ is a period of play in Polo). Both boots were readily adapted by the British at home and quickly became staples of the Gentleman’s wardrobe. The Chukka Boot is a casual, sporting boot to just above the ankle, plain toed, fastening with two (although sometimes three or four) high lacings or strap (as in a Monk). The Chukka Boot is often called a Desert Boot for having been much adopted by British troops in the North African and Middle Eastern Campagnes in WW II.  How appropriate (and a little ironic) to have a Desert Boor in Camel hide. As to rarity; suffice it to say that I have never seen another.

     

     

    Size Details:

    Size: US 12-12.5D.......UK 11-11.5E.......Continental 46-46.5D, for the mid-width foot. As a custom made shoe there is no marking other than the maker’s label, however my precise measurements determine the shoe size as noted.

    Shoe Condition:

    Superb! Neuwertig. Showing wear consistant with two or three wearings. Near new, tops to bottoms. With 360 degree storm welt.

Article Number: 12125LK Category:

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