*Vintage BESPOKE PEAL & CO. Full Brogue High Vamp Loafer: 46D (US 12D)

640.00

SOLD to Mr. T.F., Wellseley, MA
  • Peal & Company
    BESPOKE
    Full Wing-Tip Brogue Slipper
    Circa 1960
    for
    Brooks Brothers
    New York
    Euro 640

    Brooks Brothers had marketed superb several different makers shoes under the “Brooks English” and Peal & Co. names from the 1950’s onward but the present pair is an actual Peal product preceding the closure of that venerable shoemaker in January 1965.  This shoe is made to the high standards of that time, specially ordered at Brooks Brothers to be made to measure by Peal. With its channelled and skived welting (the best technique of attaching the street sole to the welt), this is clearly of the earlier (and authentic) Peal production. The model itself, the Wing-Tipped Brogue Loafer/Slipper, a personal favourite of mine, is mostly seen in the custom-bespoke trade and this delightful and dramatic example is extremely well made, certainly among the very best made British shoes, a sleek and classic style in a long bespoke tradition. The modern ready-made copy is now selling at Brooks in New York and San Francisco for $598 plus taxes), see: Peal & Co.® Raywood – Brooks Brothers

    History of the firm: “Peal and Co were founded in 1565 and were the oldest-established and most successful makers in the world, employing up to 200 staff. The firm was established in Durham and moved to Derby in 1765, reaching London in 1791. In 1953 Peal bought their Oxford Street neighbours, Bartley and Son, inheriting their Boot and Fox emblem and moved to Wigmore Street in 1958. The business closed early in 1965, when the family decided that lack of family succession, a declining trade and shortage of skilled staff made closure their best option. The closure of Peal and Co was very helpful to the remaining shoemakers in London including Foster and Son, who acquired two important assets, the boot and fox emblem and Mr. Terry Moore, Peal\’s master last maker. The old Peal lasts are still said to be in use by Foster & Son. 

    Peal & Co. counted among their clients, luminaries from both sides of the Atlantic, among them (a much shortened list);

    The present shoe was provided to Brooks Brothers when Peal was in it last years of operation as a custom shoemaker; in 1965 Peal closed their doors and sold their name to Brooks Brothers in final capitulation to market forces, the end of a 174 year history. The few early and actual Peal & Co shoes to be found in the world today are truly on the highest bespoke level of workmanship with, not surprisingly, a quality of leather usually reserved for custom-made shoes. This shoe comes with my highest recommendation.

    Selected list of customers:
    Fred Astaire
    Ethel Barrymore, John Barrymore
    Humphrey Bogart & Mrs H Bogart (Lauren Bacall)
    Sir Charles Chaplin
    Gary Cooper
    Mrs Walt Disney
    Sir Douglas Fairbanks
    Henry Fonda
    James Garner
    Cary Grant
    Rex Harrison
    Boris Karloff
    Steve McQueen
    John Mills
    David Niven
    Sir Laurence Olivier
    Mary Pickford
    Mrs Rudolph Valentino
    Guy de Rothschild
    Henry Ford II & Mrs H Ford
    Benny Goodman
    Dean Martin,
    Jehudi Menuhin
    Richard Avedon
    Lady Violet Bonham Carter nee Asquith, 40 Gloucester Sq.,
    Mrs Neville Chamberlain
    Rt Hon Sir Anthony Eden KG
    Dean G Acheson, US Secretary of State
    Barry Goldwater, Senator
    Edward L Kennedy
    John F Kennedy
    Mr Marx of Berlin c/o Dr W Smith, West Lodge, West End Lane, Hampstead
    Col. Elliott Roosevelt, son of FDR & Eleanor
    Theodore Roosevelt
    HM King Edward VIII, Duke of Windsor
    Hon F Bowes-Lyon, brother of the Queen Mother
    F J Bowes-Lyon, Grenadier Guards
    Lady Rosemary Spencer Churchill
    Lord Louis Mountbatten
    Duke of Westminster
    Prince Aga Khan
    Princess Eugene of Belgium
    King of the Hellenes (Greece)
    Crown Princess of Greece
    Prince Nicholas of Greece
    Prince Peter of Greece
    Crown Prince Constantine of Greece
    Crown Princess of Japan
    King & Crown Prince of Norway
    Prince Christian of Schleswig Holstein
    Crown Prince of Sweden
    Queen Marie of Yugoslavia


    Size Details:

    a custom made shoe thus no size shown but by my measurements a12D US.......11E UK..........European 46D, for the medium width foot.

    Shoe Condition:

    All original soles and heels, very lightly worn, thus a superb example of bespoke Peal workmanship.

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