Cowboy Boots

[Woodtroll]

Toppies are eponymous name for thin rubber subsoles that people glue or have glued to leather soles, usually on expensive shoes to protect the original sole. In this case the previous owner said he put them on so the leather soles oh his boots would be more stable on rain slick streets and sidewalks in Seattle.

Thanks very much! I'm familiar with the term and the item, just couldn't figure out the correlation between them and location (Seattle). Thanks again for helping me out!

 

[Hurricane Jack]

Nice boots Richard. I'd like them with a bit more heel. I always get OS & Austin-Hall confused. Which one was it that the daughter took over & ran for a few yrs before going under? I have a pair of A-H stovepipes in black & they have a high polish just like your OS. And wasn't it some apprenticed bookmakers that reopened OS this last time?

 

[Richard Morgan]

Nice boots Richard. I'd like them with a bit more heel. I always get OS & Austin-Hall confused. Which one was it that the daughter took over & ran for a few yrs before going under? I have a pair of A-H stovepipes in black & they have a high polish just like your OS. And wasn't it some apprenticed bookmakers that reopened OS this last time?

Their website is down, I thought I remembered that one of the original families was still involved but just found a newspaper article https://www.timesrecordnews.com/sto...ar-old-boot-company-olsen-stelzer/1036884002/ that says O S was struggling in the late 80s and a former national sales manager for TL took it over and brought it back to profitable. The article also says a Dallas investment company bought them in August of this year and opened a store in Turtle Creek neighborhood of Dallas. There's plenty of money in Turtle Creek but a tendency toward flash. It that's their target market we may not see anymore plain black boots like the ones I posted.
Must have been A H the daughter took over. I don't remember reading anything about that in the little bit of research I've done on OS.

 

[Richard Morgan]

Their website is down, I thought I remembered that one of the original families was still involved but just found a newspaper article https://www.timesrecordnews.com/sto...ar-old-boot-company-olsen-stelzer/1036884002/ that says O S was struggling in the late 80s and a former national sales manager for TL took it over and brought it back to profitable. The article also says a Dallas investment company bought them in August of this year and opened a store in Turtle Creek neighborhood of Dallas. There's plenty of money in Turtle Creek but a tendency toward flash. It that's their target market we may not see anymore plain black boots like the ones I posted.
Must have been A H the daughter took over. I don't remember reading anything about that in the little bit of research I've done on OS.

https://flashbackdallas.com/2014/03/14/olsen-stelzer-1939/ This website has some cool advertising like this one and a newspaper profile on Imogene Cartlidge who was a sales person for OS (the article says the first woman boot salesperson) and the mother of the TL National Sales Manager who brought OS back to life in 1990. There's also a great video from 1956 of the boot factory in Henrietta.

 

[Bamaboots]

Nice boots Richard. I'd like them with a bit more heel. I always get OS & Austin-Hall confused. Which one was it that the daughter took over & ran for a few yrs before going under? I have a pair of A-H stovepipes in black & they have a high polish just like your OS. And wasn't it some apprenticed bookmakers that reopened OS this last time?

HJ, you may be thinking of when Bo Riddle and Ben 'Nobody' Hilton revived the brand around 2006-07 with funding provided by the city of Henrietta. O S had been down for about thirty years. Hilton ran off with the money provided by the city and was indicted, found, arrested, and convicted. I think Riddle is in MO making boots or playing fiddle and Hilton works for a boot maker in AK.

O S has been up and down and down and out. Mexican made Montana boots and O S were once handled out of the same house. Their bluebird boots are still on my wish list. Phone # is still in service.

 

[dh66]

View attachment 149443 View attachment 149444 View attachment 149445 View attachment 149446 View attachment 149447 View attachment 149448 View attachment 149449 Olsen-Stelzer I got on the bay last week. These were listed as 13B but no size markings anywhere. Don’t appear to be custom since they were sold at Stewart’s Boot and Saddle in Rusk, TX. The previous owner put the Toppies on because he lives in Seattle. Really comfortable, maybe after all these years thinking I am a 12.5D, a 13B is a better fit.

Fantastic score! Absolute classics. Congrats on those.

Sent from my SM-G920V using Tapatalk

 

[Hurricane Jack]

HJ, you may be thinking of when Bo Riddle and Ben 'Nobody' Hilton revived the brand around 2006-07 with funding provided by the city of Henrietta. O S had been down for about thirty years. Hilton ran off with the money provided by the city and was indicted, found, arrested, and convicted. I think Riddle is in MO making boots or playing fiddle and Hilton works for a boot maker in AK.

O S has been up and down and down and out. Mexican made Montana boots and O S were once handled out of the same house. Their bluebird boots are still on my wish list. Phone # is still in service.
View attachment 149476 View attachment 149477

You're correct BB. I had forgotten Riddle was involved & I think that may have come a bit later. It was Hilton that I couldn't think of. And Riddle has been in & out of MO several times. I don't know where he is currently.

 

[Bamaboots]

I don't know where he is currently.

Seems like Bob mentioned he was in Branson awhile back. Don't remember if I mentioned it before but he started making his boots in Birmingham, AL.

 

[Bamaboots]

I've always admired Lisa Sorrell's headdress boots.

These by Pascal Davayet are stunning.

 

[Hurricane Jack]

Seems like Bob mentioned he was in Branson awhile back. Don't remember if I mentioned it before but he started making his boots in Birmingham, AL.

I stopped in his shop in Ozark a couple of times. Saw his Bicentennial flag boots in a showcase. I was there about commissioning some black & whites, almost gave him a deposit the second time but had second thoughts. Not long after I was there is when he disappeared.

 

[Bamaboots]

almost gave him a deposit the second time but had second thoughts.

Must've had that feeling.

 

[Aaronlowe]

I've always admired Lisa Sorrell's headdress boots.
View attachment 149557

These by Pascal Davayet are stunning.
View attachment 149558

Wow! Yes. Absolutely stunning.

 

[Desert dog]

View attachment 149443 View attachment 149444 View attachment 149445 View attachment 149446 View attachment 149447 View attachment 149448 View attachment 149449 Olsen-Stelzer I got on the bay last week. These were listed as 13B but no size markings anywhere. Don’t appear to be custom since they were sold at Stewart’s Boot and Saddle in Rusk, TX. The previous owner put the Toppies on because he lives in Seattle. Really comfortable, maybe after all these years thinking I am a 12.5D, a 13B is a better fit.

Great score Richard! I like black boots, and with that toe!

Sent from my SM-G920V using Tapatalk

 

[Richard Morgan]

I've always admired Lisa Sorrell's headdress boots.
View attachment 149557

These by Pascal Davayet are stunning.
View attachment 149558

I’m generally not a fan of either red boots or roughout but I would make an exception for those

 

[Bamaboots]

I’m generally not a fan of either red boots or roughout but I would make an exception for those

Every man needs some red boots, Richard.

 

[Bamaboots]

A question. Of the boots I posted above, I know Sorrell's are inlaid pieces but what about the Riff Raff pair. He's pretty well thought of as a leather tooler/carver, @Desert dog may smack me around for my ignorance, but his boots appear to me to be a pretty good sized panel, tooled, colored and inlaid as one piece in the shaft and probably not colored until the boots were turned.

Thoughts?

 

[Bamaboots]

Thanks, if you can post a couple more without too much effort, I would much appreciate it.

Here you go, Richard.

 

[AbbaDatDeHat]

Here you go, Richard.
View attachment 149586 View attachment 149587 View attachment 149588 View attachment 149589 View attachment 149590

Outstanding gnarls!!

 

[belfastboy]

Thanks very much! I'm familiar with the term and the item, just couldn't figure out the correlation between them and location (Seattle). Thanks again for helping me out!

I live just up the I5 in Vancouver and it gets a lot of rain too. I put the Topy on all my good leather soled footwear. It stops the leather from rotting and extends the life. Probably wouldn't bother if I lived in Arizona.

 

[Hurricane Jack]

I’m generally not a fan of either red boots or roughout but I would make an exception for those

I probably don't have a pic of mine but back in the day if you wanted to "make new friends" on a nightly basis you needed a pair of TL Firewalkers.