The person I purchased these from in Maine thought they were for walking on ice, but Eric Oglander at tihngs posted a pair some time ago which I had held in my memory and looked up, which tells me that they are (old, very primitively made) lawn aerating shoes, really a pretty brilliant solution for loosening and aerating soil and one which seems in fact to have come back into vogue. The fact that is is a mismatched pair makes me wonder if there were more where they came from, but whatever the case I like thinking of these as representing a couple, with two distinct personalities, and one a bit larger than the other! It's the larger of the two that it the most elaborate, and to my eye quite extraordinary, with galvanized tin heel, folded over around the edges, leather toe strap (surely salvaged from something else, like all of the materials here), two layers of wooden sole, and then this intense profusion of long nails. Same basic construction on the other but many fewer nails, canvas for the toe strap. Definitely with quite a lot of years on both of them, and lots of rusting to the nails.
Larger: 12 1/2" l x 6 1/4" w x 6 7/8" t. Smaller (but not much smaller): 12 3/8" l x 6 3/4" t x 5" w. The nail at the heel of the latter seems to have broken off (the head is still nailed to the sole, but it does not come out the other end.) Otherwise, good condition, very sturdy and stable and fantastic looking.
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