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Shiny Shoes
When it comes time to shine up the shoes,
here's an easy way to do it. Simply grab a
bottle of Brown's French Dressing, uncork it
with the corkscrew that comes with it, dip the
applicator in the dressing an apply.
From the label we learn
―
French Dressing for
Ladies and childrens
‘
shoes & boots, trunks,
harness, carriage tops etc. B. F. Brown Boston
Mass.
‖
Brown was founded in 1855. Brown
won a medal for his shoe dressing at the 1878
Paris Exposition.
Another early maker of shoe dressing was
Chieftain Manufacturing company of
Charleston, West Virginia. In
William
Rockwell Clough: Inventor and Manufacturer
of over a Billion Corkscrews
, Ron MacLean
writes
―
An unusual wire helix in the 1883
catalogue, possibly initiated by Clough,
was a Shoe Dressing Wire with a wire helix
to hold a bottle cork from the underside.-
The BLAK-OIL Friction Polish was made
by the Chieftain Manufacturing Company,
Charleston, West Virginia.
‖
Courtesy of Josef L'Africain
Courtesy of Ron MacLean
