Artifact: Pair of Man's Riding Boots and Box
Materials: Leather, Silver Nails
Dimensions: 18 x 10 1/2 in.
Date: 1790-1800
Origin: France
Collection: LACMA
License: Public Domain
Ledger Entry: Boots
Department: Footwear
Customer: C. Gustavus Splittdorf
Ledger Page: 353
Imported From: Boots were produced both ready to wear and to order in the colonies, but higher quality boots were frequently imported from London.
Product Description
Mens boots were typically made of leather and were more functional and practical than women's shoes or men's pumps. Like shoes, however, most boots sold in the Ramsay store were single channel, indicating less stitching and therefore lower quality than double channel boots.
Citation: Linda Baumgarten. Eighteenth-Century Clothing at Williamsburg. (Williamsburg, Va: Colonial Williamsburg Foundation, 1986).; Linda Baumgarten. What Clothes Reveal: The Language of Clothing in Colonial and Federal America (New Haven: Colonial Williamsburg Foundation in association with Yale University Press, 2002).
Historical Price: 1 pound, 1shilling, 6pence per pair; Modern USD: $241
Product Variations
The databases record only two pairs of boots. The prices range from one pound sixteen shillings for a pair of double channel boots No. 1 to one pound one shilling and six pence for a pair of unspecified boots.
