17th Century Shoe Horn fetches £8,800 at Fine Art Auction

17th Century Shoe Horn fetches £8,800 at Fine Art Auction

Rowley Fine Art in Ely recently sold a 17th Century Shoe Horn for more than 11 times its original estimate. The shoe horn was made for a Mistress Blake in 1612 by a known maker called Robert Mindum who beautifully inscribed it with a Tudor Rose design, apparently it was made just a few years after the death of Queen Elizabeth I.

During this period it was fashionable for the wealthy to wear supple foot wear and so the shoe horn became a very popular item but it was considered an object of low value, and due to this not many have survived.

There are a few other examples of Mindum’s work, most of which were made for men and are either in museums or private collections, this one came from a private home in East Anglia. 

Auctioneer Silas Currie said 

      ‘It is an object that is so difficult to put a price on. It isn’t intrinsically valuable but it is such an unusual item and a wonderfully personal piece we knew that if the right collectors saw it would do well.’  

Apparently, towards the end of the auction there were people bidding on 14 phone lines, the shoe horn eventually went to an anonymous overseas buyer.

Photo by Markusram