Wednesday, September 18, 2013

German pointe shoes by G.Martin

Recently I came across a pair of black pointes on eBay Germany which I fell in love with but sadly the vendor didn't trade internationally.  Aren't they just gorgeous?  Love that tapered toe!  I don't know how old they are but they look vintage to me (and I'm such an expert).
Not being able to buy them broke my heart.  But perhaps you were the fortunate person who bought them.
They were listed as made in West Germany by G.Martin Ballettschuhe 6051 Waldacker. 
This is marked on the inner sole (the original pics on eBay were clearer). The markings on the leather sole include a logo made up of a pointe shoe inside a square/rectangle. This looks almost identical to the pointe shoe logo of K.H.Martin so was it a forerunner? According to the K.H.Martin website they began manufacturing pointe shoes in 1964, but no mention of a G.Martin. However Waldacker is in Rödermark  which is where K.H.Martin started up.

K.H.Martin has a history of naming shoes after family members so perhaps Mrs Martin was involved or another family member whose name began with G!
The size was listed as Gr.40 with a leathersole and
since my german language skills are right up there with my pointe shoe technical knowledge here's what Google translate came up with from the listing.

"from estate:
Hardly used ballet shoes pointe shoes

just inside the foam pad are from the long lie in the shoe gebröselt".

...which is less than helpful.  However further translation indicates that 'gebröselt' means crumbled. So I suspect it means the foam toe pads which you can see in the second photo have crumbled from lying inside the shoe for so long. (This might lend some weight to my idea that they are vintage whatever that means now.)

In case any of you speak German here is the original detail from eBay Germany:
"aus Nachlass:
Ballettschuhe Spitzenschuhe kaum benutzt
nur innen sind vom langen liegen in dem Schuh das Schaumstoffpolster gebröselt"

I could write to the company but given my German skills I thought I'd ask if any one out there has any information on the company to please leave a comment.

2 comments:

  1. Since I speak German, I can confirm that this
    "it means the foam toe pads which you can see in the second photo have crumbled from lying inside the shoe for so long." is true.

    And since "Nachlass" means, the dancer who owned these shoes is already dead, the shoes might be quite old.

    Unfortunately, I do not know the manufacturer either. K.H.Martin does not make such tapered toes, but cobblers at the big German theatres did till the 1970s.

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    1. Thankyou Luise for the extra information. It's nice to have the translation confirmed. And also to know that the shoes were older. Those tapered toes are gorgeous.

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