Ran across this little thingy today...anyone know what it is? Thanks

The base says Champion St. Louis Mo.

It's an old cobblers shoe form/shoe mold.

Is the base made specifically for the shoe horn to slide into?

1 minute ago, Bhutton said:

Is the base made specifically for the shoe horn to slide into?

No, the shoe horn is made specifically to let your foot slide into the shoe. This is a cobblers tool I know it has a name but don't recall and don't have time to search it out.

What really catches my eye on this find is the "cam lock." It lets the cobbler release the clamp on the stand to raise lower, turn, etc. the form quickly and easily. flip the handle up move the form and flip it down to lock it in position. I think this would make a beautiful stand for chasing and repousse.

SWEET score.

Frosty The Lucky.

It is a shoe last .

Brings up the subject of shoemaker vs. cobbler. My understanding is that shoemakers make shoes and cobblers repair them. Maybe both used a set of sized lasts. We often hear of a cobbled job, meaning not good or something went wrong. I wonder if the term in that context meant that the cobbler tried to make a shoe from scratch and it went haywire. I knew a farmer from Washington state whose wife called him Captain Cobjob.

don't forget "Cordwainer" too!

I know that if you call the Shoemaker in Colonial Williamsburg a "cobbler", you will get an earful about the difference.  Thomas is right that the cobbler is a repairman, and a shoemaker has the expertise (at least in their opinion) to make the complete shoe

That is called a cobblers anvil. The cobbler would have one on his lap sitting down, mainly used to nail a new sole to the shoe.

The leather sole is cut along the edge and the nails go inside this cut and  through the sole into the shoe and hit the anvil and turn up and hooked inside the shoe. The insole then covers the nails. That one seems to be working upright, this one is to work sitting down. 

 

I just figured the shoe anvil wasn't made for the stand...thinking these were 2 different components slapped together...currently the anvil is stuck in the base. when I get it apart I'll be looking for grinding marks on the anvil to see if this was a retrofit of the 2 items. I scoured the Web last night and couldn't find anything that looked like this. so I'm unsure if this is an original item or a retrofit of 2 items.

I'm with the frost...this will become a chasing stand...I am still convincing the lady to sell it to me.

Thanks guys!

5 hours ago, Marc1 said:

That one seems to be working upright, this one is to work sitting down. 

Nah, that's just someone's experiment of what to do with some railroad spikes.

11 hours ago, Frank Turley said:

Brings up the subject of shoemaker vs. cobbler. My understanding is that shoemakers make shoes and cobblers repair them. Maybe both used a set of sized lasts. We often hear of a cobbled job, meaning not good or something went wrong. I wonder if the term in that context meant that the cobbler tried to make a shoe from scratch and it went haywire. I knew a farmer from Washington state whose wife called him Captain Cobjob.

Concur; the OED confirms, and also notes that in Australian and New Zealand slang, the last sheep to be sheared is called the cobbler. They give a late 19th century citation from the Melbourne Herald: "Every one might not know what a ‘cobbler’ is. It is the last sheep in a catching pen, and consequently a bad one to shear, as the easy ones are picked first... In the harvest field English rustics used to say, when picking up the last sheaf, ‘This is what the cobbler threw at his wife.’ ‘What?’ ‘The last.’"

Squawk from the Trivia Team:

The shoe maker's, or cobbler's nails are called "shoe rivets".

SLAG.

Honorable TriviaTeam Panjandrum.

That shoe last would be used for both building a new shoe and also, for repairing a shoe. I use them for replacing heels on my shoes. Years ago shoe repairmen began charging exorbitant prices for re-heeling shoes and I started doing my own. The job is trivially easy and I did a much better job of it.