Heel plate question.

[Dirty Digger Doug]

Is there any significance of the heart in a heel plate?

 

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[ToddsPoint]

Nailed to the bottom of ladies shoes. They made hearts, shamrocks, stars, and who knows what else. Lower left item is sling attachment for the forend of a rifle. Gary

 

[Blak bart]

I belive it was a ladies item. Ladies of ill repute wore them to announce there presence in the old western towns....I think I read that somewhere. The heart shaped foot prints could be followed back to the brothel !! The one I have with a star dates to the 1860s.

 

[pepperj]

Cannonball explains it well in this link from 2011
http://www.treasurenet.com/forums/what/240045-brass-tap-plate.html

 

[Dirty Digger Doug]

I would have to think they were a vanity item. When you had a heel plate put on your shoe you could get a vanity plate for a penny more. We call that an up sale.

 

[CASPER-2]

I belive it was a ladies item. Ladies of ill repute wore them to announce there presence in the old western towns....I think I read that somewhere. The heart shaped foot prints could be followed back to the brothel !! The one I have with a star dates to the 1860s.

that was from and old western novel about womans boots and brothels
Ive have a few heart ones that are off mens boots
they made them in hearts, spades, clubs and diamonds for the cards
then there are stars and a few other shapes you couldve chose from - there are some out there that believe they are all from CW boots
we find a lot of them up here in New england - I got a bunch from farm fields over the yrs
they were put on to keep the wood or leather heels from wearing down