It's pretty tough to tell from one pic of new shoes. As it is, they look like shell. However, it'll be much easier to tell if you wear them several times and then post a couple of pics, including a close-up of the vamp if possible.

 

I would guess that these are shell cordovan because of the appearance of the crease on the left shoe. It appears to be broad rather than sharp, and it appears to be lighter in color than the rest of the material; both of these are characteristics of shell cordovan.

This may sound odd, but how do the shoes smell? I have noticed that shell cordovan has a distinctive odor.

As bengal-stripe has written on Style Forum, the skin stitching is performed just like it is on any other split-toe shoe with "molehill" skinstitching like you find on the Alden Norwegian pictured below (pictures courtesy of The Alden Shop in San Francisco[/url]):

The only difference is that it is performed on the underside of the material instead of on top. This seems to be one of the current trends among Italian shoe manufacturers. All of the big names, from Lattanzi on down, are doing this now, and some in configurations a lot more unusual than on your shoes.

 

They are almost certainly shell cordovan from the pic.

 

They are almost certainly shell cordovan from the pic.

They do look like it, but so did my Florsheim (yes, Florsheim) Imperial Kenmoors when they were new. They're the Wine Heritage Calf, which is corrected grain. Now that they've been worn for about a year, they look nearly new; shells, on the other hand, would have that distinctive creasing.

 

I will confirm that they are shell cordovan. It tends to crease lighter and does not pucker/wrinkle along the crease line.

The gentleman from whom I buy my shoes always creases my new shell cordovan jumps with the wooden bars from hangers. That way I get just the right crease and It looks sharp. I believe the term is "breaking the vamp."

 

norcaltransplant:

From The Encyclopedia of Men's Clothes (surely you have a copy? :icon_smile_big: !!)

The most common colors of real Cordovan shoes are, of course, burgundy and black. However, you can buy Cordovan shoes in dark brown, mahogany, or light tan.

 

Andy,
I realize that Horween produces burgundy #8, brown, and whiskey colored shell cordovan for Alden, Allen Edmonds, and Crockett and Jones, but the shell cordo on these Lidforts is a uniform chocolate brown. Unlike the chestnut brown color of my Crockett and Jones/Polo Marlows, Chukka Boots, and strap boots, this is significantly darker without the variation.