{"product_id":"vintage-coopers-western-wear-advertising-wood-boot-jack-c-1970-1995","title":"Vintage Coopers Western Wear Advertising Wood Boot Jack, c. 1940–1975","description":"\u003ch3\u003eThe Piece\u003c\/h3\u003e\u003cp\u003eA wooden boot jack made to be given away by a Western wear store, and made properly rather than cheaply. A long tapered board carries a deep V notch at one end, and a short riser block glued and fastened beneath it lifts that end off the floor so a heel can be levered out of a boot without bending down.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThe notch is lined with saddle leather, wrapped over both edges and stapled through, so the jack grips a boot heel rather than scarring it. That lining is the detail that separates a working boot jack from a novelty.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eAcross the standing end is a panel of the same tan leather, stapled flat, printed in black with the Coopers logo: heavy slab letters set inside a band of zigzag diamonds, with Western and Casual Wear beneath. The leather has darkened and taken a soft sheen from handling, and the print is crisp and fully legible.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eAlong one side of the riser the wood is branded PAT. PEND. The board is a clear vertical grain softwood with tight straight figure, finished light so the grain reads, and a strip of black leather is stapled along the bottom of the riser to stop it walking on a hard floor.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003ch3\u003eHistory \u0026amp; Provenance\u003c\/h3\u003e\u003cp\u003eThe advertising is the provenance. Coopers Western and Casual Wear was a Western wear retailer, and this is a store promotional piece: the sort of object a shop ordered by the dozen with its name on it and handed to customers who had just bought boots. The store has not been located to a particular town, and no address, telephone number or postal code appears anywhere on the panel to place it, so no claim is made about where it traded.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThe PAT. PEND. brand tells you more than it first appears. It means the jack itself was a manufactured product with a patent application filed on its design, not something knocked together in a back room, and that a maker was selling this form to stores for imprinting. It is the jack that was patent pending, not the shop.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThe dating rests on the advertising and on the stock. The phrase Western and Casual Wear as a shop category, and the heavy slab lettering set in a zigzag diamond band, belong to the decades when Western wear ran well beyond working ranch supply into general fashion retail. The board is clear vertical grain softwood with tight straight figure, which is old growth stock of a quality that grew scarce and expensive through the later twentieth century, and that argues against a late date rather than for one.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eEvery leather element is fastened with wire staples. Wire stitching and bench stapling were commercial from around the turn of the twentieth century and in ordinary use for leather and light goods well before the war, so the staples set a broad floor rather than a narrow one and should not be read as a late marker.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eNo address, no patent number and no country of origin appears on the piece. That sets no boundary of its own and nothing has been read into it. A granted patent number would have narrowed the range considerably, and its absence is consistent with the application still being pending when this run was made.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003ch3\u003eProduct Details\u003c\/h3\u003e\u003ctable\u003e\u003ctbody\u003e\n\u003ctr\u003e\n\u003ctd\u003eEra\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003ctd\u003ec. 1940–1975. Dated on the advertising and the stock rather than on the form, since the boot jack is a design several centuries old. The shop category Western and Casual Wear and the slab lettering in a zigzag diamond band belong to the period when Western wear became general fashion retail. The clear vertical grain old growth softwood argues against a late date. Wire staples are commercial from around the turn of the twentieth century and set only a broad floor, not a narrow one. The absence of an address, a granted patent number or a country of origin sets no boundary and nothing has been inferred from it\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003c\/tr\u003e\n\u003ctr\u003e\n\u003ctd\u003eForm\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003ctd\u003eBoard with a V notch and a fastened riser block, the standard lever type boot jack\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003c\/tr\u003e\n\u003ctr\u003e\n\u003ctd\u003eMaterial\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003ctd\u003eClear vertical grain softwood, light finish, with saddle leather lining, advertising panel and floor strip\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003c\/tr\u003e\n\u003ctr\u003e\n\u003ctd\u003eAdvertising\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003ctd\u003eCoopers, Western and Casual Wear, printed in black on a stapled tan leather panel\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003c\/tr\u003e\n\u003ctr\u003e\n\u003ctd\u003eMarks\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003ctd\u003ePAT. PEND. branded into the side of the riser block. No address, patent number, maker name or country of origin\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003c\/tr\u003e\n\u003ctr\u003e\n\u003ctd\u003eDimensions\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003ctd\u003eApproximately 16 in. long by 5 in. wide by 3 in. high\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003c\/tr\u003e\n\u003ctr\u003e\n\u003ctd\u003eCondition\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003ctd\u003eVery good and fully usable. Wood sound and clean with the finish intact and light handling marks. Leather notch lining complete on both edges with honest wear and a little scuffing where heels have pressed. Advertising panel flat, fully legible and darkened evenly. Staples all present and tight. Floor strip intact\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003c\/tr\u003e\n\u003c\/tbody\u003e\u003c\/table\u003e\u003ch3\u003eWhy It Belongs in Your Home\u003c\/h3\u003e\u003cp\u003eA boot jack is one of the few antiques that still does its job better than anything made since. If you wear boots, this lives by the back door and earns its place every day, and the leather lining means it will not chew the heel of a good pair.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eIf you do not, it is a piece of Western graphic design that happens to be an object. The logo is bold, black on tan, and it photographs well leaned against a wall, laid on a console or hung on a peg in an entry.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eFor a shop it is the kind of thing that sells itself off a counter, because everyone knows what it is, most people have never owned one, and the advertising gives it a story the plain ones do not have.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Viridian Eclection","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":67556745543785,"sku":"VE-1746","price":289.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0651\/0093\/9369\/files\/01_842f7833-44d4-45e9-a7fc-5c37104c3b8a.jpg?v=1790574504","url":"https:\/\/viridianeclection.com\/products\/vintage-coopers-western-wear-advertising-wood-boot-jack-c-1970-1995","provider":"Viridian Eclection","version":"1.0","type":"link"}