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Title Leatherworking Edge Iron
Date c.1930-1979
Document Type Object
Reference HT 17076
Library / Archive Museums Victoria
Collection Name Personal Stories Collections
Description This rectangular wooden handled edge iron is part of Stanio Fancoff's extensive shoemaking kit. The edge iron family is the largest in the shoemaker's kit and each tool comes in various sizes and formats. Used heated, the edge iron is run under pressure along the shoe's sole edge to seal the leather from water, enhance its sturdiness and provide an aesthetic appearance of shine and fashionable style. This particular tool with its stepped tool head and inscriptions of '4' on the tallest side edge and '3' on the smallest side edge, suggest that each side was used for a different sole depth sizing. This edge iron was an integral part of Stanio's shoemaking kit that enhanced both the shoes function and its aesthetic qualities.
Series Description This collection is significant in documenting a small migrant business as well as the fashion of a particular period. It is well provenanced and charts the application of trade skills in a new country. It also illustrates the stages of hand shoe manufacture from the 1930s, demonstrating the enduring nature of the tools and patterns that were used.
Biographical Note / History Stanio Ivanoff Fancoff was born in 1908 in Bojentsi, a small village in Bulgaria. At age 11, Stanio left home to learn the shoemaking trade. In 1929, he emigrated to Melbourne, settled in Fitzroy and began to work for the V. G. Zemancheff & Sons basket shoe factory in South Melbourne. In 1936, he married Dorotea Georgi Touzou who had recently arrived in Australia. Around this time, Stanio set up his own shoemaking business from home with Georgi, Dorotea's cousin, and her sister weaving the shoes which he then assembled. Select shoe samples were then taken to Sydney and Tasmania for sale. In 1942, Georgi and Stanio moved to Broken Hill for Georgi's health; there daughter Nancy was born and Stanio set up a shoe shop/factory. In 1945, Georgi died and by 1950 Stanio and Nancy had moved to Adelaide where he again opened a shoemaking business and shop. He passed away in 1978, having been in the shoemaking business for 59 years.
Theme(s) Permanent Settlement and Successive Generations
Nationality Bulgarian
People Fancoff, Stanio Ivanoff
Keywords emigration, immigrant, industry, factory, clothing
Additional Information Please note: Some of the metadata for this document has been taken from the Museum Victoria catalogue.
Catalogue Link Museums Victoria Catalogue
Document(s) linked to Passport for Stanio Fancoff, Bulgaria
Health Certificate for Stanio Fancoff, Orient Line, Naples
Studio Photograph of Stanio Ivanoff Fancoff, Bulgaria
Photograph of Mrs Zemancheff and Friends Wearing Basket Shoes, Melbourne
Photograph of Zemancheff Factory Workers and Truck, South Melbourne
Photograph of Stanio Ivanoff Fancoff in His Shoemaking Workshop, Melbourne
Pink and Brown Leather Basketweave Shoe
Printer's Proof Sheet Showing Two Shoes
Maroon and Cream Leather Basketweave Shoe
Right Foot Wooden Shoe Last
Leatherworking Awl
Copyright Museums Victoria