'Figure 67 exemplifies a form of shoe of somewhat rarer occurrence.
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| fig. 67 |
The specimens found are generally small, certainly never larger than middle size; they are narrow throughout, some being grooved and furnished with six or eight nail-holes; opposite to which the outside edge bulges a little. Instead of having calks, the heel-ends of the shoes become gradually narrower and thicker towards the extremities. The nail-heads are wedge or chisel-shaped, and project beyond the face of the shoe. Judging from the size and shape of these objects, and from the character of the nail-heads, they appear to have served as winter shoes for riding-horses, and without doubt were introduced by foreign cavalry. (From the end of the 13th to the close of the 18th century, Stuttgart and its vicinity was often visited by foreign troops, such as Imperialists, French, Spaniards, and Swedes.) These shoes are so oxidized and incrusted that they may well be looked upon as several hundred years old.
'Besides the horse-shoes just described, antique shoes of peculiar shapes and different construction have been found here and there in several places in and outside Würtemberg; so that it is evident that at the period to which they belong, the art of, shoeing was in a very primitive condition. Some few examples are provided with a groove, while others have long quadrangular nail-holes, often with oval countersinking; some, again, are furnished
