The collector (Borg De Balzan) from whom the museum acquired the item, died in Florence in 1896 (Emanuela found his obituary in the journal, founded in 1871 by Paolo Mantegazza, called l'Archivio per l'Antropologia e l'Etnologia, [n.26, 1896, p.369] ). The collector's name is listed in the item's MNAEF record.

A note added to the MNAEF catalogue card at a later date states, "made in the English style - see the letter inside. They were made to be given as a gift" [Sono fatti su modello inglese. Vedi lettera all'interno. Sono stati fatti per "figura" per essere regalati].

The MNAEF catalogue card describes this item as a pair of leather shoes, embroidered [1 paio di scarpe in pelle con ricami].

This record was created as part of a research project, funded by a Faculty Research Grant from the Canadian Embassy in Italy in August 2007, Emanuela Rossi

Stacey Loyer helped with the translation for this record.