Rare Pair, Early Child's Pattens (Unusual design)

Here we have a late 18th Cent/early 1800s pair of child size patten shoes. I love such items, they are so personal, a real insight into social history, and are rarely seen now except in the occasional museum.

Shoe leather was expensive in earlier times and these strange items were worn in rural areas to save feet from getting wet in marshy areas etc. Often Pattens had a raised wooden sole on an iron ring, worn to raise one's feet above wet or muddy ground when walking outdoors. These ones however have raised and ridged soles to do the same thing and were probably an easier design to wear by children. I have never seen another pair like these!

They are incredibly difficult to find and even more so to have a pair complete with leather sides. There is evidence of original black paint and the leather is complete.