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Best Leather Choice for a Wallet?

Pdawg

One of the Regulars
Messages
161
Location
USA DC
Veg tanned cowhide.....like someone mentioned baker's is fantastic, but most of the people who make such wallets are in the UK. I own pretty much all kind of leathers and I find the baker's is best of the lot. But to your point, cowhide is not any worse than other leathers.
I think most of the mall wallets are made out of genuine bonded leather. It doesn't cost that much more to get a custom job depending on your leather choices.
 

Camaro1967

One of the Regulars
Messages
256
Thanks all for the feedback.

I opted for an elephant long wallet from Anvil Customs. I decided to get what looked good to me, regardless of cost or durability.

I suspect I could have spent less on a cowhide and been happy, too, but a lot of the styles and features I came across didn't pique my interest much. And I'd rather pay more and be happier with the end result.

Anyways, one of the selling points for me was that Anvil Customs offers a limited lifetime warranty, so it's worth checking out if anyone is in the market for a wallet, belt, or any other leather item.
 
Messages
15,076
Location
Buffalo, NY
From my experience with small leather goods, the most durable material you will find is shark. Hands down. I learned of Mitchell Leather in Wisconsin from another long time FL member. I have two of their minimalist money clip wallets and love them. Not for everyone (nor is sharkskin for everyone) - I carry a handful of credit cards and a few large bills for those few instances when I can't use a credit card. The wallet is very thin and fits in a front pocket without any bulge. The many other less used store cards and membership cards and other stuff that makes seams bulge I keep in another wallet that I carry in my backpack or briefcase. You might try something like this for dress wear and see if you could live with a tightly curated set of contents on a daily basis.

Shark is on the right. It was a limited edition, but it seems they still have some sharkskin available. I bought a British made organizer a few decades back made from sharkskin. I've carried it every day and it looks unchanged from the day I got it. The wallet on the left is big grain bison leather. It is quite nice too.

mitchell_leather.jpg
 
Messages
15,076
Location
Buffalo, NY
3 bills. 3 credit cards, one museum membership card (gets me in to a bunch of places), one health insurance card, one driver's license. I can tuck a few receipts in there if needed.

mitchell-leather2.jpg
 

darklorder66

New in Town
Messages
1
I've been using various styles of Horween shell cordovan wallets for over a decade. They are downright indestructible. Ashland leather does some great work.
 

Bob Roberts

I'll Lock Up
Messages
11,201
Location
milford ct
Had no choice. Needed to buy this. Ebay.The Bridges wallet by il Ponte Pelletiere. Made in Italy.
$_3-7.jpg
$_3-8.jpg
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Quilted skin, possibly alligator/crocodile. Have no idea how sturdy it will be or how old it is. Any info would be appreciated.
 

Sheepdog149

Practically Family
Messages
622
Location
Fort Lauderdale, FL
One of my favorite leathers for wallets & high wear gear is "elephant hide." I have wallets and a gunbelt rig made from elephant hide.

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shadowrider

One of the Regulars
Messages
258
Location
Italy
One of my favorite leathers for wallets & high wear gear is "elephant hide." I have wallets and a gunbelt rig made from elephant hide.

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I have a pair of gloves that belonged to my grandfather which I'd always been told were elephant hide.
A while back, I took them to a leather shop to see if they could be stretched to fit my bigger sized hands (they couldn't): after inspecting them, they told me they weren't actually elephant hide, but rather some other beast's (which I can't recall), commonly called "elephant hide" back then over here for some reason. That was quite a let-down!

And while I'm at it, these are the last two wallets I bought, made with laminated comic book pages (art by John Romita Jr., in case you're wondering) and with recycled sailcloth respectively:
Spider-man wallet 2.jpg sailcloth wallet 1.jpg
 

Sheepdog149

Practically Family
Messages
622
Location
Fort Lauderdale, FL
I have a pair of gloves that belonged to my grandfather which I'd always been told were elephant hide.
A while back, I took them to a leather shop to see if they could be stretched to fit my bigger sized hands (they couldn't): after inspecting them, they told me they weren't actually elephant hide, but rather some other beast's (which I can't recall), commonly called "elephant hide" back then over here for some reason. That was quite a let-down!

And while I'm at it, these are the last two wallets I bought, made with laminated comic book pages (art by John Romita Jr., in case you're wondering) and with recycled sailcloth respectively:
View attachment 103660 View attachment 103661
Those are very cool!

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shadowrider

One of the Regulars
Messages
258
Location
Italy
Those are very cool!

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Thanks! I used to make comic book wallets similar to that one, by cutting up old comics, folding them and taping them. It was just for fun and they would last a couple of weeks before getting destroyed.
I bought the pictured one to see if a laminated, stitched one can be actually serviceable.
 

Sheepdog149

Practically Family
Messages
622
Location
Fort Lauderdale, FL
Thanks! I used to make comic book wallets similar to that one, by cutting up old comics, folding them and taping them. It was just for fun and they would last a couple of weeks before getting destroyed.
I bought the pictured one to see if a laminated, stitched one can be actually serviceable.
Very cool. Ya, I ran across a gentleman that makes some cool leather wallets & coin pouches from old baseball gloves. I picked up a couple of his creations.

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RJR

Messages
10,620
Location
Iowa
Hard to argue with shark for durability,that said I've been waiting for this 12 year old Elephant Wallet.jpg
elephant to wear a little so I could justify another shark.
 

Edward

Bartender
Messages
25,074
Location
London, UK
If security is an issue there is always the trucker/biker option.

redmoon01.jpg

I carried two of these for years, must have been from twenty to closing in on thirty. Still have them somewhere; mine were a hefty black cowhide with chrome chains. One I kept cash in, the other my cards. Never worked so well with a suit, though.... Eventually I wanted something classier, or at least a bit more subtle, and so I switched to


One of the most versatile wallets I've ever owned, and my first small one, was one I bought as a cheapo in a Beijing market to see me through a holiday. Ten years later, it's still my primary wallet when I'm in China; if I could find someone to do me a high end copy, it would be fantastic. It's a standard money clip in the middle. On the outside of one side, there's a stud-fastening pocket for coins (I mostly keep my expenses receipts in it), on the other side, a press-stud fastening flap that opens to allow space for four or six cards. Superb little thing; fully stuffed it's no bigger than a cassette tape (if you're a non-hipster under forty reading this, you might have to google 'cassette tape' ;) ).

Thanks! I used to make comic book wallets similar to that one, by cutting up old comics, folding them and taping them. It was just for fun and they would last a couple of weeks before getting destroyed.
I bought the pictured one to see if a laminated, stitched one can be actually serviceable.

Interesting what people can use this way. I bought my brother a wallet made of duct tape years ago; he got quite a few years out of it before it started to get tatty.

Very cool. Ya, I ran across a gentleman that makes some cool leather wallets & coin pouches from old baseball gloves. I picked up a couple of his creations.

Cool idea. They online? I only started using a coin pouch a few months ago. For years, I just kept my coins in my pocket because I'd had one too many wallets worn out by coins rubbing the dividing sections from the inside, but a simple, hefty leather coin purse makes a huge difference in convenience - especially when travelling and switching between currencies.

Here's one of my elephant wallets amongst other knick-knacks
e0c8749613fa8d1caff583f3c31b8af1.jpg


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That brass lighter is very cool. I'm always looking out for something along those lines that would work for the pipe.
 

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