Riding Boots and Impressions

Yesterday somebody sent me a link to an Ebay auction for a pair of boots that are  purported to be issue First World War era German riding boots. Below are some pictures:

Consistent with many pairs of military riding boots, they were not hobnailed and only had heal and toe plates to retard wear.

Heel Plate

Overall, these are a nice find and they appear to be a pair of 1915 Universal Prussian Cavalry boots, most likely from 1916 or beyond since they're blackened.

However, the question arises "Are these issue?" The short answer would be "no" based on the location of the seams running up the shaft of the boot. The official issue boots had a seam running up the back versus these which have them running up the sides. The illustrations below should show what I am referring to:

Note the position of the seam which is on the back of the boot.

A side view. Notice no side seam.

So what are we to make of this? Is this a simple contractor variation that the army inspectors passed? Given the decentralized nature of uniform procurement in the German Army, this is plausible. Or perhaps these were private purchase boots- once again, the Germans could be very loose on what was acceptable as private purchase items and it was often left up to the discretion of the local commander. 

So would this be acceptable for wear (assuming it was a reproduction of the original)? At first glance I would say no on the basis that the shafts are unmistakably characteristic of the Prussian pattern which was not, as far as we can tell, issued to Bavarian cavalry. But that aside, would the fact that the seam on in the "wrong place" (i.e. along the sides of the boot shafts) be cause enough for rejection?

Maybe...but then again, would significantly detract from the look the unit is trying to portray? Not really. So in the end, I might be inclined to let it pass (if it was the Bavarian pattern in terms of the boot tops).

So while this may seem to be a lot of trouble over seemingly insignificant aspects of the uniform, as living historians we have to constantly be making these sorts of decisions and sometimes the answers are not the easiest to arrive at.

Horrido!