I got these from the pre-order, and was nail-biting when the shipment was delayed, because our Ren Faire starts in February. Once the email came that the shipment had arrived at the home office, it was only a day or two before my shoes were in my mailbox!
These are excellent quality leather, smooth finish, the stitching and heel look perfect...and I got the wrong size (doh!). American Duchess has the best return program I have ever dealt with, and it was only a few days before my new, correct-sized shoes were in my hands. Very comfortable, roomy toes (I thought I needed to order up the half-size for my wider toes, hence the oops, but these fit well in my normal size). Actually, my heels are kind of narrow, so the heel slips a little for me; I'll try again with thicker socks before adding any inserts.
The one thing I will definitely add is non-skid sole protectors: these are extremely slick out of the box, and too sweet to go completely Historically Accurate and just wear the bare leather in the dirt. If I lived somewhere with real grass, maybe it wouldn't be so bad, but even my running shoes get "grass" poking through the soles. Maybe once the first set of non-skids wear out/fall off, I'll be brave enough to go native.
