Mascon Leather’s Rooney is a handmade bifold wallet for review which took almost 1 year to make from order to delivery. Being a best in class wallet, it will last a lifetime and look better the longer it ages.
(if you want to see all the features and how many cards and cash it can hold, please watch the video)
In August of 2020, I was drawn to Mascon Leather for several reasons. One of the reasons is his excellent YouTube channel. His videos are fascinating and they draw you in. I suggest you take a look if you have not already. He knows who he is, he knows what he likes, and besides that, he loves leather and wallets. Because of that, I was hooked, so I immediately ordered the Rooney Wallet, but he said it would take roughly one year.
We finally got the wallet and it was a whole lot of fun. We have got a key ring, nice leather, it looks like it is hand sewn, and I have chosen red thread for stitching. it has a nice Horween stamp and his initials, Artie Shell, that looks quite clever, and it looks like a dollar sign to me.
It is like Christmas packing and a cotton bag. The wallet is a nice light brown Horween Dublin, with nice burnishing paint on the edges and a good finish. The color offset is nice, including the leather as well as the red thread that I chose, rather attractive and hand-sewn.
The inside has got the flesh side. It has a slot on the left and all these slots tops are burnished and painted as well. There are multiple layers of leather. The pull-up is great from Horween Dublin. You can find Artie company stamp, it is unobtrusive. It is a bit thick, but otherwise, a very attractive wallet.
While waiting for my 46 weeks for delivery, I had time to explore Mascon Leather. it was established in 2016 by Artie Shell, Artie had spent his career in the banking industry with a family heritage in construction and masonry, which is where his name came from. Mascon was his father’s construction company, which is kind of a nice tribute. But he fell in love with leather, prompting him to change his career and pursue the life of a leather maker and artist. The wallet has no features on the exterior, no quick access slots or anything. It displays nothing but beautiful leather. The interior, on the other hand, has four cards slots that can fit one to three cards each, plus cash folded over once if they are small currency types. It fits nicely in the front and back pocket, it slides in without any issue because it is right-sized.
When I heard Artie’s name was Shell Cordovan, the first thing I thought was, what a cool association, Artie Shell, Shell Cordovan. Besides Artie’s YouTube channel, he also has a growing Instagram site with carefully curated shots that are engaging and really worth the look. When I ordered the wallet, time kept ticking and I was wondering if the wallet was going to show up on time. This is not something you order for Christmas unless you are a super planner. That said, Artie recently changed his order processes to limited slots every month to fulfill custom orders, as well as more ready-made items for sale. He calls them instant sales, instant auctions, and limited edition categories that allow customers to obtain a Mascon Leather wallet more readily.
It measures 4.3 x 3.1 x 0.6” and weighs 97 grams, a lot of leather goodness. This is designed and made in the United States. The Mascon Leather Studio is located in Artie’s home in Williamsburg, Pennsylvania, a beautiful part of the United States. This is handmade from Horween Dublin leather, and from the stitching on the inside, you can notice two layers of leather that sit together. It costs $150, but that is the custom look price. It is built for right hand, it allows easy access for your thumb and finger to get cards in and out. The leather is super supple because it is Horween. It is a little bit thick at 0.6 inches, but it has a lifetime guarantee against all defects.
With a couple of weeks left to meet the 46 week deadline, I reached out to Artie about it. I can hardly remember what I had for lunch, let alone keeping track of thousands of orders over a long period of time like he has to. My expectations were measured, but Artie replied back almost immediately saying that he was working on it as we spoke and communicated that it was to be delivered on the expected date. As you can guess, effectively it was. I never doubted the delivery, I just have no idea what it was like to have hundreds of, probably thousands of orders all lined up for fulfillment. What it shows is his level of professionalism as a one-man shop choosing to keep it simple but effective. He does everything from marketing to advertising, a true one-man shop. In the end, the wallet was well worth it and the mystique of the man and the company makes the scarcity factor of owning one of his wallets even better.
The final score of Mascon Leather Rooney bifold wallet is five for quality, two for the price, three for the features, four for usability, and five for perception. That gives a final score of 4 out of 5.
Handmade in every step, the Rooney brings to life a very typical card wallet into something special
GET IN ON THE SURVEYS, ASK A QUESTION!
Review all the wallet rankings!
What wallets do you want us to review?
Ask us a question!
