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D.W. Frommer II: 1.25”, 18guage, round shank steel brads with a small head (Crispin Colloquy)
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Marcell Mrsan and others: 17 AWG brads
Danger
Occasionally one is missed in the folds of the leather, and the finishing processes of making the shoe force the sharp point up through the insole to the inside of the shoe, inflicting dangerous wounds in hasty try-ons. An American dealer was compelled to pay a large sum for damages for blood poisoning so caused, and two deaths occurred in England from this cause in the early part of the year 1911. Careful inspection of shoes as they are put in stock is the dealer’s only certain preventive of trouble; the hands should be protected by an old woolen mit [sic] or glove and passed entirely over the bottom of the shoe, inside.
— The Shoe and Leather Lexicon, Fourth Edition, 1918