To cover leather finishing over the last 50 years, one must go back to the late 1800's. In the 1860's early leather finishing machinery was developed for vegetable tanned leather. In the 1870's, India rubber, and Xylonite with Collodion, were used as solvent coatings. Early finishing of vegetable tanned shoe leather, corrected sides, waxed calf leather, Morocco leather, imitation French kid, brushed kid, imitation alligator leather etc. is described. As chrome tanning technology advanced, so did finishing. Aniline dyed leather required high grade raw stock. Pigmented finishes, embossing and smooth plating were used for glazed leather and corrected sides. About 1910 leather pigment finish manufacturers arose. Nitrocellulose, oil, paint and varnish manufacturers experienced demand. In 1920 casein was the major binder. War surplus nitrated gun cotton served as a pigment binder but did not age well. Other solvent coatings were developed: 1920, Bakelite; 1927, Vinylite; 1930, Alkyds; 1935, Polystyrene and Urea Formaldehyde; 1937, Methacrylics, Acrylics and Nylon; ca 1940, Emulsified laquers.