Green’s Dictionary of Slang

second-rate, crafty.

1904		‘Hugh McHugh’ I’m from Missouri 57: You want me to [...] let the opposition see that you’re a shine chauffeur! Nix, Uncle Peter.
1904		Ade ‘The Fable of the Divided Concern’ in True Bills 12: He was a shine Salesman because he never could make out what the Cost-Mark meant.
1905		‘Hugh McHugh’ You Can Search Me 68: Why didn’t you flash this stingy talk on me before we got started? [...] It’s a shine play to wait till you get me all tied up with these artists here!
1911		El Paso Herald (TX) 6 May 7/4: ‘He got three more poems refused by the magazine. He was that disconsolate’ [...] ‘Why don’t he make up his mind that he is a shine poet’.
1919		Van Loan ‘Piute vs. Piute’ in Score by Innings (2004) 306: If I refuse to meet them Carson will think I am a shine physical director.
1935		W. Smith Bessie Cotter 10: He’s a shine pickpocket.