Mid-19th Century Signs

Vintage Folk Art Hotel Dress Code Sign, circa 1950, a whimsical hand painted sign from a posh resort in the White Mountains of New Hampshire. This great little sign was collected bac...

Beautiful wrought-iron locksmith's sign, hand-crafted in France on the first part of the 19th century. It's entirely double-sided, in finely worked wrought iron. The part under the k...

A hand painted pine door pelmet from the "Loyal Walsingham Lodge" The lodge was a branch from the Manchester unity, an Independent Order of the Oddfellow...

19th Century Dentist Trade Sign We share what we love, and we love this rare English antique hand painted wooden dentist trade sign, with chain & hanging hook. Dated to the early 19th Century this is clearly not the sort of trade sign that was fixed outside a shop, before the Industrial Revolution & the development of towns in the Victorian era, the majority of dentists were travelling practitioners who lived on the road & pitched a booth at regional country fairs, they lived by reputation, sufferers would wait weeks or months to have a tooth pulled...

This delicate, New England barber pole has a round, double-tapered shaft with a swelled vase turning above and below, capped at each end with a elongated acorn finial. The center of the pole is painted black and white in the typical, swirling helix, with the remainder in gold. Trade signs for barbering have existed since the middle ages. Many barbers doubled as surgeons and performed blood letting. Some prepared the deceased for viewings, as well as the living. Although black and white poles are rumored to be mortician’s poles among the collector community, very little information is available to substantiate that claim. I have never seen an image of a mortuary with such a pole, and little to no research exists to tie the black and white versions to barbers who offered the service. The red and white, present on most European poles, is said to reflect blood and bandages. In America, the colors are more often red, white, and blue, especially in later examples. This is rumored to represent veins and arteries, but more likely the blue fell into the color scheme as a nod to American patriotism. Poles varied greatly, and it is unclear if a barber who offered a mix of services typically displayed more than one pole to do it. Although pairs of matching poles in two different colors are known to exist—for example, one with a red & white helix, and one black & white—these are far from the norm. With such a tiny population in any given town, and resources being what they were, it seems likely that in most cases a barber displayed only one. Because modern barber poles are sometimes black and white, though no services past shaves and hair cutting...

An extra large trio of oil gilt iron pawnbroker spheres, with their original hand forged hanging hoops. Previously these would off been part of a larger sign, hanging from an iron b...

A 19th century hand blown glass chemist counter display carboy. Used as a symbol of the pharmacy from the 17th century to the early 20th century, Prov...

French mid-19th century grand scale corkscrew shop sign from a vineyard in Provence. A perfect decoration for a kitchen or wine room.

19th century original painted rare form trade sign from a Folk Art collection in fantastic condition. This is all original iron hooks and paint.

Set of two large interior design signs Wood Letters mounted on a wood back ground. Each sign measures 3" deep 12" high and 8 ft wide. Large bright colore...

This is a large hand painted sign from a MA seafood diner from the 1970s Large great shape, pained wood.

Ship's Quarterboard from the 'S.S. COSTA Rica'. Made from a tropical hardwood, painted black and gilded letters and Victorian flourishes. The SS COSTA Rica (1865-1875) operated fo...