A c. 1900 manicure knife offered as a Civil War scalpel. A nineteenth century photo of a railroad field hospital mis-described by the seller as a Civil War field hospital. A common hydrometer that was offered as a clinical thermometer made by Reynders of New York. A maker attribution by the case alone, as in this example, can be problematic. Signs of this fanciful type appear to be coming out of England.
Similar signs celebrate lawyers, accountants, etc.
Another problem sign for the medical collector is this nineteenth century fraternal all-seeing eye that was offered as an eye doctor's trade sign. Think eye as on the one-dollar bill. A small mallet with horn head that was described as an early to mid-nineteenth century reflex hammer. It is not a reflex hammer, but it is a dental mallet that was used to hammer rubber and acrylic dentures out of the stone beds of the cuvettes. This type of mallet was in general use until c. 1970.