The Portland daily press., 1897-05-28
TRADE SIGNS.
How the Ancients Advertised-origin of
Some Signs.
New York Post.)

| New York Post.)
The Bowery affords more interesting
variety of curious sign-boards and trade
emblems than any other street in New
York. Besides the shops that display ex-
traordinary specimens of the sign-painters
art, there are many that are denoted
solely by the symbols placed outside to
inform the public of the trade or profess
sion that is practised within. The
striped pole of the barber, the mortar
pestle of the druggist, the wooden figure
of the tobacconist, and the gilt balls of
the pawnbroker are obtruded upon the
notice on every block; while gilded shoes,
gloves, musical instruments, opera glas-
SEES, etc., hang over the sidewalks in end
less array.
Il The origin of emblems as adverties-
ments of different trades and professions
can be traced back to ancient times.
Little is known respecting their use
among the Egyptians and Greeks; but
that the Roman shopkeepers employed
them has been attested by the remains of
trade signs found in the ruins of Hercu-
laneum and Pompeii. A few were paint
ed; but, as rule, they appear to have
been made of stone or terracotta, set in
relief into the plasters of the open shop
fronts. Thus, there have been found the
carving of goat as the sign of dairy,
OF mule driving mill as the sign of
a baker, and of boy receiving a good
blrch1ng as the not very tempting, but
suggestive, emblem of a schoolmaster. A
Pompeiian tavern keeper had two slaves
carrying jar represented above his door,
while shoemaker of Herculaneum adj
vertised himself by very cleverly painted
Cupid carrying a pair of ladies' shoes,
one on his head and the other in his
hand.
1t is probable that the artificers of
| Rome employed the tools of their various
trades as the signs of their shops; for
they sculptured them on their tombs in
the Catacombs, and 1T is safe to assume
that they did the same on their houses in
the land of the living. Thus on the
tomb of Diogenes, the grave digger, there
is pickaxe and. lamp; Bauto and
Maxima have they tools Of carpenters
/
tire-woman, has a mirror and a comb.
In fact, almost every. trade had it's SYM
bol1c implements represented in the Cata-
combs; and since these emblems were in
such general use to indicate where an ar
tificer or tradesman was buried it is
tolerably certain that similar emblems
were adopted above ground to acquaint
the public where an artificer or a trades
man lived.
In ages when the majority of mankind
could not read, the use Of typical objects
as signs was necessity on the part of
tradesmen in order to advertise their
| specialties to the public. A knife for
the cutler, a stocking for the .hosier,. a
hand for the glover, pair of scissors for
the tailor, or a bunch of grapes for the
vintner answered all requirements. The
use of the latter emblem to denote place
where wine is sold is as old as Christian
ity, If not older, and the bush or bough
that in former days was the familiar sign
of all taverns, dates back to Roman times
at least. AS education spread, trade en-
blems gradually gave place to painted
signboards In the course of time many
trades and profession abandoned their use
entirely, SO that now you can traverse
block after block of the busiest streets
without observing one.
Probably the most frequent trade en-
blem to be seen on the Bowery is the
BARRIERS pole, which now has no apparent
connection with the tonsorial art 1t
dates back, of course, to the time when
BARRIERS practised phlebotomy, and pole
was given to the patient to grasp during
the operation in order to make the blood
flow more freely. AS it was liable to be
stained with blood, it was painted red
and, when not in use, was hung outside
the shop, with the white linen swathing
lbands with which the flow of blood was
stopped twisted round it.
This custom, in later times, gave rise
to the pole being painted red and white
in alternate stripes 1t was stated by
Lord Thurlow in the House of Peers, July
II, 1877, when he opposed the surgeons
incorporation bill, that, "by statute
still in force, the BARRIERS and surgeons
were each to use a pole. The BARRIERS
were to have theirs blue and white
the surgeons (Which were the same in
other respects) were to have a gallipot
and a red flag in addition, to denote the
particular nature of their VOCATION 1t
appears from this that the pole was i'm
posed upon BARRIERS as their trade emblem
by law, even after they had abandoned
the practice of phlebotomy to surgeons.
The ancient symbol of the barber was
a pewter basin; but this "appendage'
was relegated to oblivion by the statute
quoted by Lord Thurlow in 1897 Besides
the breathing of VEINS" the BARRIERS
| IN former GlmeS pracG1Sed dentistry, and
exhibited the teeth they drew strung
together in their windows. Some New
York dentists even yet follow this I'M
| pleasant custom.
Again in the olden time BARRIERS appear
to have combined the selling of liquor
with their trade. Many witty inscrip-
lions on some Of their old signs bear wit
ness to this. One of the best is that at
tributed to Dean Swift, penned by him
for a barber who at the same time kept
public house:
"Rove not from pole to pole, but stop
in here,
Where nought excels the shaving but the
| beer"
Prior to the enactment of the Raines
law there were several squalid barber
shops in the lower part of the city that
offered "a shave and schooner of beer
for five cents" as an inducement to pa
irons; but it is certain that the proprie-
tors of these places were not aware that
they were perpetuating an old trade Gus
| tom.
The three gilt balls suspended over the
eI,o !, IL