Folk Art of Britain & Ireland »
Original Victorian Shop Sign in Superb Condition
Ref: 4152
It's not often you would expect to find an original 19th century shop sign board in such excellent condition and with provenance too.
This 5 metre long pine board hand painted in dramatic black and gold type (somewhat reminiscent of Charles Demuth's famous figure 5 painting) comes from Wem in Shropshire, and was for the general store of watchmaker, Charles Hooke Francis, a Coventry watchmaker. C.H. Francis moved to Wem in the 1880s and set up a store on Wem 35 High Street in 1890. He supplied large clocks for railway stations and public buildings in this part of the country. The story is that several decades ago workmen uncovered this sign when restoring the building, they were taking down the old Foster menswear sign from the front and found this well preserved sign underneath. A framed newspaper article relating the story and with a photograph of C.H. Francis outside the shop in 1914 driving his daughter to her wedding ceremony comes with this piece.
Shropshire c.1890
H: 41cm (16.1in)
W: 503cm (198.0in)
D: 2.5cm (1.0in)
SOLD
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