Item Details:

RARE OPTICIAN TRADE SIGN

MAKER UNKNOWN

AMERICAN FOLK ART, circa 1915

Decal on Glass Lenses with Original Wrought Iron Mounting Bracket

Size: 34.75 x 14.25 x 1.5 in; 88.3 x 35.6 x 3.8 cm

Desirable and scarce, possibly unique example of an early 20th century Optician's Trade Sign, advertising an eye-care professional's business services at a time when iconic symbols were designed and served to quickly communicate information to the entire population, including those many who were otherwise illiterate.  Vintage Optician trade signs are much-admired, appreciated, and coveted for their classic form, and have gained in popularity ever since F. Scott Fitzgerald's novel The Great Gatsby where a billboard, featuring the occulist Eyes of Doctor T. J. Eckleburg could be interpretted to play the central part of a watchful indifferent God, witnessing the site of the novel's biggest moral failures.

Provenance: Private collection, Pennsylvania from whom the current owner obtained the work