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signs
bookseller
perfumer
locksmith
apothecary
barber
shoemaker
grocer
pawnbroker
inn
sign meanings
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 A
ball topped pole on the pavement or a revolving tube outside a shop,
painted red and white. For many of us, this will stir images shaving
soap and old fashioned razors of barber shops. Even after most of
these shops have been replaced by the more fashionable hair saloons,
most of them still sport the candy cane striped pole in one form or
the other.
This is an ancient trade, the barber’s art of shaving beards and
cutting hair has been around a long time. There were razor blades,
found among the relics of the Bronze Age.
Back then, barbers were also dentists and surgeons, versatile
performers of tooth extraction and enemas, bloodletting and wound
surgery. In England, barbers were chartered as a guild called the
Company of Barbers in 1462 by Edward IV. The surgeons established
their own guild 30 years later.
Although these two guilds were merged as one by statute of Henry
VIII in 1540 under the name of United Barber Surgeons Company, in
England, they were still set apart, barbers displayed
blue
and white poles, and were forbidden to carry out
surgery except for teeth-pulling and bloodletting; surgeons
displayed
red and white-striped poles,
and were not allowed to shave people or cut their hair.
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Signs Bookseller
Perfumer
Locksmith Apothecary
Barber Shoemaker
Grocer Pawn
Broker Inn
Sign Meanings |
