Articulated Mechanical Dishwasher Antique Trade Sign from IN SITU American Folk Art in Place

Articulated Mechanical Dishwasher Antique Trade Sign from IN SITU American Folk Art in Place
Original vintage photograph Collection Jim Linderman

Delicious Hamburgers and Cheeseburgs Original Paint Folk Art Sign

Painted by Hand Folk Art Sign Circa 1950 Delicious Hamburgers 25 cents and Cheeseburgs 30 cents.  Collection Jim Linderman

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Large Outdoor Vintage Folk Art Duck Trade Sign

Original Paint.  Tomato for size!  Collection Jim Linderman

Elmer the Optician Optical Goods Eyeglasses Folk Art Trade Sign RPPC Collection Jim Linderman

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I suppose most know the folk art trade signs of figural form from days gone by were intended to identify the store for those who could not read. The technique was obviously particularly important in the case of eyeglass makers, as their clients couldn't read OR see!  Consequently, the giant pair of glasses is one of the most common and recognizable early trade signs.

The sign here, mounted on Elmer the Optician's place in Muskegon Michigan dates to 1920.  Elmer was Elmer P. Heimer, who had the top floor.  It appears a  shoe sale was going on below.


Elmer the Optician Perfect Fitting Glasses Optical Goods Trade Sign Real Photo PC circa 1920 Collection Jim Linderman

Biggest Folk Art Basket Trade Sign Basket Factory Stockbridge Michigan

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W. S. Kennedy Basket Factory was located in Stockbridge, Michigan from 1895 to 1915 or so, at least as much as I have found.  Interestingly, I find a 1903 note in "Crafts and Hobbies" which says they are seeking fire insurance!  Makes good sense to me.  They made baskets out of ash wood...and that giant trade sign basket on the roof could go right up in flames!

Plenty of cultural and historical content for one photograph, despite condition.  Looks like a staff of around twenty, counting the victims of child labor laws on the steps.  Likely Old Man Kennedy's kids. 

I sure would like that big basket.  It looks like it could pretty much hold the entire staff, that is if you stuffed them in tight. 

Original Photograph, circa 1900 Collection Jim Linderman

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What Makes a Washer Woman Work on Wash Day? Whirligig with No Wind Works Revealed

A pair of snapshots reveal the workings of an articulated sign. Both women here are among the most commonly seen whirligig figures, but no wind is required for these.

Anonymous Photographs, circa 1920? Collection Jim Linderman
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Big Giant Kachina and a Cigar Store Indian Authenticity Spirit Trade Sign and Antique American Indian Art

Many a young girl received a doll today, Merry Christmas, by the way. They may teach, but they aren't spirits.

Hopi and Zuni dolls are and were used to allow young women from the tribe to participate in sacred dances performed by the men. A rich, complicated cultural ritual I am not qualified to discuss, and I am not really sure anyone of European origin can, to tell the truth. We can "own" kachina dolls, but can we understand them? I guess as interlopers. There are some 400 identified, each with distinctive features represented by adornment and design.

Once you have an appreciation for cottonwood carvings from 1900 and before with flaking natural pigments, you may desire to own them as well. Not easy today, as the early ones, or what could be called "real" ones are for the most part tucked away. There are different levels for collectors...19th century, of which I have cribbed a few here from the catalog of an exhibition at the Galerie Flak in Paris from ten years ago (link here to the catalog) those from 1900 to before World War two, and those since. The later ones are purely decorative and produced for tourists, and although fine carvings are still produced by Native American artists they are far more elaborate in design and far less transcendent than the early ones.

The earliest kachinas were flat, simple, rudimentary wooden objects with sparse adornment but great magical power. The later ones can be beautiful but are more decorative, and it is quite common for dealers to date them earlier than they really are. There are literally hundreds of identified and collected kachina carvers working today, and there are festivals and such to display their work. You can even take a bus tour right to the carvers, they don't have to set up outside train stations any more to sell to Paleface. (I am sorry to use what is now a derogatory, and likely Hollywood invented term, but after what we did to those who took care of our land before we got here, and what we have done to it since, let's face it...some of us have earned names worse.)

The photograph above is dated 1944 on the reverse. It is, of course, a Southwestern trading post with a symbolic gigantic Kachina out front. (A "Cigar Store Indian" as it were...another large sculptural object with racial and cultural baggage!) The rugs would indicate this is a shop of Navajo goods...I hope the women asked if they had any old Hopi or Zuni ones behind the counter, as the Navajo didn't make them then, but they do today. I understand now you can even find Kachinas carved in Korea. Ugh.

Snapshot 1944 Collection Jim Linderman

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Folk Art Sign of the Egg Rolling Out the Beatrice Trade Sign

Anonymous Snapshot, circa 1940 Collection Jim Linderman