Female Physician Trade Sign, ca. 1835
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GUEST:
This is a sign that was found in my home in Urbana, Ohio, back in, like, 1970s, when I was a kid. And it was behind an upstairs wall, like, a knee wall space. There was a Dr. Jacob Leonard that lived in my home in the 1800s. And he had a daughter by the name of Sarah, and she married a John Dupler. And she might have been a doctor. That's all I can tell.
APPRAISER:
This is a very, very rare American trade sign. It's made of one piece of wood with a beautiful deep dish surround molding. The lettering is gilt, and all around the sign is this sparkly substance. People call these sand signs.
GUEST:
Okay.
APPRAISER:
But they're really smalt-- S-M-A-L-T. And smalt is crushed glass. And they would actually glue that to the wood for these early trade signs, which made the wood almost impervious to the weather. And that's one of the reasons this sign, this is in such wonderful condition. The bracket is all original, early iron. Probably dates to about 1830, 1840. And a woman physician? Pretty rare. The sign would have hung perpendicular to the street. And on the other side of the sign, it says "Mrs. S. Dupler," and it uses the word "doctress." And a doctress is a female physician. However, in the early 19th century, the term doctress was also applied to someone that had magical healing powers.
GUEST:
Ooh.
APPRAISER:
We're gonna put an insurance value on the sign of $2,500 to $3,500.
GUEST:
Okay.
Appraisal Details
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