This is a 19th Century (late 1800\'s) Bootmaker\'s Trade Sign that would have hung outside a shop. It appears to have its original finish - gold paint with black details - it is worn in places and you can see the wood grain below. It has a metal top that was hammered on, and an eye-hook for hanging, originally painted red, but that has worn as well. Please look at photos carefully for condition.There is a split at the bottom that appears to be where the wood was joined to create the boot shape. The boot measures 18\" tall (minus hook), 14\" long and 4.5 inches wide. Impressive boot form, the trade sign took many forms in early America. When education was a privilege and literacy rare, the ideal trade sign immediately caught the attention of a passerby and, because of its design, was totally self-explanatory. Folk artists, sometimes including itinerant portrait painters, created signs that bore pictures that visually explained the name of the establishment or the services to be found within. These signs usually carried pictures or lettering on both sides and were hung from a tall post at right angles to the road, so as to be visible to travelers approaching from either direction.Three-dimensional carved trade signs were often produced in the same workshops as figureheads and other ship decorations and usually displayed the same broad-planed carving style that typified American figureheads. the introduction of electric signs, which could advertise a business in the dark, led to the decline of the carved trade signs.