Trade Sign - Barber Pole

Periodca 1875 - 1900

MediumTurned and painted white pine

Dimensions78 × 20 × 20 in. (198.1 × 50.8 × 50.8 cm)

ClassificationsAdvertising, Business & Ornamental Artifacts

Credit LineGift of Mr. and Mrs. William C. Riker, 1963

Object number1983.415

DescriptionA freestanding traditional barber's pole, cylindrical in shape and tapered slightly to a gilded spherical finial with a turned and shaped collar. The pole is ornamented with four stenciled five-point gilded stars spaced around the turned midsection. It is fixed to a raised square base. Painted decoration also includes two inch wide spiraling stripes of red and white, while the base and other ornamental turned elements are painted dark blue.
Curatorial RemarksA freestanding barber's pole could be placed on the sidewalk or porch platform in front of a barber shop. This example is unusual for its size, and the quality of its turnings. NotesA barber's pole is a type of trade sign used by barbers to signify the place or shop where they perform their craft. The sign is, by a tradition dating back to the Middle Ages, a staff or pole with a helix of colored stripes, often red and white in many countries, but usually red, blue, and white in the United States. After the formation of the United Barber Surgeon's Company in England in 1540, a statute required the barber to use a blue and white pole and the surgeon to use a red pole. In France, surgeons used a red pole with a basin attached to identify their offices. The blue that often appears on poles in the United States possibly represents homage to our national colors. Another more fanciful interpretation of these barber pole colors is that red represents arterial blood, blue is symbolic of venous blood, and white depicts the bandage.

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