Old English Chemist

[DAVE SMITH]

Took these picks of an old chemist in the next town to mine. Some interesting carving to the text which once was probably covered in gilded glass letting the letters show through ,typically Englsish style of shop front design for this old look.
Also some nice embossed brass skirting signs with some fancy tile work for the entrance.
Dave

[DAVE SMITH]

A few more picks....

[Dave Dubé]

Dave,

I'm really curious about the brasswork - can I assume it was embossed before being mounted? I can't imagine a sign artist laying down on the job.

[DAVE SMITH]

Dave. I always lay down on the job don't you?!
As for embossing I am no expert but I would imagine it was embossed painted and then fitted .
Dave

[Ted Cooper]

Also some nice embossed brass skirting signs.
Dave

Sorry to be pedantic,but,as someone who spent 30 odd years in the Shopfitting game,the correct name for the upstand,the bit that you refer to as "skirting",in a shopfront,is, in fact,called a stall riser.
Ted Cooper

[DAVE SMITH]

No Problem Ted ,I was wondering what they called that part. Thanks for the correct term. Do you know if the paint on the letters was fired onto the brass or just painted and left to cure on its own.? or were they ever painted? Probably just polished every now and then..
Dave

[Ted Cooper]

The engraved/painted brasswork would just arrive on a truck,all ready to install! Whether the paint was fired,or not,I have no idea. I suspect not.Shopfitting always meant working to impossible deadlines,(I wish I had a fiver for every ghoster that I did)we never had the time to even guess how a particular finish was achieved, when said finish was done in a workshop,very often by a sub-contractor,many miles away from its final resting place!
An example;I once did a very high-class jewellery shop in Vienna,Austria. The polished brass shopfront was made in Rotherham!
Ted Cooper