Late Victorian West Country banner from a jeweller's shop

A rare and unusual late Victorian hand painted shop banner on canvas, made for a West Country jeweller in Sidmouth, Devon.   The section banner is painted with a bold crown motif, the jewels picked out in red against black lining, the canvas showing the wear and patina expected of a working trade sign left in storage for many years.  The crown appears to have been cut and  retained from a larger banner.    Hand painted canvas banners of this type seldom survive, as they were functional objects exposed to use and weather, and often discarded when shops modernised. 

This example comes from a jeweller’s shop in Sidmouth, Devon, now closed, and relates  to the long-established firm of A.J. Mountstephen, “Late Truscott”, jewellers of Sidmouth. The Mountstephen shopfront, founded in 1902, retained its traditional black-painted exterior with gold-lettered sign into the 20th century and is well recorded in local photographic archives. Banners such as this would have served as portable advertisements or displays, projecting prestige and royal patronage through the crown motif.

The banner has staining and some tears consistent with age.   A rare survival of West Country retail advertising at the turn of the 20th century, and an evocative piece of local history.

Measuring: 120 cm long, 54 cm high

West Country (Sidmouth, Devon), c.1901/02