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Wednesday 30 December 2015

Sepia Saturday - Enjoy Window Shopping

Sepia Saturday give bloggers an opportunity to share their family history and memories  through photographs.

Shop fronts & shop signs are my themes for this week, but why do these seem so much more attractive abroad than in Britain?   Or is it something to do with being on holiday and looking for different photo opportunities?   




A  shop window in St. Wolfgang, Austria caught my eye with this display of onions and peppers -  followed my more colourful, crowded  Austrian frontages.  





The Austrians have such a wonderful tradition of decorative shop sign to entice us inside. 

An opticians in Salzburg
A travel agent in Salzburg

 A hat shop in Vienna.
A bakery  in Bad Ischl, advertising its handmade biscuits - Lebkuchen, 
 
And after all that shopping, look out for a restaurant: 


Chatres in France


Just to show a Scottish  example.  I liked this fun drawing of a Highland Cow on a sign  in Tobermory on the Isle of Mull. 



Another sign with a drawing - taken by my cousin when walking the Inca Trail in Peru.  I doubt if you would be entering this place willingly!  

  
To finish on a vintage theme  - photographs I have shown before, but they are so apt for the prompt - from the  collection of my local heritage group - Auld Earlston. 


This newsagents and printers fits the bill in terms of crowded windows and signs  - surprising it  also acts as agent for Lipton's Teas and Lyons Teas. In the 1901 census, John P. Weatherly was described as a 40 years old Postmaster of 73 High Street, Earlston, living with his wife, mother-in-law and  children. Edward, Ellen and Margaret.  The Trade Directory two years later adds to his role that of bookseller, stationer, and printer. 

But take a closer look at that newspaper placard outside the shop, which announces that "Crippin Removed to Hospital". 

Dr. Hawley Harvey Crippen, was an American doctor  He was hanged  23rd November 1910 in Pentonville Prison, London  for the murder of his wife Cora Henrietta Crippen, and was the first criminal to be captured with the aid of wireless telegraphy. 

Window shop with other Sepia Saturday bloggers by clicking HERE


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13 comments:

  1. A neat post right on the prompt theme! My favorite, of course, is the bakery sign with the hairy coo. Funny. Since we came home from our trip to the Highlands & Western Isles every expression using the word 'cow' has become 'coo' - such as "Holy Coo". :)

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  2. You’re right about the wonderful shop window displays around the world. How can we not be tempted? That placard with Crippen news headline is great.

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  3. I always enjoy seeing interesting signs.

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  4. Neat pics and the placard is super to date the photo and also relevant history. Happy New Year!

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  5. These signs are great. I especially like le tripot. Did you eat there?

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  6. We do not have any such interesting signs around here. No yaks, no teeth, sigh.

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  7. A lovely mix. I believe the custom of ornamental signs started in medieval times when city street signs did not exist and of course most people could not read.

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  8. I suspect that it is something about being on holiday and being attracted by different looking shopfronts. But given a few decades of history, home-grown shopfronts achieve a wonderful fascination.

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  9. Great collection of signs and shops. The Crippen news is very interesting. Love the Austrian Hat sign.

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  10. You are so right and you've packed so many delightful sights right here in one post. I like the witch sign the best!

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  11. Other countries' shop signs and window decorations always seem so much more interesting that the ones you are used to, probably because of that old saying, 'familiarlty breeds contempt' :-) You have lots of great examples there.

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  12. I agree! Australian shops seems so boring! That said, I should take some photos as they may be interesting in another 100 years!

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  13. What lovely signs and storefronts.

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