philip morris store front sign

The sign itself is a high quality printing made of paper with a ?pressed wood? backing. Letters are hand painted black with a gold leaf backing/shadow, and reads: PHILIP MORRIS & Co's. CELEBRATED BOND STREET CIGARETTES LONDON. At the bottom, in small print reads: SUTTON SHARPE & Co., 145 QUEEN VICTORIA STREET, LONDON. On the top left side dislpayed is the seal of the Prince of Wales with three feathers in silver leaf and a gold leaf crown and ribbon that reads :ICH DIEN. Above reads: BY APPOINTMENT. In the center are two hand drawn/painted bears sitting on grass with a bale of tobacco between the two. The top right side displays a smaller version of the bears and bale of tobacco within a square. Intialed around the square in gold leaf are P(top), M(left), &(right), Co.(bottom). Above this printed is: TRADE MARK., and below: REGISTERED..

The frame is made of wood(oak??), and embossed on top: PHILIP MORRIS & Co., and embossed "LONDON" on the bottom. On top of the frame are two holes about 4 inches from edges where you can tell it used to hang.

  The nails used to constuct the frame are visable and date pre-1900. The registered trade mark was registered in 1883 and  Philip Morris  registered the current trade mark in 1902.