This quarter plate daguerreotype, laterally corrected for publication, shows the typical location that an itinerant daguerreotypist would rent in order to set up temporary shop in a town where there was no practitioner of the art. The sign was usually lettered on cloth and could be nailed to the front of the building as shown in this case. The visiting artist could then go around town and post broadsides writing in the location, dates of stay, and hours of activity on the blank lines. A broadside with the writing filled in is much rarer than a blank one.
