Golden Boot
Grantown Museum

Shops often traditionally used symbols to identify their trade, especially on busy streets where there was little space to advertise with large signboards. In this case, the golden boot signified a shoe shop. Symbol signs also made it easy to identify different traders for people who could not read.

This wooden painted boot used to hang outside Peter Grant’s shoe shop on the High Street, Grantown.

The golden boot is one of the oldest motifs and was used around the world. Modern versions of trade signs are still found on our streets: think of the striped barber pole or the cross symbol for a chemist or pharmacy.