Alan Mays' photos with the keyword: gilding

"Good, Berner & Bro., gilders, No. 45 North Queen Street, Lancaster, Pa. All styles of frames on hand or made to order, and old frames regilded. Walnut and gilt cornices. Mouldings of all kinds and the largest stock of looking glasses, varying at prices from 20 cts. to $500.00." According to the Lancaster History Web site, Jonathan Good along with brothers Louis Berner and Otto Berner were in business together as photographers under the name "Good & Berner Bros." as early as 1873. Here, as "Good, Berner & Bro." on this business card, they advertised their gilding services and offered picture frames, moldings, and looking glasses (mirrors) for sale. Their nineteenth-century prices for looking glasses--"20 cts. to $500.00"--are the equivalents of about $4.00 to $9,000.00 today (these are rough approximations derived from calculators available on the Measuring Worth site).

"Ye Gilded Boob. / You think that you are: just it, / With your monocle [kid gloves] and ten-dollar hat." A vinegar valentine that pokes fun at pretentious fools. The reference to a "ten-dollar hat" may come from the saying, "He wears a ten-dollar hat on a five-cent head," suggesting that an expensive hat can't make up for a lack of intelligence. For a similar valentine, see Oh! You Lobster .