There were numerous curious names in use among the tradespeople, as the
Six Sugar-Loaves, probably a grocer, in Union Street, 1733; Three
Sugar-Loaves and Canister, grocer, in King Street, 1733; two bearing the
sign of Two Sugar-Loaves, one in Cornhill and the other in King Street,
1760,--all of these indicating some active competition in the sugar trade.
Noah's Ark was the sign of a dry-goods store in Marlborough Street, 1769.
There were signs of the Three Crowns, Three Doves, Three Horseshoes, Three
Kings, and Three Nuns and a Comb. Another class embraced the Bible and
Heart, afterwards Heart and Crown, corner of Cornhill and Water Streets,
1748; Blue Dog and Rainbow, sign of a dyer near Bowling Green, now
Cambridge Street, 1729; Blue Glove, a bookstore on Union Street, 1762;
Brazen Head, Cornhill, opposite Williams Court, where the great fire of
1760 commenced, in a dwelling-house occupied by Mrs. Mary Jackson and son,
probably a boarding-house; Buck and Breeches in Ann Street, 1758, near the
Draw Bridge, Joseph Belknap's sign; Golden Cock, in Ann Street, 1733;
Golden Eagle, Dock Square, 1758; and one of the last things named was the
Whipping Post, in King Street, removed in 1750, only twenty years before
the Boston Massacre.