Folk Art
High-Wheel Bicycle
Trade Sign 

American, ca. late 19th century.
Original paint on heavy sheet tin with hand-punched detailing. The figure is riding a penny-farthing (aka high wheel, high wheeler) an early bicycle with a large front wheel and a much smaller rear wheel. This design dates back to the 1870s–1880s.
The figure is not generic, rather whimsical, stylized, and dressed in a somewhat fancifully version of period attire: a suit jacket and bow tie, red knickers or stockings, and a red cap or hair. Trade signs often used exaggerated or caricatured figures to draw attention, or to communicate friendliness or expertise. It could have hung outside a bicycle store or repair shop, or possibly even a circus or amusement venue.
About 30 inches tall x 27 wide. From a southern collection, bought in 1997 from Greg Kramer who had acquired it in Lancaster, Pennsylvania.