Optician, Eibenstock

We'll we go, won't we go...? We're supposed to fly tomorrow afternoon to attend the confirmation of some relative in Germany. Hopefully our plane will take off but then, will we be able to come back? If you don't see a new post by Wednesday or Thursday, blame the Eyjafjallajökull!

My in-laws have planned a whole programme of visits and although I already know quite well some of the places we'll go to like Erfurt, Leipzig or Zwickau, I'm confident I'll discover something new. So I may come back with some new ghost signs for future posts. In the meantime, here's one I saw last winter on a freezing day in Eibenstock.
This small town in the Erzgebirge (Ore Mountains) became well-known around the world in the nineteenth century for its embroidery. In order to foster trade, the US even opened a consulate on September, 12, 1891. It closed on June 6, 1908, when it was transferred to Plauen, at the time a booming textile manufacturing centre. The large building, which displays some Art Nouveau or rather Jugendstil influences was then converted into flats. The embroidery industry collapsed with the First World War. It re-emerged in the 1950s but without enjoying a similar fame. Although machines were introduced from the 1850s, part of the embroidery remained hand-made and this must have been taxing for the eyes. Thus many women working in the industry may have needed to visit an optician.


Optisches Institut
This sign must have been covered when the optician was replaced by a furrier, as the words pasted on the broken window suggest:... - Pelze - Mützen
[... - Furs - Caps]
Actually this is confirmed by the sign on the door.

Pelze
W. Brenner
This is one of the few houses not renovated yet in Eibenstock, but that could change soon. I hope the painted sign will be preserved. It certainly adds some character to the property.

Location: Postplatz, Eibenstock, Sachsen / Pictures taken on: 26/12/2009