Your guess is as good as mine. this was given to me to pay off a bar bill.  You are bidding on one wooden approximately 7 1/2" X 12" inch wooden sign wire a wire hanger on the back. Apparantly this place was or is in Waterville, Maine  Front Painted on wood Top  to bottom 1761 Silent Woman  Entertainment..The Back reads as follows:

                                                                                                                                 the Silent woman

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                                                       A Silent Woman-how can that be?

                                                          patient traveller, do not scoff:            

                                                      Drawn from the very life is she 

                                                      and mute because her head is off!                                                                                                                       Any questions or knowledge on this item please e-mail me.

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The custom of hanging a signto attract trade goes back to the early  middle ages , when only scholars could read. The tailor  displayed a sign with a pair of shears, the hosier a stocking,the inn or tavern, a jug or bottle.  the hosts of some inns preferred more original signs such as The Pig and Whistle, The Mermaid Tavern, The Red Lion, The White Horse, The Bulls Head, to name a few.

The Silent Woman can be found surprisingly, by a similiar name in France,Great Britian, Belgium and Holland. In England, it is thought that the sign evolved as a satire on Henry theEight's method of divorce.  Thomas Hardy refers to a Quiet Woman Tavern in The Return of the Native; and as recently as 1761 there was a Silent Woman Tavern in Massachuesetts. The sign ......."Fame" to "Femme"

And so if you've enjoyed your meal gentle reader, please tell her Good Fame to other travelers, as she poor thing is mute.

ROUTE 95 WATERVILLE IN MAINE                                                    .