Show globe

A coloured jar in the window.

Also known as: Carboy pharmacy, Apothecary show globe

Historical & archaeologicalMedicalStandard profile

Meanings

The glass vessel of coloured liquid displayed to identify a pharmacy.

Historically documentedVerified fact
Identifies premises as a pharmacy to passers-by.
Contexts: Medicine, History
Historically documentedVerified fact
Identified the trade to a population that largely could not read, which is the same reason trade signs everywhere were objects rather than words.
Contexts: Medicine, History
DisputedDisputed claim
Accounts claiming the colours signalled plague or quarantine are widely repeated and not supported by the evidence.
The plague-signal account of show globe colours is not evidenced.
Contexts: Medicine, History

A large glass vessel of coloured liquid, its outline ranging from a footed sphere to a tall shouldered carboy, standing in the window of the shop.

IdentityModerate confidence: Moderate confidence because the identity is documented in encyclopedic references, but only a single source has been found so far.
Historical originLow confidence: Low confidence because the historical origin is documented in encyclopedic references, but only a single source has been found so far, but the regional or cultural match to this specific claim is not precise.
Current useModerate confidence: Moderate confidence because the current use is documented in encyclopedic references, but only a single source has been found so far.
Visual matchModerate confidence: Moderate confidence because the visual match is documented in encyclopedic references, but only a single source has been found so far.

Pharmaceutical notation, apothecary weights and prescription abbreviation
The pharmacopoeia commissions and pharmacy history scholarship · retrieved 2026-08-27
Cited for the identity and historical use of apothecary symbols and prescription abbreviations. Nothing here is clinical or dispensing guidance, and several abbreviations recorded are deprecated precisely because they were misread.

Last reviewed 2026-08-27

Meanings

The glass vessel of coloured liquid displayed to identify a pharmacy.

Historically documentedVerified fact

Identifies premises as a pharmacy to passers-by.

Historically documentedVerified fact

Identified the trade to a population that largely could not read, which is the same reason trade signs everywhere were objects rather than words.

DisputedDisputed claim

Accounts claiming the colours signalled plague or quarantine are widely repeated and not supported by the evidence.

The plague-signal account of show globe colours is not evidenced.

Confidence

IdentityModerate confidence: Moderate confidence because the identity is documented in encyclopedic references, but only a single source has been found so far.
Historical originLow confidence: Low confidence because the historical origin is documented in encyclopedic references, but only a single source has been found so far, but the regional or cultural match to this specific claim is not precise.
Current useModerate confidence: Moderate confidence because the current use is documented in encyclopedic references, but only a single source has been found so far.
Visual matchModerate confidence: Moderate confidence because the visual match is documented in encyclopedic references, but only a single source has been found so far.

Sources

Pharmaceutical notation, apothecary weights and prescription abbreviation
The pharmacopoeia commissions and pharmacy history scholarship · retrieved 2026-08-27
Cited for the identity and historical use of apothecary symbols and prescription abbreviations. Nothing here is clinical or dispensing guidance, and several abbreviations recorded are deprecated precisely because they were misread.

Last reviewed 2026-08-27