Pawn Broker emblem

Submitted by philk on Mon, 09/28/2009 - 21:02

I was just wondering if anyone knew anything about the emblem used by Pawn shops - the red shield shape attached to the circle at the bottom. Does anyone know its significance and the history behind the emblem? In the UK the sign of a pawn broker is 3 hanging globes.

aah yes, of course, wikipedia, sometimes the blindingly obvious escapes me. Thanks for the link Moddsey. Here is what it says (I've removed the in-text links):

"The symbol of a pawn shop in Hong Kong is a bat (the animal) holding a coin (traditional Chinese: 蝠鼠吊金錢, Cantonese: fūk syú diu gām chín). The bat signifies fortune and the coin signifies benefits."