Antique and Vintage Signs

Antique and vintage signs are highly sought after by collectors for their beauty, enduring historic value, and because they make great conversation pieces. Advertising everything from soda and oil products to farm equipment and household appliances, old signs might be classified as wood, porcelain (a.k.a. enamel), tin, cardboard, lighted, or neon. In 17th- and 18th-century Europe and early America, most of the population was illiterate, so shopkeepers often used figural signs outside their businesses to attracted customers: Barbers used a pole painted with red, white, and blue stripes in a corkscrew pattern, pharmacists used "show globes" filled with colored liquid, pawn shops displayed three golden balls, and tobacco shops placed wooden statues of Native Americans outside their doors. During the 18th century in Europe and America, more and more merchants chose simple wooden signs in square, rectangular, or round shapes hand-painted with the minimal amount of words to convey what services were offered inside, like "Boarding Rooms" or "Tavern." By the early 19th century, businesses began to use hand-painted and then stenciled tin signs, while the art of hand-lettering and hand-painting walls, windows, and billboards was just beginning to blossom. As the Second Industrial Age flourished in post-Civil War America, branding, logos, and other markers to distinguish products became incredibly important to competing manufacturers. Artisans who hand-painted signs excelled in gorgeous, eye-popping lettering and helped companies like Coca-Cola develop their logos. In the late 19th century, American manufacturers developed new machines and techniques that allowed them to stamp, trim, and apply lithographs to tin sheets. This let manufacturers that made products like cosmetics, tobacco, or processed food develop lush, colorful logos and characters that could be lithographed onto tin containers and tin signs to entice new customers. Tin signs, unlike a hand-painted paper sign, could be hung outside because they could withstand any weather, even though eventually they might rust. Tuscarora Advertising Company and Standard Advertising Company, both in Coshocton, Ohio, began producing stunning tin signs in 1895 using the latest technology in offset lithography—and authentic antique tin signs from this era are among the most collectible today. The businesses merged and separated again in 1901, resurfacing as the Meek Company and the H.D. Beach Company. The Meek Company turned into American Art Works in 1908, and became the leading tin-sign maker through the 1920s. In the 1920s, the stylized look of porcelain signs aligned with the Art Deco aesthetic, and so tin signs fell out of favor. Porcelain signs, also known as enamel signs or porcelain enamel signs, originated in Germany in the 1880s and were first imported to the United States in the 1890s. The name is a bit of a misnomer, as the signs don't contain any clay that defines porcelain dinnerware or pottery. The vitreous enamel coating the signs does, however, contain the powdered glass, called frit, that's a main ingredient of soft-paste porcelain. The oldest porcelain signs have a base of heavy rolled iron, which the enamel would be fused to, layer by layer. In the early days, the colored enamel would be applied to the white powdered-glass base of a sign via stencils. These old signs could also be die-cut into almost any shape. Some antique porcelain signs were one-sided and meant to be affixed to a wall. Others were two-sided and could be attached to a wall with a flange. In the early 1900s, Enameled Iron Company, Ingram-Richardson, and Baltimore Enamel & Novelty brought in craftsmen from Europe to help them produce these beautiful and colorful signs. However, at the turn of the century, American manufacturers developed a better process for the vitreous enameling of metal, and lighter steel became the base of choice for porcelain signs. Instead of being stenciled, the designs would be silkscreened, color by color, onto these antique signs. In Nashville, Tennessee Enamel churned out these American-type porcelain signs for its major clients, particularly Coca-Cola. Porcelain signs were durable and able to withstand exposure to inclement weather, so tens of thousands were made. Collectors tend to fall into one of two camps, those interested in oil, gas, and other automobile-related vintage porcelain signs, and those who collect so-called "country store" signs, generally found at rural five-and-dimes or diners, which range from brands of soda, milk, and bread to tobacco, stoves, and floor varnish. Authentic porcelain signs used for railroads and car traffic are also popular. During the early 20th century tin and porcelain signs were developed to serve a dual purpose of advertising products and operating as door pushes or pulls. Others featured a built-in thermometer and were hung outside to country stores to keep farmers up-to-date on the weather. However, during the World War II scrap drives, many old signs were melted down, making authentic vintage signs rare today. Eventually, high labor costs caused porcelain signs to fall out of favor in the 1950s. Many of the antique and vintage porcelain signs that survived the scrap drives have bullet holes in them (signs made for convenient target practice) or suffer crazing or acid etching in the enamel. Tin signs were also melted in World War II scrap drives, halting production almost permanently. Although some tin signs were made after the war, their re-emergence was short-lived. They were not as durable as porcelain signs, and were more likely to rust. The first neon sign was introduced in 1912, for a Parisian barber. Neon signs contain tubes filled with neon or inert gasses that glow when a high voltage is applied. Though popular in the 1920s and 1930s, they were expensive to make and very fragile. In the 1940s and '50s, custom-made neon signs were produced in small quantities for businesses like restaurants, clubs, bars, hotels, and auto dealerships. More modern mass-produced neon signs for companies like Budweiser and Coca-Cola can also be collectible. Other types of vintage lighted signs are lit with incandescent bulbs, and these include lighted advertising clocks, lighted gasoline signs, and lighted beer signs, including the popular Hamm's Sceneorama signs. Some collectors also seek out vintage cardboard signs, which were popular in the mid-20th century and were used to advertise a broad range of consumer items (soda, beer, candy, etc.) and upcoming events, like the circus. Other vintage sign formats, like authentic door pushes and pulls, are highly sought after as well. Although some collectors focus exclusively on signs, many pursue the hobby as an adjunct to another collecting interest. Therefore, antique and vintage signs related to subjects like automobile, travel, farm, food, smoking, beer, and railroads are in high demand. Old signs from the West Coast are in especially popular. With antique signs, condition, visual appeal, and scarcity are important influences on value. But do your homework before buying—many reproductions have been made and old signs are often restored to enhance their appearance.