here is a small little piece of history that I found on my property. I have about 3 acres that used to be part of a much larger estate, at one time owned by a Mr.H.J.Wasson. Around the turn of the century up until the early 1940's, he grew potatoes specifically for potato chip companies. On his land were several small ponds and this was one of the signs that was posted. It has definately seen better days, axe marks,scratched graffiti, rust, and of course, the paint almost gone.
I thought it was cool and mounted it onto my pump house (which was built to look like an outhouse- it's an hillbilly thing...)
Can anybody give an estimation of how old it might be based on the lettering style? (besides "between 1900-1950, duh ") here is a closeup
[ March 12, 2005, 12:08 PM: Message edited by: Michael Clanton ]
Posted by Ron Costa (Member # 3366) on :
Wow, that sure does look old.
What kinda vinyl fades in streaks like that?
And the 3D effect on the dotted "i" is a treasure. Posted by Joe Rees (Member # 211) on :
I can't tell anything by that brush style - it looks like the same "bash it out" one-stroke stuff I was taught as recently as the 70s, and that died out with the computer age for a reason. It represents a bare minimum effort on the part of the maker and was truly nothing special. Funny how it now seems quaint or mysterious. Not to get on a soapbox but I can remember the pain of hiring guys in a pinch, who's sum total ability consisted of that product. Yukk.
Not sure how much you can tell by the fading either. It could be as recent as 10 years depending on the exposure, but for the reasons stated above I'd date it no later than 1980. If it was laying face down or under cover it could me much older. But anything before the later 70s is beyond my personal knowledge. How long ago they were 'bashing them out" like that is a good question.
Posted by John Lennig (Member # 2455) on :
from the look of the S's, i would say that the signwriter was right-handed. The script at the bottom belies the pretty crude bullnose above. DNA testing will follow.
John CSI creative sign investigations
Posted by Rick Sacks (Member # 379) on :
Seems that the 50's first displayed casual lettering, but mostly on shocards. By the 60's and 70's it was a general use case everywhere.
Posted by Warren Furuya (Member # 1382) on :
Rick's right. . .They seem to be a weird hybrid (half-block, half casual) of the very first, one-stroke brush style I learned from my old boss at the local Budweiser distributor. His version had a more "Oriental" look. Also, the "block-ish" look of some of the letters remind me of Speedball lettering diagrams of "Rapid-Brush Sho-Card Gothic".
Posted by Peter Schuttinga (Member # 2821) on :
Notice the bottom of the I in fish is slanted left instead of right as are the others, maybe a 'hidden' signature of the sign painter. John, investigate it right away.
Posted by John Lennig (Member # 2455) on :
got it covered Danno.
ps
it Could be that old Mafia fellow...One Shot.
Posted by Michael Clanton (Member # 2419) on :
NEW EVIDENCE just in... I was back at the crime scene- and old tin shed where the sign was found. After digging thru some old junk, I came upon THIS...
I also uncovered several small beer bottles- one with the date '77 on the bottom.
I feel like one of those people on antique roadshow! I figured the sign was from the 50's- but the evidence is showing maybe the 70's.
What is your assessment, Detective John?
Posted by Michael Clanton (Member # 2419) on :
It seems that Forensics Expert Joe Rees is on the right path! Age surpasses beauty on this case
Incredibly- the box of brushes are in fair shape! The bristles are still soft and full of oil, probably transmission fluid from the faint red tint I found on one of them. 16 brushes in all, a couple of "Leo Uhlfelder", some say just "LUCO". a couple of "Langnickels", and "Grumbachers", 4 look like hand made ones, wood handles with the ferrel stamped with "France", and a"Artsign Imperial Pencil quill #7". One of the Langnickels is a "Gray Flash" and one of the Grumbachers is a "Gray Speed".
There was a house on my property that burned down in the late 70's, nobody else lived there until our house was built in the mid 80's.
Posted by George Perkins (Member # 156) on :
The brush box looks like it came from the seventies, nothing in there looks really old. The sign , like Rick said, probably from the sixties or seventies. Definately done in a bang out style, definately not done by a journeyman. Some really weird brushstrokes going on there, a lot of inconsistancies in regards to stoke beginnings and endings. Show it to one of the old signpainters around Conway and I bet they can tell you who painted it just by looking at the S's
") here is a closeup 
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