Trade Signs and Sign Tags

The American Sign Museum recently added to its sign-tag collection with two new additions. “Pittsburgh Outdoor Adv.” was purchased, and “Maintained by Federal Electric Co.” was donated recently by Duane Laska, North Shore Neon (Waukegan, IL). The museum now owns more than 50 such sign tags.

The museum acquired a “working,” 3-D jackknife at the Chicagoland second petroliana show, which occurred last March in Peotone, IL, just south of Chicago. This 28-in.-wide hanging trade sign identified “Hoover’s Gen. Store” in southern Indiana.

The bi-annual Antique Advertising Show at the Indianapolis Fairgrounds last March brought another, albeit more recent, camera trade sign. The 9 x 21 x 23-in. plastic and cardboard mechanical camera features a working flash, which rotates and blinks sequentially.

At the Iowa Gas Show in Des Moines in early August, the museum purchased a long sought-after piece – an early-1950s, plastic Shell Oil sign manufactured by Artkraft Sign Co., formerly of Lima, OH. This iconic Shell logo version, one of the first Plexiglas® acrylic signs produced in the “Plastic Era of the Post War World II” era, was featured in many of Rohm and Haas’ four-color ads in ST and other trade journals.

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$500,000 challenge grant
Launching the final phase of its capital-building campaign, the museum is offering a $500,000 challenge grant, whereby a very generous benefactor will match, dollar for dollar, each donation to the museum’s building fund, up to $500,000. Each dollar donated to the museum’s building fund through the end of this year will be matched with a dollar: One will get you two, so to speak; $100 translates to $200; $1,000 to $2,000, and so on.

If you’re not currently a member, now is the time to join. If you’re already a member, you can renew now, and your membership dollars will double. Go to www.signmuseum.org to join or renew, or call (513) 258-4020.