As featured in January, February 2009 brings several new antique signs that have been added to the Antique Warehouse Collection.  With the new year, the Antique Warehouse has seen four new signs, and one of the five is new from late in 2008. 

     Of the five signs, three of them actually came from one acquisition.  The sign was retrieved by the Antique Warehouse Recovery Team in late January.  Located in East St. Louis, on State Street, was a large porcelain enameled neon sign for the Ranch House, an ice cream establishment.  The neon had long been gone, but none the less, it was a neon sign. 

     At first glance of the sign, it looked like one large sign, but after closer examination at the scene, the Recovery Team soon realized that first, the top part of the sign which read "Ranch House," was actually a separate sign.  It was also noticed that the "Ranch House" had once been painted over with latex paint to read "Drive Inn."  The paint had since either been removed or had come off. 

     Secondly, the lower part of the sign which appeared to simply read "Chapman's Ice Cream," actually had a second sign placed on top  of the original.  Once the Recovery Team had the sign down and back to the shop for the Restoration Department to work on, they soon realized that a "Chapman's" porcelain enameled sign face was placed directly over what originally was a "Pevely Super Test Ice Cream" sign.  View the first two images below for a visual reference.  The First image is how the sign looked as we recovered it, the second image has the Chapman's face removed. 

     Another of the signs acquired this month was a Golden Gate Church of Nazarene cross, which is a porcelain enameled neon sign.  This sign only includes the porcelain faces, there is no can (structure) or neon.  The face plates are made up of three separate pieces, one long piece, which is nine feet tall, and two shorter pieces which make up the arms of the cross. 

     The fifth sign was acquired about two months ago at the Chicagoland Antique Advertising Show.  It is a Anheuser-Busch Michelob double sided porcelain enameled neon sign, with a bull nose on the front.  This model of sign is very similar to the Budweiser Double Sided Porcelain Neon Sign already in our collection.  This sign, along with the rest of the signs featured this month, does not have neon on it, as it was most likely damage and removed.

     Below are several images of the five signs featured this month.  Clicking on the first two thumbnails will bring up larger images, while clicking on any of the others will take you to their information pages.