Ford Oval Porcelain Sign ID Help

[petehoovie]

My only original Ford signs are the V8 Truck hanging window display versions. I am fortunate to have two and both operate (with a modern transformer). It's hard to photograph a glowing neon sign, so here's my best attempts. Neither picture really gives them justice. I have one in my garage and one in my office for inspiration.

 

[BlueSunoco]

Can anyone tell me about this sign? I've not see one so small and wonder what it could have been used for?

I purchased this porcelain sign at Hershey this year. It measures 12" across the oval and 9" from the top of the oval to the bottom of the "V". The back side is black and the metal is heavy gauge. I'm not a sign collector but thought it was a nice piece with good colors and the price was right for me.

I also noticed that the "8" has an oval shape to the bottom part. I'm used to seeing a pair of circles making up the "8" in the 1935-1936 era I'm most familiar with. Maybe this is a clue to it's age?

Yeah I hate to tell you but you was 'took' buddy.
This sign is a fake and has no real value.
From people I spoke with who were at Hershey, petroliana especially signs were stupid money. Too bad they couldn't police for fakes and replicas beforehand.

 

[Model51]

BlueSunoco - I don't feel bad at all. I paid almost nothing for it and assumed it was not an original.
I like it because I can hang it on the end of a shelf unit and see it every day. It's value is that it can bring a smile to my face.

 

[37 Coupe]

I've had this for at least twenty years and never could figure out its origin.Think it came out of New York,11" X 11" brass plate probably 16 gauge or close to it. I know it is center stamping for a late thirties or '40 Ford pickup tailgate but why? Either original or reproduction that was testing stamping first or purpose made. I think the seller told me it was covering a hole on a barn for years but that was probably a barn find story.

 

[GB SISSON]

Maybe it WAS a test piece for stamping dies. I have had 2 tailgates where the ford logo was beaten to death by users repeatedly dropping the tailgate free-fall onto a trailer ball. 35 years ago I talked to a company in Michigan that sold reproduction tailgates to try to talk him into placing a rectangular piece of steel (like a license plate size) into his press and making me a weld in repair piece. Instead he sold me a piece they offered for street rodders that had the same logo stamped into a replacement lower front corner of a '53 f-100 pickup bed. Worked perfectly. So there has been some call for just the stamped logo.

 

[petehoovie]

I've had this for at least twenty years and never could figure out its origin.Think it came out of New York,11" X 11" brass plate probably 16 gauge or close to it. I know it is center stamping for a late thirties or '40 Ford pickup tailgate but why? Either original or reproduction that was testing stamping first or purpose made. I think the seller told me it was covering a hole on a barn for years but that was probably a barn find story.

 

[mercman from oz]

 

[RB]

Often see various porcelain signs at swap meets/flea markets but unless bargain priced, I walk on by, might be passing on good buys but one needs to know the difference to pay todays crazy prices. Always liked the Andy Rooney signs but even those are up in value & seldom seen locally with exception of the bigger venues.

 

[37 Coupe]

Often see various porcelain signs at swap meets/flea markets but unless bargain priced, I walk on by, might be passing on good buys but one needs to know the difference to pay todays crazy prices. Always liked the Andy Roony signs but even those are up in value & seldom seen locally with exception of the bigger venues.

I haveone of the Andy Rooney signs I bought years ago,"Auntie Chatter".I thought it was a made up company for the sign until I saw one on Ebay go for over a grand,it was old.

 

[petehoovie]

I haveone of the Andy Rooney signs I bought years ago,"Auntie Chatter".I thought it was a made up company for the sign until I saw one on Ebay go for over a grand,it was old.

 

[petehoovie]

Often see various porcelain signs at swap meets/flea markets but unless bargain priced, I walk on by, might be passing on good buys but one needs to know the difference to pay todays crazy prices. Always liked the Andy Roony signs but even those are up in value & seldom seen locally with exception of the bigger venues.

 

[cas3]

Well jeez, if its story time again I got one.
I spent the last 30 years doing finish grading for an asphalt co. Driveways, parking lots, streets, etc.

One job, I go to remove the old drive, and prep it for paving. The customer is in his 80's, a WW2 marine vet. My driver that day was a Viet Nam marine vet, so while they visited, I removed the old asphalt. Read that as...no help, they were busy.

Quite common if folks were home, they liked to watch. Perhaps entertaining, or perhaps because it cost so darn much!

On this job, the door was open, and I could see an old porcelain sign hanging on the back wall. Once done loading out the chunks, I told the old fella " thats a cool looking sign back there, can I look at it" ? Sure, he says. As we walk across the garage he says "are ya interested in that? the grand kids don't want any old stuff.

Well, I know very little about signs except that some are crazy expensive, and some are not, depends on how rare they are. I got most of mine for free from dumps over the years, when nice ones were 50 bucks at swap meets. I thought who the heck would pay 50 bucks when mine were free. Well, mine mostly have bullet holes, and now the 50 buckers are thousands.

Back to the story, so I tell the old fella yeah, I'd give him a 100 bucks for it. Really, I don't know if its a hundred dollar sign or a thousand dollar sign, its not my thing.

Well heck yeah he says, going for a screw driver to take it down. While we are taking it down he says, do you want the matching thermometer next to it? I said, I know I have one 100 dollar bill on me, but not sure how much more. He says you can have them both for a 100. Then, while we were loading equipment to leave, her runs down the street with more gifts.

One, a glass quart old time oil bottle. I've had many of these, but this one is mint. never got rusty on the funnel end, and even still had the little cap on top. another, just an old car jack for who knows what, then the big one... A photo of him at the gas station working as a kid with both the sign and the thermometer in the photo from just before he left for the war. how cool is that!

So, I get home from work that day and I wanna know what I bought. Google searches are showing this sign sell at Iowa Gas auctions for 8 to 12 thousand dollars!

Next I call a friend who makes his living off this stuff because I can't believe it, he laughs and says " you did good today son, I've only had one. bought it for 100, and sold it the same day for 10K !!!

I had a fire in my shop a few years before and lost all kinds of valuable stuff, so the thought of a 10k sign on the wall turned me off. My friend was too cheap, only offered 5 for both. The sign was not mint, some chips, and someone scratched their initials in it. The thermometer was very nice.

I sold them to another dealer for slightly more, still wholesale I'm sure.

The sad ending...The guy had horses, stored hay in his shop, and welding one day caught the place on fire and lost 100's of thousands of dollars in signs and gas pumps

 

[petehoovie]

 

[1942deluxe]

100% sure this one I bought off Ebay is a reproduction but it's that good it's hard to tell.

 

[petehoovie]

View attachment 576280
100% sure this one I bought off Ebay is a reproduction but it's that good it's hard to tell.

 

[TerryOH]

Model 51: I have the same basic two sided sign. Mine does not have the "property of Ford etc." anywhere it does have the extra blue pinstripe line around the oval and the top of the white 8 is attached to the white above around the oval. I am positive mine is a cheep knock off.

 

[RB]

Acquired a 12" or so vividly colored orange & black double-sided Firestone sign this past year that had a 90-degree factory bend for protruded mounting from a store front or show room, not sure if the real deal but believe they are in fact reproduced. The $25 price was within my budget & currently graces my garage wall.

 

[Model51]

That's the kind of price point that makes the sign hanging in my garage worth it, repro or not.