Signs of Note
Beautiful, unusual, lost and found ghost signs.
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Défense D’Af: Faux Ghostsign from John Downer
John Downer is a master sign painter and typeface designer. He kindly shared the above faux ghostsign that he produced in 1999 for the Paris Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas. Those better versed in French will notice that the sign is incomplete and the full text should read, ‘Défense D’Afficher’. John shared the following […]
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Mirrored Ghostsign from Portland, Oregon
Following the talk at St Bride, a chain of events led to Ash at Brilliant Signs, via Stewart at McLaren Signs, sending me a copy of Letterheads Magazine from 1998. I’d expressed an interest because of the big centre spread showing lots of ghostsigns. However, on page 10 was something even better, namely this amazing […]
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My first Ghostsign, from Nicaragua
While preparing for Wednesday’s talk at St Bride I rediscovered this in an old photo album from my 1998 travels in Central America. It is from Nicaragua, celebrating 1 May, International Workers’ Day. I believe this may be my first ever ghostsign photo, predating the fountain pens one in Stoke Newington by about eight years. ‘The Revolutionary […]
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Inch & Co Chemists Inspires Poetry
Coming back from my visit to South London I also spotted this ghostsign advertising Inch & Co Cash Chemists on Kennington Park Road. As I was trying to recall the location I searched for the company name and found a couple of references to it on the Formerly blog. The sign has provided a springboard […]
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‘Sur Les Murs’: Montréal’s Bilingual Ghostsigns
‘Sur les murs‘ (‘on the walls’) is the first book about ghostsigns to come out of Canada. It is a French language publication, as it is set in Montréal, but contains many English language signs. This reflects the bilingual history of the city and the country, which continues to this day. In fact, through the […]
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Ghost of the British Legion in Ypres, Belgium
This intriguing English-language ghostsigns is found in Ypres, Belgium, and has been identified for protection given its historical significance. I was alerted to it by regular correspondent, Daniel Lohmann, who has also done a bit of digging into this unusual ghostsign specimen. Firstly is the ghostsign itself and an explanation for it’s language, location and […]