Signs of Note

Beautiful, unusual, lost and found ghost signs.

Ghost graffiti

The captions say it all really, note that the graffiti and the building it is on have both lasted longer than the enormous block of flats in the background. Found via Robert Lambie on uksignboards.com.

8 Dec 2012
Vandalised frescoes with a twist in Valencia’s cathedral

This before and after of a fresco in Valencia cathedral shows that smutty humour will never grow old – the drawing on the angel’s wing will be familiar to anyone who has ever visited a school toilet. What is interesting about this one is that it was added by a workman in the 17th century […]

21 Nov 2012
A novel approach to ghostsign conservation from Vancouver

This ghostsign for the Little Theatre in Vancouver is the subject of a unique preservation effort prompted by the efforts of the Grandview Heritage Group. In response to a letter sent to the developers currently at work on the building they have been told that two actions will be taken to preserve the sign. First […]

17 Nov 2012
Multi-business ghostsign revealed in St. Petersburg, Texas

Fantastic reveal from St. Petersburg (Texas, not Russia). Three brands once resided in the building: Ermatinger hatters; Hayward’s toy shop; and the Wisteria confectionery company. Given the equal portion of wall space allotted to each business it is likely they split the cost of this sign three ways. It has been dated to 1929 and some […]

12 Sep 2012
Walldogs, Ghost Signs and Slappy Hooper

In 2009 the Colorado Gambler published an article by Cathleen Norman called ‘Walldogs, Ghost Signs and Slappy Hooper’. It packs a surprisingly large quantity of material about the history of painting signs on walls in the USA into a very short piece. However, the opening sentence of the main body might be one for the […]

10 Aug 2012
Perfectly preserved Coca-Cola sign revealed in restaurant renovations

This is an amazing reveal inside a restaurant in Suffolk, Virginia, showing a vintage Coca-Cola almost perfectly preserved as it would have looked when first painted. This article offers some evidence that the sign could date from the 1890s, I wonder if they’ll do something with the top portion which is presumably on the second […]

2 Aug 2012
Signpainters of Detroit

Detroit blogger John Carlisle showcases some of the hand painted signs on walls from the motor city and meets the men who make them. It is interesting that many of them only use the signpainting to supplement their incomes or to support their other artistic endeavours. Note the slogan on the picture above, taken from […]

27 Jul 2012
Vote Against Prohibition Ghostsign in Baltimore

This is the first ever example from the modern era that I’ve come across of hand painted advertising on buildings used for political purposes. There are the ancient ghostsigns of Pompeii which I’ve written about before and also the murals of places like Nicaragua and Northern Ireland. This photo from Samuel Adam Johnson caught my eye […]

23 Jul 2012
Owl Cigars ghostsign mystery in San Francisco

Kasey Smith of the Perception Filter blog has just posted this fascinating piece of investigative research into the origins of the Owl Cigars ghostsign on Meacham Place, San Francisco. Can you think of any other theories that would explain its unlikely position given the evidence that Kasey presents?

15 Jul 2012
Unusual Hovis Ghost Sign in New TV Commercial

This new TV commercial features a ghostsign at around 00:56. It is unusual because it is advertising the farm as a supplier to Hovis, rather than the well know bakers being supplied by Hovis. To what extent this is authentic I can’t say. It seems unlikely that Hovis would have used this as a form […]

5 Jul 2012
Faux ghostsigns

Sometimes hand painted signs on buildings are created to look old and weathered intentionally. The example pictured (original photo on Flickr) was produced in 2003 for the Disney film, ‘Miracle’. (Does anyone have a clip showing where and how it features in the film?) Another Disney example is this sign for the ‘New Orleans Trading […]

1 Jul 2012
Ghostsign building wrap from the culture+typography blog

I’ve just started following the culture+typography blog which is a regular source of interesting observations on lettering and signage in the public sphere. Above is an image from blog author Nikki Villagomez from this post about an entire building wrapped in a ghostsign for Liberty Tire. It is a great discovery from Cincinnati, and could […]

30 Jun 2012
Lead lettering from Caroline’s Miscellany

Photo: Caroline Derry A fascinating new form of public lettering (at least for me) on this blog post from Caroline’s Miscellany.

26 Jun 2012
Astronomical charts and calculations on 9th Century Mayan wall paintings

This article discusses the recent discovery of these wall paintings in Guatemala dating from AD814. More images in this guided tour of the site. See also this past post on the walls of Pompeii.

24 Jun 2012
Hand painted electioneering in Egypt

Will this one day become a ghostsign like the political slogans found in Pompeii? (Another piece of interesting signage news from the Egyptian elections here.)

24 May 2012
The price of Coke in America remained unchanged for over 70 years

Photo: MOLLYBLOCK The 5c price shown in the picture above only helps to place this sign in the 1886-1959 bracket. This research attempts to explain why this happened, with the resulting difficulty of using price as a dating tool for Coca-Cola ghostsigns in the USA.

19 May 2012
Hand painted McDonald’s signs, a first for me

Photo: Kasey Smith Everyone is familiar with hand painted signs for Coca-cola but these are new to me. Some more pictures and an interesting commentary over on the Perception Filter blog.

15 May 2012
Farewell and RIP to the Hammersmith Palais

[Update, November 2020: This sign is still visible, and the demolition works appear to have only affected the building immediately behind this wall.] Thursday, 10th May 2012 marked the final destruction of the once proud Hammersmith Palais, home to this underground-platform-long ghostsign. Dances were once twice daily but the evidence of this now only remains […]

11 May 2012
Great Middlesbrough ghostsigns

Photo: Caroline Derry Some great discoveries over on Caroline’s blog.

28 Apr 2012
Hand painted propaganda from Chairman Mao and the cultural revolution

Collection of seven images here. Apparently these large handpainted and wall mounted posters were called ‘dazibao’ which means big character poster.

4 Apr 2012
Now you see me, now you don’t: London’s elusive shop signs

Nice article here about the brief reveal, and more extended cover up, of some of London’s beautiful hand painted shop signs. In some ways they are being preserved, but they could be equally be showcased. They represent the skills of signwiters such as the contemporary Peter Hardwicke. Jane also covered a closely related topic in her account […]

29 Feb 2012
Ghostsigns from Elkhorn, Montana…

…this one particularly caught my eye, more here. Photo: Off the Beaten Path.

20 Feb 2012
Record Breaking Roofad

I’ve been sitting on this for such a long time that I almost completely forgot about it. In fact, Mark sent me details of it back in June 2009 so hands up for my complete slackness on that front! It is another example of a ‘roofad‘ but one with significant exposure, being situated on top of […]

11 Feb 2012
Miniature Planet: Ghostsigns for Model Makers

I love this, miniature ghostsigns for use on model railways and other small scale hobbies. This will be a welcome time saver for those who don’t have the dedication of Emmanuel Nouaillier. That said, the extent to which they’re modelled on actual signs is difficult to gauge… There is currently a collection of 25 available […]

7 Feb 2012