Signs of Note

Beautiful, unusual, lost and found ghost signs.

Ghostsigns World Tour

Perhaps being in Cambodia has sensitised me to the world of Ghostsigns beyond my home shores. Or maybe awareness of the project has encouraged those from around the world to make contact. Whatever it is, I thought it was time for a round-up of what’s landed in my inbox and surfaced on my internet radar […]

21 Jul 2011
Adzookie

The History of Advertising Trust Twitter stream recently brought this initiative to my attention from mobile advertising firm Adzookie. Essentially they will pay your mortgage if you agree to have this garish design slapped onto the external walls of your home. However, in the current downturn, and with people struggling to avoid repossessions, they may […]

4 Jun 2011
Roofad to God

I’ve talked about Roofads before, this is a pretty cool addition to the series, advertising this and found here.

5 Jul 2010
Ghostsigns Indoors

English’s Fancy Bazaar by Paul & Karen Rennie What with launching the archive, getting married and travel plans impacted by the volcano I’m a little behind with blog posting. This means I’ve been sitting on this little discovery for a couple of months. What you see above is the first and only example I’ve ever […]

1 May 2010
Roofads

Church Street, Ashbourne, Derbyshire Photo: rebalrid As I get increasingly close to the material gathered for the archive I start to notice little subtexts, themes and oddities within the collection. The latest of these is a series of what I have tentatively called ‘roofads’. These are signs painted directly onto the roofing tiles of buildings, […]

18 Feb 2010
Ancient Ghostsigns

Are these the oldest ghost signs in the world? Will at Naked came back from a trip to Italy where he visited the ruins of Pompeii and Herculaneum which were covered in volcanic ash for around 1,700 years following the eruption of mount Vesuvius in 79AD. While he was there he took these three fascinating […]

21 Jan 2010
Draft Chapter (Food & Drink)

I’d love to get your feedback on a draft chapter for a possible book to accompany the archive. If this gets published then it will help raise funds to support the ongoing work of the History of Advertising Trust in this area. As usual please leave comments below or get in touch. NB. The images […]

8 Jan 2010
Interesting Perspectives

These three images were submitted back to back into the ghostsigns pool being used to establish the archive. They stood out because of their very unique perspectives on three signs that are frequently photographed. For comparison I’ve included my own photos for two of them. This is michaelpickard‘s photo of the Donovan Bros sign from […]

27 Jun 2009
Jack Daniels Update

Sheffield, Photo by Nicky Roberts My Aunt captured the above picture in Sheffield recently (Westfield Terrace, just off West Stand). This adds to the growing number of locations in this nationwide campaign by Jack Daniels (see previous posts). Photos of those discovered so far are below (Brighton, Bristol, Leicester & Newcastle), and, awaiting photographic evidence, […]

29 Apr 2009
The Return of Boyd Pianos

I saw the above headline come through on my RSS feed from Flickr and I was very excited to see the news from Fin Fahey that the classic Boyd Pianos sign has returned after being covered for some time. Perhaps something similar might happen to the old Redferns double-bill in Wandsworth one day… Good spot […]

20 Nov 2008
Jerry Johnson

© Sign painted and photo taken by Jerry Johnson Frank Jump over in NYC has just posted a collection of ten outstanding images from the work of experience signwriter (or “wall dog” in USA) Jerry Johnson. Some of these are genuine pieces of advertising and some, like the one pictured, are spoofs. The craftsmanship, or […]

23 Feb 2008
Jack Daniel’s

Some time ago now my uncle sent me two photos he took while visiting Newcastle (see below). These show Jack Daniel’s reviving the hand painted advertising medium by using a stencil to replicate the label design on walls across the city. Comparing the two signs reveals that they are stencilled, most probably they did a […]

18 Jan 2008
Landmarks Commission Hearing

Debate over this site for a new painted wall advertisement Frank Jump over in NYC, USA recently presented the case, on behalf of Colossal Media, for the ‘overwriting’ of an old fading ghost sign with a new Colossal production. Presumably an application to do so is under consideration and the Landmarks Commission are deciding whether […]

25 Dec 2007
Boyd Pianos

Charlie, sarflondondunc and Ross all told me about this great sign for Boyd Pianos that has recently been revealed on Shacklewell Lane in Hackney, presumably by the removal of a billboard. It is interesting on a number of levels, not least the quality of preservation 1. It is advertising pianos which is something you would […]

23 Nov 2007
Bovril & Greys

Andy sent me this great double sign from Bedford in response to my appeal for world record contenders. Although it isn’t a multitude of signs, the quality of preservation is exceptional. Either they’ve been retouched or they have been preserved by a billboard/adjacent building. redgrittybrick says of the Greys signs: ” I believe the “Greys” […]

19 Oct 2007
Auckland Billboards

Dean wrote to me following the ban in Sao Paulo to let me know that it is now the politicians in Auckland, New Zealand, that are looking to outlaw billboards. However, they didn’t expect the advertising industry to fight back with a bit of characteristic creativity and develop a campaign to highlight what lies beneath […]

12 Oct 2007
Lambeth Council

Following the recent painting over of the Clapham North ‘Music Rolls‘ sign, Ocky got in touch with Kate Hoey, MP for Vauxhall to ask her what Lambeth Council are doing to preserve this signs. The response from Michael Copeman, via Councillor Peck, was as follows: Dear Kate Keith put exactly the same enquiry about […]

4 Oct 2007
Redfern’s Rubber Heels

Renovations on Islington property reveal a ghost sign for Redfern’s Rubber Heels after stripping back the paint of another ghost sign and partial whitewash.

14 Sep 2007
Brymay Palimpsest

I went to meet Sebastian Groes today as we’re doing a presentation at the University of Westminster next week. On my way there I passed this sign in Haringey, designed to be clearly visible from the train tracks. There are two signs fighting for attention, one from the classic blue and yellow Brymay Matches campaign […]

11 Jul 2007
Protecting Ghost Signs

It seems from people I’ve spoken to that it is very difficult to protect signs from distruction or being covered up. However some notable exceptions exist such as the Bile Beans restoration project, the baker in Islington and now a judge has ruled in favour of a ghost sign and against a major outdoor advertising […]

21 Jun 2007
Watneys Competition

Further to the post on Watneys Wall here are a couple of pictures showing how the competition was run. Above is the sign that was displayed in bars to encourage entries for a prize of £50, and below a picture from the article in the January 1938 ‘The Poster’ showing the 40,000 entires being dealt […]

17 Jun 2007
Watneys Wall

Yesterday I visited the History of Advertising Trust (HAT). I came across a funny old poster for Watney’s Ale. It was a parody of the painted ad format and of painted political slogans and was done in 1938 by an advertising agency called Horrocks and Company. This picture from the October 1938 edition of ‘The […]

16 Jun 2007
Welcome to Ghost Signs

This is my first venture into blogging and so I thought an intro post might be worthwhile.I will be updating with new discoveries all the time but here’s a nice opener of the sign that inspired me. It is in Stoke Newington and from an age when people actually got their fountain pens repaired! December […]

16 Jun 2007