Grow Your Own Magazine

Hi there, we have been collecting old advertising signs for 30 years now and have bought many of them off allotment owners. It seems that the old enamel advertising signs produced in the thousands between 1880 and 1930 ended up on allotments. The enamel and iron backed signs have often stood the test of time and can still be found blocking up holes in shed walls, roofs and fences.

Older signs with pictures on can be worth a lot of money to us. We are also trying to catalogue all the pictorial signs from this period and would appreciate any help from allotment owners who may have found them.

Please email me on enamelsigns@yahoo.co.uk or call 07941 971039

Old Enamel Sign, How large is your collection and what started your interest off for collecting advertising signs?
Jaxom

Hi there. My father was an artist and lecturer throughout the sixties and was always fascinated by the Victorian era that he saw disappearing around him. He was also an old car buff, so saved many signs out of old garages for our own collection.

I am a graphic designer and have been dragged to every antiques fair you can imagine, picking up all sorts of old advertising on the way. I have a fascination for letters, fonts and type faces, making me interested in anything from old borax soap packets to medieval graffiti.

The old enamel signs often retain their colour and can be found in almost as new copndition. I don't know of many things that remain unchanged after 100 years! It gives you an amazing link to the past!

Oh, we have about 80 pictorial enamel signs in various stages of corrosion, some of which are over 6ft high.