Ghost signs

LizzieMaine · Apr 9, 2016

Belfast, Maine. This isn't exactly a ghost sign, because the company is still in business and still occupies the building -- and have kept up the signage over the years, even though they stopped selling coal when the local railroad spur was torn up to make way for tourist development about ten years ago. "Old Company's Lehigh" was a very popular brand of anthracite in the Era. The two white circles above the Consumers Fuel Co. sign contain intricately detailed renditions of the Flying Red Horse, advertising Mobil heating oil.

There's another enormous sign on the side of the building facing the waterfront reading CONSUMERS FUEL CO. OIL, COAL, WOOD, HAY, and advertising both the Old Company brand of coal and anarchy.

Fading Fast · Apr 9, 2016

^^^ That's great. It reminds me of when I would listen to cassette recordings (yup, that long ago) of some of the original Superman radio shows on long car rides and one of the advertisers was "Blue Anthracite Coal" (maybe "Blue Coal that is Anthracite" - don't quite remember the exact name), but remember being surprised that coal was being branded as we, today, tend to think of it as a commodity without a brand specific identity.

Clearly as your sign and the radio showed, that wasn't the case back when individuals were buying coal to heat their homes. I would image there are some differences in the efficiency of how coals from different regions burn - smoke, smell, heat, etc. - but probably a lot of "Boys from Marketing" at work as well.

ChiTownScion · Apr 9, 2016

LizzieMaine said:
View attachment 47925

Belfast, Maine. This isn't exactly a ghost sign, because the company is still in business and still occupies the building -- and have kept up the signage over the years, even though they stopped selling coal when the local railroad spur was torn up to make way for tourist development about ten years ago. "Old Company's Lehigh" was a very popular brand of anthracite in the Era. The two white circles above the Consumers Fuel Co. sign contain intricately detailed renditions of the Flying Red Horse, advertising Mobil heating oil.

There's another enormous sign on the side of the building facing the waterfront reading CONSUMERS FUEL CO. OIL, COAL, WOOD, HAY, and advertising both the Old Company brand of coal and anarchy.

Hmm. That logo bears an amazing resemblance to the herald of the Lehigh and New England Railroad (a "fallen flag") that was an anthracite coal hauler.

LizzieMaine · Apr 9, 2016

Same company. Many of the branded-coal companies of the Era were subsidiaries or affiliates of railroads. The famous "Blue Coal" brand was a subsidiary of the Delaware, Lackawanna, and Western Railroad. An early example of "vertical integration."

The big difference with Blue Coal was that it was painted blue. If you live in a town where people burned a lot of coal, you'll occasionally find bits of it by the side of the road, and if it looks like it has bits of blue paint stuck to it, that's the reason why.

Reading Anthracite was painted with red spots in the Era, which made it clear that it wasn't Blue.

BobHufford · Apr 11, 2016

A mother and son recently opened an antique and "repurposed" / art store in a former hardware store in a small town near here. During the renovation of the building they discovered the hardware store's stained glass signage that had been covered up for decades.

1mach1 · Jun 1, 2016

The True Reformer Building at 12th and U Streets in NW Washington DC. This ghost sign has been covered for years by a Duke Ellington mural (very famous here in DC). The mural was recently removed for restoration, revealing this fantastic sign.

Building before mural removal (not my pic)

I took this yesterday while working near there.

hatsRme · Jul 8, 2016

BobHufford said:
A mother and son recently opened an antique and "repurposed" / art store in a former hardware store in a small town near here. During the renovation of the building they discovered the hardware store's stained glass signage that had been covered up for decades.

Same thing happened in St. Johnsbury Vermont a few years ago, Bob! Landry's Drug Store renovated to find a beautiful stained glass sign in front when they removed the "improvements" from the past. Very cool.

Who doesn't remember Sperry and Hutchinson GREEN STAMPS? This is in beautiful, sunny downtown West Burke, Vermont. Another note on the general store pictured; it's a real, genuine General Store, with everything from groceries to plumbing supplies. Kind of like an ol' time Meier's or Walmart...

Absinthe_1900 · Jul 10, 2016

On top of the old Legendre Building in New Orleans, you can still see an old painted ad for Legendre Herbsaint, where Legendre & Company was once located.

1mach1 · Jul 16, 2016

Charleston, SC

1mach1 · Jul 23, 2016

Savannah, GA

Bamaboots · Jul 23, 2016

1mach1 said:
Savannah, GA

I've seen both of those in person, Harv. Neat stuff in a great area.

1mach1 · Jul 23, 2016

Bamaboots said:
I've seen both of those in person, Harv. Neat stuff in a great area.

Thanks Greg. We are having a great time. It's been a spell since we've been down here.

Fading Fast · Jul 23, 2016

Neat to see that the windows were cut into the building probably long after the ghost signs were put up.

1mach1 · Jul 26, 2016

800 block of 7th St NW Washington, DC.

1mach1 · Jul 31, 2016

Front Royal, VA

Fading Fast · Jul 31, 2016

Based on this thread and the company's dominant market position for so long, my guess is Coca-Cola has more ghost signs out there than anyone other single company. ^^^ And that is a really good one.

dh66 · Aug 1, 2016

Birmingham, AL

Sent from my SM-G900V using Tapatalk

BobHufford · Aug 26, 2016

The alley side of Lindberg's Tavern. Danged if I can tell what it said.

1mach1 · Sep 23, 2016

Fredericksburg, VA

LizzieMaine · Sep 26, 2016

Fading Fast said:
Based on this thread and the company's dominant market position for so long, my guess is Coca-Cola has more ghost signs out there than anyone other single company. ^^^ And that is a really good one.

In the 1910s, Coke was the single largest consumer of paint in the United States. The entire nation was swaddled in Coca-Cola signs to the point where the company eventually had to ramp back on the campaign because the signs were so common that people didn't notice them anymore.

The paint used in the signs was of extremely high quality -- the white lettering was pure white lead mixed with linseed oil, and it soaked into the bricks to the point where even when all the rest of the sign has been obliterated, the white remains visible. Even when it's been painted over repeatedly, it will eventually bleed thru the covering layers. Coke didn't mess around. When they tagged a building, it stayed tagged.

Coke also took full advantage of what was called "privilege advertising." They would send a salesman around to a drug store or a grocery offering to paint an ad for that business if they allowed a Coke ad as well. The ad for the business would usually be in small lettering atop the Coke logo, but this was generally enough to satisfy the business operator since it didn't cost them anything out of pocket. The Coke wall ad seen here is a classic example of a privilege ad -- the name of the drug store is actually a part of the big Coke sign, painted and maintained by the Coke sign crew.

In the 1940s, "privilege ads" shifted from painted wall signs to metal signs installed over the storefront, and in the 1960s to plastic signs on a wall, a bracket, or a pole.

They're still very much around and are still very widely used by soda companies, breweries, and similar types of advertisers. That back-lit "JOE'S MARKET" Pepsi sign hanging over your local quik-pik is a modern example of a privilege ad.

Ghost signs

LizzieMaine

Fading Fast

ChiTownScion

Call Me a Cab

LizzieMaine

BobHufford

1mach1

hatsRme

Absinthe_1900

One Too Many

1mach1

1mach1

Bamaboots

1mach1

Fading Fast

1mach1

1mach1

Fading Fast

dh66

BobHufford

1mach1

LizzieMaine

Similar threads

Members online

Forum statistics

Latest posts

Latest posts

Ghost signs

Call Me a Cab

One Too Many

Similar threads

Log in

Forum statistics