If you’ve ever seen an episode of the History channel reality show “American Pickers,” you know the antique-salvaging hosts are crazy for vintage advertising signs. And with good reason. When a rare, porcelain 1920s’ gas station sign can fetch in excess of $150,000 at auction, you’ve got a highly lucrative collecting hobby on your hands.
Credit the “mantique” phenomenon, which eschews grandma’s prized collection of frilly tea cups in favor of relics fit for man-cave decor; think vintage toys, sports memorabilia, booze accessories and, of course, advertising signs. By far, the most active and expensive sign-collecting sub-genres are automobilia and petroliana. But there’s also a healthy number of hobbyists who focus on so-called “country store” signage — ads for soda, beer, tobacco and food.
In general, pre-World War II porcelain-enamel signs are most coveted. Yet collectors are willing to pay serious coin for metal, neon and paper signs if it’s an iconic brand and/or the artwork is particularly pleasing to the eye, like the $70,000 Mobil Oil winged-Pegasus sign pictured above. To illustrate this nostalgic collectors’ niche, we’ve rounded up 14 other vintage marketing messages spanning some eight decades of advertising history.
These are the most valuable vintage advertising signs.
Coca-Cola Paper ‘Cameo’ Sign, Circa 1896
The world of high-dollar Coca-Cola signs largely centers on early 20th-century metal and porcelain signs. Far less likely to survive the ravages of time are paper signs from the late 1800s, placing them atop the Coke sign-collecting pyramid.
Printed around 1896 by the J. Ottmann Litho. Co. of New York, this 30- x 40-inch paper beauty not only declares Coke delicious and refreshing, it also claims the soft drink “Cures Headache” and “Relieves Exhaustion” — all for a nickel.
This particular sign, believed to be the sole copy left in existence, once hung above the soda fountain of a theater in New York City’s Times Square. Destined for the trash bin, the sign was rescued by the theater’s janitor and, in the 1970s, wound up in the hands of Coke über-collector Allan Pettreti. In 2011, he sold it at auction for $105,000.
Hamm’s Beer Scene-o-Rama
From Budweiser to Schlitz, old-school beer advertising (aka “breweriana”) is a must for any man cave worth its odor of stale suds. In general, the most valuable pieces are early, pre-Prohibition beer signs that, in good condition, routinely fetch several thousand dollars. Yet for modern beer freaks, it rarely gets better than the barroom nostalgia of Hamm’s Beer’s mechanical “scene-o-rama” signs.
Made by Minnesota’s Lakeside Plastics company from the late 1950s to early ’70s, the animated novelty sign came housed in a box with a wood-shingled roof that gave it a mountain-cabin look. Across the front panel, a back-lit, semi-transparent scroll featured nature scenes in which waterfalls and rivers appeared to shimmer as if in motion.
The signs were made in both 3-foot- and 5-foot-wide dimensions; in working order they can nab between $500 and $1,500 on eBay. As for Hamm’s famous commercial jingle (“From the land of sky blue waters…”), you’ll need to sing it yourself.
