It isn’t often that you see well-preserved, handmade cardboard advertising signs from the 1940s for sale — so when we spotted nine fantastic vintage furniture store signs from ebay seller wafa510, we just had to feature them. The best thing about these signs is that they were all hand lettered — a real art form that is dying out in this age of computers, fonts and fast, easy printing. Let’s take a look.
Just think about how steady-handed the person who painted these signs had to be — especially to make perfectly straight rules under the words. All of the signs are impeccably lettered and centered within each cardboard panel. That takes some serious skill, folks!
There are very few people left today who still practice the art of sign painting. About two years ago, Faythe Levine & Sam Macon produced a documentary about sign painting — called Sign Painters.
Above: Per reader Anna, a video about the sign painters at the recently closed Honest Ed’s in Toronto. <3
This one even has 3D lettering!
When it comes to artwork for our walls, we like to mix up our media — paintings [oil, watercolor, acrylic], drawings, lino prints, posters, collages, assemblages, fiber arts, needle arts, chalkware, a ceramic wall pocket, a shadow box, a vintage clock. Hey: The perfect spot for a hand-lettered advertising sign somewhere, too???
Mega thanks to ebay seller wafa510 for allowing us to feature photos of these fantastic vintage furniture store signs.
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