Antique and Vintage Signs

This morning I woke up early and drove down to the coast to pick up a great antique sign that I saw yesterday on craigslist. It's a very nice large one, double sided, with bold lettering. Because of the names and the green on white paint colors, it feels quite Irish, which is awesome. I was doing a tally in my head and I think I have almost 15 antique signs now. They're one of my favorite things to collect, but I'm running out of spots for them! I thought you'd like to see some of my collection so I've included pictures below. Since it's always interesting to know, I also included the prices I paid, or values, where possible. The sign I bought today was $35- which I thought was a bargain since a lot of the signs I see at high end antique shows are no better and cost far more than ten times that much. I'm going to hang the sign in my guest room. Speaking of the guest room, at the bottom of this post is a little sneak peak of the desk I'm sitting at right now in our upstairs guest room. Making progress!

front side of my new sign. I think it dates to about 1920-1940. It came out of an old barn in East Lyme, CT - $35

Back side of the same sign. So an interesting point on this- The front side was varnished, while the back side was never varnished. You can see the difference to how each side aged.

I picked this one up in Putnam, CT. I'm 90% certain it's actually a fake. I can see a place on the back where someone wrote several "farm-y" words in pencil, apparently trying to decide what to paint before going with cradle scythe.
Also, I can't really imagine any occasion that would call for a "cradle scythe" sign in real life. - $8

I snagged this sign at the New Hampshire Antiques show in August. It's definitely real. I believe Bonniebrow is a little town in Tennessee, or around there. C. 1940 - $45

front side of the bonnie brow sign.

This was the first antique sign I ever purchased. I found it at a flea market up in Plainville, CT. You can see that at some point someone decided to use it for birdshot target practice. I'd say it's from 1900-1930. - $10. 

I picked this beautiful antique sign up for my birthday at an antique mall on the Cape. It dates to around 1930.
 I believe it was $125

My parents found this great antique sign up in Maine. Ivers and Pond stopped selling pianos under this brand in 1929, so it dates to before then. It was a gift so I don't know the price.

I purchased both my "open" and "antique shoppe" signs at the flea market. They're both from about 1920.
They were both about $10.

My parents gave me this great buttermilk falls sign for Christmas this year.
Buttermilk falls is a public park in upstate NY

I got the "Enchanted Consignments" sign for Christmas last year. Such a funny sign. I thought I was the only one who thought consignment stores were enchanting.

Another shot of my antique shoppe sign.

The "Piano Teacher" sign is both my oldest sign c.1870, and my most valuable.
 It's probably worth between $600-$700.

And here's a little peak at one side of the guest room. We still need trim, and the floors, obviously, have not been re-done yet, but we're getting there!