Gardening is a popular activity the world over. Whether it is flower gardening or growing vegetables, gardening creates both beauty and sustenance. Decorating a garden is made easy by using metal garden signs. Metal garden signs can range from purely decorative to informational to inspirational. People have found metal garden signs a great way to enhance the beauty of their garden space. Other gardening enthusiasts find metal garden signs helpful in identifying species of flowers and vegetables.
Metal garden signs can be found in a variety of metals from steel and aluminum to brass and bronze. Metal garden signs can be found mounted on stakes driven in the ground to placards attached to trees. Some gardeners use metal garden signs to display inspirational or humorous messages adding a bit of whimsy to their garden environment.
In this modern era of mass marketing, we are bombarded by electronic messages. After awhile, advertising and promotions all start to sound, feel and look the same. There was a time when the perfect combination of artistry, imagination and originality could be found in vintage metal and tin signs. Many of today’s most recognizable brand names got their start as metal signs.
Products too numerous to mention have been promoted with a style and wit that today seems all too nostalgic. Vintage tin and metal signs were produced by the hundreds of thousands from the mid eighteen hundreds through the advent of television in the late nineteen forties. Most were painted or screen printed using enamel paint and many were given a porcelain overcoat to increase their durability. The irony of all this is that many vintage metal signs outlived the very companies and products they were meant to promote.
This is not say that metal signs have completely disappeared from the landscape. Highways signs, street signs and metal signs of kinds are still with us, though most serve a more utilitarian purpose. The golden age of vintage metal signs has been maintained through reproductions and the zeal of collectors to preserve a piece of advertising and artistic history.
Aging metal and tin signs that have begun to rust should never be refinished. Vintage metal signs that are in good condition are highly prized by collectors. A little rust may devalue the sign just a bit, but the nostalgic value is priceless. When buying any type of antique or collectible signs, the well informed collector must be able to know the difference between vintage metal signs and reproductions. The rule is always buyer beware.
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