Old Sign Kit For Sale

[Robare M. Novou]

If you got the coin you could buy this for me...my birthday is in a few days.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Antique-19th-C- ... 4d15974e7f

RMN

[Andrew Lawrence]

Wow! Pretty sure this was a Chicago sign painter judging by him mentioning Chicago and "Armitage" (a main street in Chicago) in the diary entry. Perhaps one of Atkinson's pupils!

[Lee Littlewood]

Way cool, although it is strange that he did not put his name on his kit. The usual folded packets of bronze powders, a few books of Hastings patent leaf, some dutch metal or aluminum. Also some old brushes - in quill, but without handles, like Ray LeBlanc talks about. And a small tin of Murphy's varnish. A stencil alphabet and stencils for a cow. Perforated patterns for corner flourish. Strangest to me are two 'automatic brushes"(??) that look like they could be for doing stencils - fill up the tube with paint (like a Bugler striper) and dab with the brush end through a stencil. Maybe.

Also two bits of writing - they show the top pages, maybe there is more underneath, maybe not.

Jan8 1889.small.jpg (121.6 KiB) Viewed 16420 times

I make it to read:
Jan 8 1889 tuchup and
varnish. 12-13-14-15-17-18
finished outside with Murphxxxx
inside with Murphy and lacqxxxx
25-26-27-29- come in Jan 8-1889
finished with Armitage
inside with Wilhelm v
went out Jan 23 - 1889
28-27-38-39- come Jan 23 -18xx
finished with one cote otside
Armitage (seaxx?) with
Wilhelm varnish
finished Feb 2 1889
taken out Feb 6 "

1909 -1917.jpg (104.74 KiB) Viewed 16442 times

A little trickier to make out, maybe:
(on 1 end)
June 15 1909 10
june 3 1918
Repainted as #9
:::::::
(main page)
Nov 6 1911 74
Revarnished
Nov 27 Repainted (Roof?)
1912
Aug 26 1913
Patch (Roof?) as ?? R
Revarnish with Murphy
-------------------------------------
oct 29 1915
(illegible - Repainted …??)
1 Body color plat
2 var Chicago
system 4 days
--------------------------------
New head lining
----------------------------
March 29 1917
tuch up
revarnish

And (I think) here is the Armitage varnish he was using, but I don't know what the "var chicago system / 4 days" means.

Armitage .jpg (28.56 KiB) Viewed 16393 times

So. I think he is keeping track of particular vehicles (carriage, or omnibus, or draywagon, or ??) and when they get revarnished. He may not have been a letterer but a painter/decorator; that was a respected trade. The stencils and striping brushes would go with that.

Detective work, trying to learn from our elders and betters. This sort of thing should be in the American Sign Museum.

[Tyler Tim]

Lee, I think you nailed it with Coach painter ... Maybe a Dairy? Seems he worked there for some years looks like he could of went from horse-drawn carriage and wagons to Mack's and Ford Model TT Trucks. (New head liner)

I think the one line is (1 Body color Flat).



And Happy Birthday to you Robare.

[Robare M. Novou]

It's quite possible judging from the tools of his trade that he was at one time a trolley painter that decorated and gilded trolley cars for the Reading Traction Co. in Philadelphia.

See this image and more at: http://donsdepot.donrossgroup.net/dr886.htm

[Robare M. Novou]

Or visit this site: http://philadelphiaencyclopedia.org/archive/streetcars/

[Lorenzo Petersson]

Beautiful kit, very cool!

Those automatic brushes look like ancestors to the Marsh brand fountain brushes, used for stenciling with thick industrial strength inks.

[Arlo Kalon]

A few years back a friend picked up a loaded sign kit at an estate sale for me. I was the kind with cantilevered shelves and a rubber step on top. Using it s a seat gives you two heights to work from, perfect for truck door lettering. He spent $250 for it and my wife freaked when I bought it from him. She relaxed after I inventoried the brushes at over $2,000 worth plus tons of tools and gold leafing supplies. I cherish it as it is the exact one I wanted since I was 17 and just starting out. Took me until age 44 to finally get one. Hard telling how old it is but it is rock solid and I have stood on it a lot to letter windows.

[Doug Bernhardt]

Really interesting find. Mr. Glawson would have picked this up in a second just for the note books I'll wager. Would love to see Arlo's kit and find as well.