9.22.2010

No. 10: A ONE IN A MILLION PICK

My buddy Ted, a local realtor (he was actually our guy on the farm purchase), was checking out the reno progress on a recent sale of his, an old house in town. The buyers, a Toronto couple, had pretty much gutted the main floor stripping walls and ceilings to the studs. Outside, Ted noticed something in their dumptster that caught his discerning eye. To his amazement and disbelief it was a beautifully preserved vintage tin Orange Crush sign, I’m guessing circa 1930s. Ted asked the owners where it came from and if they wanted it. They didn't want it. It wasn’t their style. During demolition they found the sign in the ceiling where it had been used to patch the old roof more than 70 years ago. Unfortunately I guess there were a couple holes to patch so the inventive carpenter(s) had sheared the sign in two. 
Ted just happens to have one of the best curated collections of vintage advertising I’ve ever seen and he estimates the sign’s value at about a grand if it were in one piece. $400 as is. But he'll hang on to it. This one will make a great addition to the collection. 


8 comments:

  1. great shot Bill!! I am going to mount the sign on some old board and hang it in the den, in fact we will redecorate the den around it, I love the colours.

    in the blog you left out the part where you were SO jealous it was found!!!

    thanks for an amazing dinner and evening the other night...you and your lovley wife have done an fantastic job on the farm...the kitchen is stunning and I left quite inspired wanting to get working on the mexican kitchen.

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  2. Love this post. That sign is smokin!

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  3. Finding stuff like that, in ceilings, in walls, etc., I just love it. It's like finding treasure—no, it IS finding treasure. The best I've found so far is a dollar bill under a piece of carpet.

    What I want to know is why the person who cut it had it in the first place. These things aren't something you just have kicking around, without having got it on purpose, even back then, I imagine. So did it lose value for him and he cut it? Had it been left there by previous owners and then he found it and cut it in the same way the TO couple tossed it in the Dumpster? Did a kid steal it and have it in his room as something cool and then the father got desperate to patch up this hole and take it from the kid? If only it could talk!

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  4. Keep in mind, Steph, that it had been sealed in the ceiling 60-70 yrs ago. The house is also situated on a main street and was likely at one time a retail space of some sort. As were likely the houses next to it. And those promotional tins signs were a dime-a-dozen back then and likely commonly trashed or used to patch roofs or chicken coops or fences.

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  5. Ah, so not as interesting a story behind it as I'd like to imagine? :)

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  6. I loved Orange Crush. I got paid one Orange Crush for sweeping the pool hall my dad owned in Clinton, BC. I smell Canada..... Nice Blog.

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  7. What a score! I feel like it's a double. Happy to have found your blog today through a series of clicks from the Edward Pond "I went to Inidia..." book.

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