...there are several unmarked reproduction US Highway Shields being offered online at:
http://shields.aaroads.com/sales.php...and on eBay by seller 'agentsteel53'...the link below will take you to one:
http://cgi.ebay.com/custom-US-route-embossed-highway-marker-road-sign-/270737872684...in the description for the auction above (posted here for educational purposes, and therefore 'fair use') the seller advertises his wares thusly (underline added for emphasis):
"The originals of these signs regularly sell for $7500 or more... a couple weeks ago an Arizona sign sold for $12000 and that didn't even have any paint on it! Dang, the economy may be hosed but the prices on original highway signs are spiraling to crazy heights anyway! Here you can have a sign that is made on the same old press, with the same old dies, to look exactly identical to those unaffordable items ... and you can have it for under a hundred and forty bucks. How's that for a deal?"...nowhere in the auction description is there any indication that the signs are indeed marked as reproductions...
...the same eBay seller, 'agentsteel53', offers porcelain US highway shields that are exact reproductions, EXCEPT that the backs of the repros are white porcelain and not grey, as on the originals...strangely enough, the seller states that his reason for making the backs on the repros white is:
"To protect the investments of those who have the genuine article (complete with bullet holes and friends), the back of (the repro) is the same color white as the front, as opposed to the mottled gray design that immediately sets apart the originals"...as the seller has repeatedly refused to mark the
stamped steel signs as reproductions - and is apparently unconcerned with "protecting the investments of those who have the genuine article" when the stamped steel signs are concerned, buyers of stamped steel US Highway Shields should be wary at the very least when making such a purchase...
