Primarily Petroliana Shop Talk Forums Shop Talk Petroliana Forums General Petroliana Discussion Ford Sign Question

Hello, picked this sign up. It is marked on the back "Pemco 1920". Heavy porcelain with good shelving, measures 9-3/4" x 25". Is the "Pemco 1920" the date of the sign? Has anyone seen this sign before? Is it real or not? Thank you for any information.

In my opinion, the Pemco 1920 is intended to make you think that's when it was made. There's no way this is an original sign from the 20's! I'd say fake............

I agree with what he said.

TEMCO (with a T) is an acronym for the Tennessee Enamel Manufacturing Company which made porcelain signs. Particularly for Coca Cola.
I agree that is likely a forgery from someone who either thought it was PEMCO or hoped that you might!!
"Caveat Emptor"

most all real ford part signs have some marks like above u should check with ford collecter before jumping to the fake op.

Here is my real one.

I have had the sign listed above and have seen multiple early Ford signs with the PEMCO (with a date) on the back...I had one the exact size as above (as well as two of the larger Ford blue/white porcelain signs. The one I had (back pictured below) was purchased at Iowa Gas and it was as right as rain...(beat up w/ patina). The back of the one I had was marked the same as above: Pemco 1920. PEMCO stands for Porcelain Enamel Manufacturing Company (1910-1950 per Bruners guide (it doesnt state PEMCO beside the name in the guide however some of the porcelain sign manufacturers abbreviated their names on the signs when they were marking them). I couldnt guarantee the sign is "right" but it looks right to me (my opinion is worth as much as you're paying for it I've attached pics of the back of the one I had (exact size as this one)...it was either a ground dug sign or lived a ROUGH life.

Grabber, Thank you for your insight and explanation of PEMCO. Its good to see the picture of your sign with the same maker's mark and date as mine.

One of the larger Ford signs I had was marked PEMCO 1919...I dont remember the other one...someone could have popped these at some point (i do not know) but it looks pretty similar to the one I had. Ford also used Veribrite so possibly they could have make a similar sign to this one as well (which can also explain variance in the appearance/finish of a sign).

IMO your sign looks right Joey as most single sided signs had holes around the perimeter for nailing to the wall, maybe not all but as a general rule most did.
I too believe this is a repop of the earlier Pemco sign.

Grabber (Joey), Are those hole around the perimeter of your sign? If so, are they original holes? I've seen some pictures of this sign & all of the ones I've seen have the two top center hole only. Thanks.

The sign I had did have holes around the perimeter but I do not believe these were factory on the sign I had...most were nail holes (I believe it just had two at the top...). I remember this because one of the nails had rusted to the sign and had "become one with the sign". I have seen a few others similar to this one and checked for some completed auctions online...RM sold one like this but it had two factory holes at the top...and two at the bottom (same hole locations). Only having the two holes is weird (two holes at the top only "generally" suggests to me it should be a dbl sided sign). Here's a pic of the front of the sign I had.

Here's the one that sold at RM Auctions...Note two mount holes at top...two at bottom... Hey Kim...do you know if these were rack signs of some sort or just something to attach to wall,etc?

Alright...I checked out aumanns closed auctions and found three of these signs...each of these signs only had two mounting holes at the top (one was a veribrite sign marked on lower right corner = at least two manufacturers for this one...maybe more)...on Dans site there were two signs like this (Matthews Auctions)...one had two mount holes at top only...the other my aging eyes couldnt determine

We know Pemco made this sign. The question is does anyone really know if this sign was ever repopped with the Pemco logo? Mine definitely looks just like Joey's now that I've seen a picture of his.