Primarily Petroliana Shop Talk Forums Shop Talk Petroliana Forums General Petroliana Discussion 5ft Red Indian Sign

Hey - I just picked up a 5ft Red Indian Sign - with a big hole in the center. It is two sided, sort of. I have a story to go along with it which I will explain later tonight - for now here are some photos.....

OK Greg...Where did you pick this up from? Other than the hole it looks very nice super glossy enamel still. Is it a DSP sign? Are you going to have it restored?

Looks like it was used as a patio table and the big hole is for the umbrella pole.

randy

Either that or the guy had one h**l of a nail holding the sign on his barn!

looks like some great gloss though,thats for sure.

I'd say patio table. I talked to a guy in pa and they did that to the gulf signs

Of course its double sided--look at the pictures, they sure aren't the same. I'd bet patio table too but I wonder how the down facing side got so dirty??

Flange cover for some type of incenerator. Look at the bolt hole on the outside of the sign.

No Heat damage, it would be disfigured if used over an incinerator

will back side cleanup...porcelain doesn't look to bad

That was all fun to read. Here is the story: The sign was used as a chicken killing table for decades at a local farm. The hole in the center was for "chicken parts" - it is likely the chicken head was conveniently stuck through the hole, then cut off. Sign came from a local auction where the daughter of the estate sale told me she spent much time dressing chickens at that "table" with her parents and grand parents (she said with a tear in her eye) She went on to say that the Red Indian had a lot of blood pass over it.

They used the non-grayed side up, and if you look at the photo of the grey side you can see remnants of the paint used on the square table frame and the 4 holes where the sign was bolted to the table frame.

The other peculiar thing about the sign is that it is "sort of" double sided. One side is as expected, but the other has an unclean-able greyness to the porcelain. BUT the image is not printed the same way up as the other side is, meaning one side is always upside down when one is the right way. I never even looked at the back of it when I bought it as I have never seen a double sided 5' old style Red Indian - they all seem to be single sided. I have two theories: The porcelain on the grey side has some factory-looking dimples in it, which means to say it was B grade SO they ran porcelain on the normally blank side and fired it again - and in the process gave the already finished side a burnt look. (or maybe they fired it wrong the first time round and burnt it?) I tried Barkeepers friend then Muriatic Acid then steel wool and nothing happens - it really seems in the porcelain.

Second theory it came from a Red Indian station that burnt, and the blackened sign mounted on the building went back to get re-done.

In the photos the sign looks glossy only because I just cleaned it off and the water makes it shine. In fact it is faded, actually closer to "dry like a chalk board". I have had this shine-less finish on less valuable signs and I just clear-coated them (which looks great) But on this one I believe there must be a way to bring it back to shine - like a good compounding (something along the lines of car wax)? Any ideas? Here is a pic dry, before I cleaned it:

Factory reject of either,
#1...of a 2 sided sign, employees flipped sign the wrong direction for 2nd screening of frit before firing OR
#2...Didn't meet spec. in 1st firing [to cold/hot] & was flipped to be redone.

Less expensive for dealer to replace burnt sign w/ new.
jm2c

Thanks for the story Greg and the PM. It appeared to be a two sided sign as there were two different pics, but like you stated as well I have never seen a pre 1929 DSP Red Indian sign. I have no idea how I missed a Peter Ross sale with a Red Indian sign in it. It obviously was not advertised..you luck dog...

I had a Red Indian sign that size that was double sided and one side was about 45 degrees off. I figured it was fired wrong on one side and then flipped over and refired.

A really neat story with a bit of a history lesson thrown in! Doesn't get any better than that!

IF YOU ARE GOING TO HANG THIS INSIDE OR PERHAPS OUTSIDE BUT PROTECTED BY DIRECT SUNLIGHT AND WEATHER, I WOULD LIKE TO SUGGEST USING HOWARD'S FEED AND WAX TO BRING BACK THE SHINE/LUSTRE WITHOUT MUCH EFFORT. JUST APPLY IT EVENLY WITH A COTTON RAG.


http://www.howardproducts.com/feednwax.htm

Thanks for the link Doc...I have tried looking for this in the past but with no luck. The link did provide me a cCanadin distributor and will be ordering one to try out.

Greg, The other thing I have tried ins wd-40 with Silicone. It seems to work well, just need to treat it every 3 month or so.