Enamel signs emerged as the jewel in the crown of British advertising in the late Victorian era, commanding public attention for over half a century before technological, economic and social change combined to render them redundant. From the 1950s onwards they disappeared from the original locations on shop walls, to be replaced by hoardings. Of the millions of enamel signs produced between 1880 and 1950 onlya few thousand survived, often commandeered for secondary uses as 'free'materials to build huts and fencing on allotment gardens. By the early 1960s a few trend-setting collectors started to rescue them as ornamental items. With the birth of the restored steam railway, some signs found their way back to original locations, lending 'authentic' atomsphere to station platforms, and many of the industrial museums have followed suit to great effect.

Enamel Advertising Signs (Shire Library)

Baglee, Christopher

Morley, Andrew

Business & Money

Shire

Acknowledged as the standard work on enamel street signs, this revised edition includes many new black and white illustrations and a further 151 additional signs illustrated in color.This hardcover edition features a real enamel sign on the cover.

Street Jewelry: A History of Enamel Advertising Signs

Crafts, Hobbies & Home

Antiques & Collectibles

New Cavendish Books

Street Jewellery

New Cavendish Books Dist

Book by Baglee, Christopher, Morley, Andrew

More street jewellery

<p>Due to enormous interest in the previous editions of Street Jewellery the authors, Christopher Baglee and Andrew Morley, now present The Art of Street Jewellery , a definitive guide to the subject. Enamelled iron street signs were used for advertising from the 1880s to the 1950s, and were found everywhere from street corners and shops to warehouses and railway stations. The hard-wearing substance from which they were made reflects not only the Victorian preoccupation with permanence and stability, but also a very different advertising world from the one we know now, where products did not constantly update their image - and often outlandish claims could be made.</p>

The Art of Street Jewellery