Ghost sign

File:Eddys Ghost sign before.jpg, before 2012 restoration]]

File:Eddys Ghost sign after.jpg

Ghost signs are found across the world with the United States, the United Kingdom, France and Canada having many surviving examples.{{Cite web|url=https://www.waymarking.com/cat/details.aspx?f=1&guid=92cc04e7-00b0-4034-a2ea-161501b54417|title=Ghost Signs - A Waymarking.com Category|website=www.waymarking.com}} Ghost signs are also called fading adssee [http://www.fadingad.com Fading Ad Gallery] or brickads.see [http://www.ghostsigns.co.uk Ghost Signs]{{cite web|title=Défense D'Af: Faux Ghostsign from John Downer|url=http://www.ghostsigns.co.uk/2013/12/defense-daf-faux-ghostsign-from-john-downer.html|website=Ghost Signs (blog)|access-date=5 May 2016}} In many cases these are advertisements painted on brick that remained over time.[http://www.mtstandard.com/articles/2001/07/09/newslocal/export25554.txt Ghost signs: Old slogans never die in Butte...], The Montana Standard (Butte, Montana). August 9, 2001. Accessed September 6, 2007. Old painted advertisements are occasionally discovered upon demolition of later-built adjoining structures. Throughout rural areas, old barn advertisements continue to promote defunct brands and quaint roadside attractions.{{cite book|title=Ghost Signs: Brick Wall Signs in America|year=1989|author=Stage, Wm.|author-link=Wm. Stage|publisher=Floppinfish Pub Co.|isbn=978-0911380842}}

Many ghost signs from the 1890s to 1960s are still visible. Such signs were most commonly used in the decades before the Great Depression.Joseph Berger. "[https://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9B07E6DF143EF936A35752C1A9639C8B63 Fading Memories]". New York Times. November 5, 2005. Retrieved on October 5, 2009.

{{quotebox|align=left|width=300px|[The signs] evoke the exuberant period of American capitalism. Consumer cultures were really getting going and there weren't many rules yet, no landmarks preservation commission or organized community saying: "Isn't this awful? There's a picture of a man chewing tobacco on the corner of my street."|source=— Kathleen Hulser, New York Historical Society.}}

The painters of the signs were called "wall dogs".{{citation | last = Genovese | first = Peter | title = Ghost signs: Jersey's commercial history is written large in faded paint on city buildings |newspaper=The Star-Ledger |date=March 30, 2012 |url=http://www.nj.com/news/index.ssf/2012/03/ghost_signs_jerseys_commercial.html |access-date=2012-03-30 }} As signage advertising formats changed, less durable signs appeared in the later 20th century, and ghost signs from that era are less common.

Ghost signs were originally painted with oil-based house paints. The paint that has survived the test of time most likely contains lead, which keeps it strongly adhered to the masonry surface. Ghost signs were often preserved through repainting the entire sign since the colors often fade over time. When ownership changed, a new sign would be painted over the old one.

In 2013, conservators undertook an effort to preserve ghost signs in Philadelphia.{{cite news |last=Matheson |first=Kathy |title=Painters brush new life into Philadelphia's 'ghost signs' |work=Associated Press |date=May 12, 2013 |url=http://www.timesherald.com/article/20130512/NEWS03/130519887/painters-brush-new-life-into-philadelphia-s-ghost-signs-#full_story |access-date=May 13, 2013}}

In the city of Detroit, well-preserved ghost signs have been uncovered when an adjoining building is demolished as part of the city's blight-fighting efforts.{{Cite web|url=https://www.freep.com/story/news/local/michigan/detroit/2015/09/18/detroit-signs/32562881/|title='Ghost signs' expose Detroit's faded history|first=Robert|last=Allen|website=Detroit Free Press}}{{Cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/23/us/in-highland-park-mich-ghost-signs-of-a-brighter-era.html|title=In a City Fighting Blight, 'Ghost Signs' as Portals to a Bygone Era|first=Dan|last=Barry|newspaper=The New York Times|date=January 23, 2012}}

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File:Glasgow. Renfrew Street. Ghost sign.jpg|Sign in Renfrew Street, Glasgow (Scotland)

File:Goerlitz Fassade 1 Brautwiesenstraße.jpg|Former Kaffee-Ausschank, Görlitz (Germany)

File:Pewex-reklama na budynku w Lodzi.jpg|Pewex advertisement, Łódź (Poland)

File:Newmark's Ghost Sign.jpg|Sign for a defunct clothing store in Salem, Massachusetts (USA)

File:New York kávéház. Fortepan 2033.jpg|Former Kaffee-New York, Transylvania (Romania)

File:Anciennes publicités murales superposées formant un palimpseste, Avenue Pasteur, Paris.jpg|Old advertisements forming a "palimpsest", Paris (France)

File:Launceston D Ritchie & Son Millers Ghost Sign.JPG|Sign for "David Ritchie & Son. Millers", Launceston, Tasmania (Australia)

File:Ghost sign MR Masło Poznań.jpg|Ghost sign for MR Masło, a butter brand, in Poznań, Poland. The caption reads "Eat plant butter"

File:Pub murale Margarines Solo - Binche - 2025-01-26.jpg|Ghost sign for Solo-branded margarine covered by a modern billboard, in Binche, Belgium.

File:Levi Strauss sign.JPG|Levi Strauss & Co. sign in Woodland, California

• Palimpsest
• Privilege sign
• Signwriter

{{Reflist}}

• {{cite journal |first=A. D. |last=Harvey |title=Painted advertisements in Islington |journal=Transactions of the London and Middlesex Archaeological Society |volume=50 |year=1999 |pages=153–161 |url=https://www.lamas.org.uk/archives/23-transactions/124-transactions-vol50.html }}

{{Commons category}}

• [http://www.ktoth.ca/Ghost-signs Ghost signs from Canada & the US]
• [http://lileks.com/ghost/index.html Ghost Ads at Lileks.com]
• [http://www.ghostsigns.co.uk UK Ghost Signs]
• [http://www.heritageandhistory.com/contents1a/2010/05/ghost-adverts/ Ghost adverts on Heritageandhistory.com]
• [http://www.literarylondon.org/london-journal/september2007/robertsgroes.html Leading Ghost Signs Article]
• [https://www.facebook.com/GhostSignsUk Facebook page featuring British and Irish ghost signs]
• [http://www.thehistorypress.co.uk/products/Liverpool-Ghostsigns.aspx Liverpool Ghost Signs - The first British ghost signs book ]
• [http://paintedsignsandmosaics.blogspot.co.uk/ Painted signs and mosaics - A record of ghost signs from the UK, France, Germany and a few other countries]
• [http://drkenjones.com/ American Ghosts - Ghost Signs of the United States]
• [http://dublinghostsigns.com/ Dublin Ghost Signs - Capturing Dublin's history through its old and fading signs]
• [https://digital.library.louisville.edu/collections/ulpa_2019_199?locale=en Ghost Signs of Louisville] – from the University of Louisville Libraries

Category:Advertising by medium

Category:Painting

Category:Signage