Rare Ithaca sign set found in Alberta sells for almost $40,000 at Miller and Miller Auction
- 4 hours ago
- 3 min read
By Amanda Nelson
New Hamburg’s Miller & Miller Auctions Ltd. will be shipping a set of six vintage Ithaca signs to their new owner following last weekend’s auction.
The collection sold for $39,325, including buyer’s premium, earning $32,500 for 32-year-old Sam Bunton of Calgary, Alta., who discovered the signs while picking up an old motorcycle for his father’s business.
Bunton, a parts clerk at his father's business, The Old Motorcycle Shop, is also a part-time picker of vintage clothing and antiques. While picking up an old motorcycle, he asked the owner if he had anything else of interest and, luckily, stumbled across an exceptional set of century-old advertising signs that had been used to collect grease drips from an old boat motor.
Though he didn't know much about the signs, he liked them immediately. Surprisingly, they were also in remarkably good condition considering the circumstances.
"The man asked me, 'What do you want to pay?' so I made an offer, and he took it," Bunton told Miller & Miller Auctions Ltd.
Unbeknownst to Bunton, he had acquired a rare sequential set of six Ithaca signs created to advertise L.C. Gardner & Co., Druggists, The Rexall Store in Yarmouth, N.S. The signs were produced in the late 1920s and early 1930s, during the Great Depression.
The signs, measuring 36.5 inches tall and 12.25 inches wide (approximately 93 by 31 centimetres), are painted metal pieces featuring colourful images depicting the drugstore's various services above its name.
Made by Ithaca Signs of Ithaca, N.Y., a company that frequently produced signs for Canadian businesses, the set was known as the "six-pack sequence." The signs were part of Ithaca's trade catalogue and were offered in sets of six, 12 and 24.
The sets also featured small numerical markings used to identify both the maker and the order in which the signs were to be displayed. The L.C. Gardner & Co. signs would have been placed one mile apart along a roadway, beginning six miles from the pharmacy. The campaign likely coincided with a prosperous period for Gardner and his partnership with the Rexall chain.
Miller & Miller Auctions Ltd. came across Bunton's Facebook post after he turned to a vintage sign group to ask what he had found and whether the signs were worth anything. Fortunately, the auction house was able to connect with Bunton and let him know he had discovered something very special.
"We've seen these signs before, but usually not the full set of six. I've personally never seen a full set before," said Tim Wenn, catalogue manager at Miller & Miller Auctions Ltd. "He asked us, 'Am I going to double my money, or am I getting vacation money, or are we talking down-payment money?' We were able to tell him these are among the most desirable pieces of advertising."
The Petroliana & Advertising sale took place on June 13, with hundreds of bidders across North America tuning in online to view and bid on a wide range of lots, including the Ithaca signs. The signs will now be on their way to the United States to the most recent buyer.