The Mummert Sign Co. transforms ordinary sheet metal into old-timey signs that promote laundry service, cigars, and sobriety. For inspiration, artist Marty Mummert peruses old film footage and photographs of highways, truck stops, and general stores. Whether it's for their pure nostalgia quality or the old-fashioned, simplistic messages, these colorful pieces of Americana have long been magnets both for collectors and for the artisans who strive to replicate them.
Advertising is as American as apple pie, and older than the nation itself.
Colonial trade signs relied more on symbols than on words to relay their messages. As the nation flourished and literacy spread, simple hand-lettered signs began to advertise the staples of everyday life. Each piece is a work of folk art. That's part of the appeal. The finest placards were the work of professional sign painters who found steady work as America became increasingly mobile throughout the 19th and early 20th centuries.