I saw this antique metal sign at the Mid-Ohio Insulator Show last month. The collector that offered this one up for sale explained that back in the landline telegraph era dispatch riders used bicycles to deliver telegrams. 100 years ago just like today bikes were a great way to get around town.
I would have loved to have this cool old sign to hang in my bicycle garage but as one of only four or five examples known to exist the seller was asking $600 for the sign. I guess I'll just enjoy my digital photograph.
That IS a cool sign!
ReplyDeleteYes, very cool. Maybe not $600 cool, but still cool. Reminds me of a post I saw here:
ReplyDeletehttp://tinyurl.com/bikemessenger
By the way, I saw this, thought you might get a laugh:
ReplyDeletehttp://bicycletaxidermy.com
I would have been very tempted to buy it. I did some posts on my blog about a year ago about bike telegraph deliveres in outback western Australia. I even made some art work out of the images if I remember correctly.
ReplyDeleteIt's either this post or the one before .
http://www.situp-cycle.com/2011/12/16/the-bikes-and-ghost-of-gwalia/.
Yeah, more about the early telegraph and bike mail men here.
http://www.situp-cycle.com/2011/12/12/new-bicycle-art/