Tin Sign Info

PEZ is the brand name of an Austrian candy and the pocket mechanical dispensers for said candy. The candy takes the shape of pressed, dry, straight-edged blocks (15mm (5/8 inch) long, 8mm wide and 5mm high), with PEZ dispensers holding 12 pieces of PEZ candy.

The name PEZ was derived from the letters from the first, the middle and the end of the German word for peppermint, Pfefferminz, the first PEZ flavor. PEZ was originally introduced in Austria, later exported, notably to the U.S., and eventually became available worldwide. The all-uppercase spelling of PEZ echoes the trademark’s style of type on packaging and the dispensers themselves, drawn in perspective and looking as if the letters were built out of 44 brick-like PEZ candies (14 bricks in the P and 15 in each of the E and Z).

Despite the widespread recognition of the PEZ dispenser, the company considers itself to be primarily a candy company, producing over 3 billion candy bricks each year in the U.S. alone. PEZ Dispensers are part of popular culture in many nations. Because of the large number of dispenser designs over the years, PEZ dispensers are collected by enthusiasts. You can even find different PEZ tin signs and even collect them.

Junior Mints are a candy consisting of small rounds of mint filling inside a dark chocolate coating. Currently produced by Tootsie Roll Industries, the product is packaged in varying amounts from the fun-size box to the much larger 12.0 oz. box.

Junior Mints were introduced in 1949 by the Cambridge, Massachusetts-based James O. Welch Company, manufacturers of candies and candy bars such as Sugar Babies, Welch’s Fudge, Pom Poms and Milk Duds. Born in Hertford, North Carolina, Welch attended the University of North Carolina and then founded his Cambridge candy company in 1927. His partner in the company was his brother, Robert W. Welch Jr., who retired from the confectionery business in 1956 and two years later founded the John Birch Society.

If you remember all the old time candys you can still bring them back with vintage reproduction tin signs.

Rosie the Riveter is a cultural icon of the United States, representing the American women who worked in war factories during World War II, many of whom worked in the manufacturing plants that produced munitions and materiel. These women sometimes took entirely new jobs and sometimes took the places of the male workers who were in the military. The character is now considered a feminist icon in the US, and a herald of women’s economic power to come.

Although Rosie the Riveter’s took on male dominated trades during WWII, women were exptected to retrun to their everyday housework once men returned from the war. Instead women choose to return to traditional work such as clerical or administration positions.

You can still find Reproduction tin signs displaying Rosie the Riveter.

More than a generation ago, a lot of products we still use today were already being sold. Many were housed in tin containers, which have now become prized collectibles. Some collectors focus on specific brands of goods such as Coca Cola, while others look for a certain kind of product, such as coffee.

These collectors also purchase reproduction advertising signs to go with their tin collections. If you are just a beginner, decide what you would like your collection to contain and look like. Figure out how you would use them to decorate your home. You can also look into collecting pieces that may become more valuable over time.

Joseph Jefferson Jackson (July 16, 1888 – December 5, 1951), nicknamed “Shoeless Joe”, was an American baseball player who played Major League Baseball in the early part of the 20th century. He is remembered for his performance on the field and for his association with the Black Sox Scandal, when members of the 1919 Chicago White Sox participated in a conspiracy to fix the World Series. As a result of Jackson’s association with the scandal, Kenesaw Mountain Landis, Major League Baseball’s first commissioner, banned Jackson from playing after the 1920 season.

Jackson played for three different Major League teams during his 12-year career. He spent 1908-09 as a member of the Philadelphia Athletics; 1910 through the first part of the 1915 with the Cleveland Naps/Indians; and the remainder of the 1915 season through 1920 with the Chicago White Sox.

Jackson, who played left field for most of his career, currently has the third highest career batting average. With his career having been cut short, the usual decline of a batter’s hitting skills toward the end of a career did not have a chance to occur. In 1911, Jackson hit for a .408 average. That average is still the sixth highest single-season total since 1901, which marked the beginning of the modern era for the sport. His average that year set the record for highest batting average in a single season by a rookie. Babe Ruth claimed that he modeled his hitting technique after Jackson’s.

Jackson still holds the White Sox franchise records for triples in a season and career batting average. In 1999, he ranked number 35 on The Sporting News’ list of the 100 Greatest Baseball Players and was nominated as a finalist for the Major League Baseball All-Century Team. The fans voted him as the 12th best outfielder of all-time.

Jackson ranks 33rd on the all-time list for non-pitchers according to the win shares formula developed by Bill James.

People who are big baseball fans will love any of these old time baseball tin signs.

Theodore Samuel “Ted” Williams (August 30, 1918–July 5, 2002) also nicknamed The Kid, the Splendid Splinter, Teddy Ballgame and The Thumper, was an American left fielder in Major League Baseball. He played 21 seasons, twice interrupted by military service as a Marine Corps pilot, with the Boston Red Sox. He is widely considered to be one of the greatest hitters in the history of baseball.

Williams was a two-time American League Most Valuable Player (MVP) winner, led the league in batting six times, and won the Triple Crown twice. He had a career batting average of .344, with 521 home runs, and was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1966. He is the last player in Major League Baseball to bat over .400 in a single season (.406 in 1941). Williams holds the highest career batting average of anyone with 500 or more home runs. His career year was 1941, when he hit .406 with 37 HR, 120 RBI, and 135 runs scored. His .551 on base percentage set a record that stood for 61 years. An avid sport fisherman, he hosted a television show about fishing and was inducted into the IGFA Fishing Hall of Fame.

If you have a big baseball fan in the family there sure to love any of the baseball tin signs around.

Henry Louis “Lou” Gehrig (June 19, 1903 – June 2, 1941), born Ludwig Heinrich Gehrig, was an American baseball player in the 1920s and 1930s, chiefly remembered for his prowess as a hitter and the longevity of his consecutive games played record, and the pathos of his tearful farewell from baseball at age 36, when he was stricken with a fatal disease. Popularly called “The Iron Horse” for his durability, Gehrig set several Major League records. His record for most career grand slams (23) still stands as of 2009. In 1969, Gehrig was voted the greatest first baseman of all time by the BaseBall Writers’ Association. Gehrig was the leading vote-getter on the Major League Baseball All-Century Team, chosen by fans in 1999.]

A native of New York City, he played for the New York Yankees until his career was cut short by amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), now commonly referred to in the United States as Lou Gehrig’s Disease. Over a 15-season span between 1925 and 1939, he played in 2,130 consecutive games. The streak ended when Gehrig became disabled with the fatal neuromuscular disease that claimed his life two years later. His streak, long believed to be one of baseball’s few unbreakable records, stood for 56 years until finally broken by Cal Ripken, Jr., of the Baltimore Orioles on September 6, 1995.

Gehrig accumulated 1,995 runs batted in (RBI) in seventeen seasons with a lifetime batting average of .340, a lifetime on-base percentage of .447, and a lifetime slugging percentage of .632. Three of the top six RBI seasons in baseball history belong to Gehrig. He was selected to each of the first seven All-Star games (though he did not play in the 1939 game, as he retired one week before it was held, and he won the American League’s Most Valuable Player award in 1927 and 1936. He was also a Triple Crown winner in 1934, leading the American League in batting average, home runs, and RBI’s.

George Herman Ruth, Jr. (February 6, 1895 – August 16, 1948), also popularly known as “Babe”, “The Bambino”, and “The Sultan of Swat”, was an American Major League baseball player from 1914–1935. Ruth is one of the greatest sports heroes of American culture[1] and has been named the greatest baseball player in history in various surveys and rankings,[2] and his home run hitting prowess and charismatic personality made him a larger than life figure in the “Roaring Twenties”.[3] He was the first player to hit 60 home runs in one season (1927), a record which stood for 34 years until broken by Roger Maris in 1961. Ruth’s lifetime total of 714 home runs at his retirement in 1935 was a record for 39 years, until broken by Hank Aaron in 1974. Unlike many power hitters, Ruth also hit for average: his .342 lifetime batting is tenth highest in baseball history, and in one season (1923) he hit .393, a Yankee record. His .690 career slugging percentage and 1.164 career on-base plus slugging (OPS) remain the major league records.[3]

Ruth dominated in the era in which he played. He led the league in home runs during a season twelve times, slugging percentage thirteen times, OPS thirteen times, runs scored eight times, and runs batted in (RBI) six times. Each of those totals represents a modern record (and also an all-time record, except for RBIs).[4] At the time of his retirement, his 714 home runs were not only the record, but that total was 336 more than the next player, Lou Gehrig.[5] He also finished with the most career walks (2062)[6], most career extra base hits (1356)[7], and he is still the only player to have a season with at least 200 hits and 150 walks[8]. In 1936, Ruth became one of the first five players elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame. In 1969, he was named baseball’s Greatest Player Ever in a ballot commemorating the 100th anniversary of professional baseball. In 1998, The Sporting News ranked Ruth Number 1 on the list of “Baseball’s 100 Greatest Players.” In 1999, baseball fans named Ruth to the Major League Baseball All-Century Team.[3]

In 1993, the Associated Press reported that Ruth was tied with Muhammad Ali as the most recognized athletes in America, in a Sports Marketing Group study, with over 97% of Americans identifying both Ruth and Ali.[9] According to ESPN, he was the first true American sports celebrity superstar whose fame transcended baseball.[10] In a 1999 ESPN poll, he was ranked as the third greatest US athlete of the century, behind Michael Jordan and Muhammad Ali.[3] Beyond his statistics, Ruth completely changed baseball itself. The popularity of the game exploded in the 1920s, largely due to him. Ruth ushered in the “live-ball era,” as his big swing led to escalating home run totals that not only excited fans, but helped baseball evolve from a low-scoring, speed-dominated game to a high-scoring power game.

Off the field he was famous for his charity, but also was noted for his often reckless lifestyle. Even though he died more than 60 years ago, his name is still one of the most famous in American sports. His participation in an all-star tour of Japan in 1934 sparked that country’s interest in professional baseball; a decade later, Japanese soldiers seeking the ultimate insult for American troops would sometimes shout, “To hell with Babe Ruth!”

People still talk about Baby Ruth today and you can still have any of his tin signs to decorate your home with or man cave.

Lucille Ball was born on August 6, 1911 in Jamestown, New York to Henry Durrell Ball and Desiree Evelyn Hunt.

She dropped out of high school in 1926 (at the age of 15) to go to the John Murray Anderson Drama School in New York City.  However, the school told her that she had no talent and therefore would not accept her into the school.

While her hopes of fame as an actress were going up in flames, she took up modeling as a career (under the name of Diane Belmont).  As her modeling career, grew, so did her exposure.  She became the “Chesterfield Cigarette Girl” in 1933 and gained some national fame.   She was also on of the original twenty Goldwyn Girls.
She took this moderate fame and began auditioning for parts in movies.  Her first screen debut came as a slave girl in the musical Roman Sandals in 1933.

With each role she took, she gained more experience and exposure in Hollywood.  She took on many parts large and small during the 1930’s and 1940, although no one role really pushed her into the big media spotlight.

Although she did not become a household name during this time, it was during the filming of the movie Too Many Girls (1940) that she met a handsome Cuban bandleader named Desi Arnaz (Desiderio Alberto Arnaz y De Acha III, d. 1986).  They immediately fell in love and married later that year. Due to the stress of their jobs and traveling apart, they almost got divorced in 1944.  They decided that in order to stay together, they were going to need to work together.  They pitched an idea to CBS of a television show based on a crazy red head and a Cuban bandleader.  CBS balked at the idea saying that the American public would not go for such an idea.
In 1945, Lucy and Desi Arnaz created their own production company, and began touring the country, doing the vaudeville circuit, with a show based on the crazy red head and the Cuban bandleader.  Audiences loved their act.  They also took the show to the airwaves via radio (entitled My Favorite Husband). They went back to CBS, but once again they were turned down, so they decided to make a pilot for a show funding the entire thing themselves. The pilot of I Love Lucy aired in October 1951 to great reviews.  CBS then came knocking on their door and decided to make it into a full series.

For six seasons (1951-1957), the show was always at the very top of the rating charts.  In January 1953, the episode where Lucy gave birth to their on screen son Little Ricky (Keith Thibodeaux) was the most watched single episode of television up to that time (over 44 million viewers). This coincided with the birth of their first child, Desi Arnaz, Jr. (they also later had a daughter Lucie Arnaz). [Trivia: The first issue of TV Guide pictured Lucy and her new son Desi Jr.]  The show won or was nominated for dozens of awards (including 5 Emmys) during the six year span.  Lucy herself was also honored with winning many awards, including the 1956 Emmy Award for Best Actress – Continuing Performance and some of the awards she was nominated for include the 1954 Emmy Award for Best Female Star of Regular Series; 1955 Emmy Award for Best Actress Starring in a Regular Series; 1956 Emmy Award for Best Comedienne; 1957 Emmy Award for Best Continuing Performance by a Comedienne in a Series; 1958 Emmy Award for Best Continuing Performance (Female) in a Series by a Comedienne . . . who Essentially Plays Herself.

Although the show was doing well, the marriage was not. In order to save their marriage, they decided to cancel the I Love Lucy show and do something less stressful, such as a variety show called the Lucy-Desi Comedy Hour, which first aired in 1957. They also began working more closely together on other Desilu productions such as Star Trek and Mission Impossible.

Once again, their love life turned sour and they filed for and received a divorce in 1960.  The divorce was hard on Desi and he turned towards the bottle.  On the other hand, Lucy placed all of her misery into work.  She borrowed three million dollars to buy out Desi of his half of Desilu Productions and engrossed herself in her work as the owner of a multimillion dollar company.

She appeared as Kitty Weaver in the movie Facts of Life in 1960 and came in second place for the Golden Laurel Award for Top Female Comedy Performance. She went back to the small screen in 1962, reviving the character of Lucy in the new TV series, The Lucy Show. This series was successful and ran for 6 years. 

She also began to perform on Broadway, and headlined in Wildcat, which was a deviation from the comedies she was know for. She continued to appear on the big screen and appeared in such movies as Yours, Mine and Ours where she won the Golden Laurel Award for Female Comedy Performance and was nominated for the Golden Globe for Best Motion Picture Actress – Musical/Comedy. She was again awarded for her role as Lucy receiving the 1967 Emmy Award for Outstanding Continued Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role in a Comedy Series and the 1968 Emmy Award for Outstanding Continued Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role in a Comedy Series. Some of the awards she was nominated for include the 1963 Emmy Award for Outstanding Continued Performance by an Actress in a Series (Lead); 1966 Emmy Award for Outstanding Continued Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role in a Comedy Series; and the 1968 Golden Globe for Best TV Star – Female.

She sold Desilu Poductions in 1967 for a whopping 17 million dollars. Then after marrying Gary Morton in 1968, she created Lucile Ball Productions.  One of her first projects was to resurrect Lucy one more time in the television series Here’s Lucy, which also led her to be nominated for Golden Globes for Best TV Acress – Musical/Comedy in 1970 and 1972. In 1970, she was nominated once again for a Golden Globe, this time for her role in the movie Mame.

Throughout the late 1970s and 1980s she worked on a few sporadic movies and television roles, and spent her time with her family and working with her production company.  [Note: She had a fifth TV show based on the Lucy character in the short lived Life With Lucy from September to November 1986.] Over the next three decades she was awarded for many lifetime achievement awards including, a Star on the Hollywood walk of fame, the 1973 Golden Apple Female Star of the Year, 1977 Woman In Film Crystal Award; 1979 Golden Globe Cecil B. DeMille Award; 1987 American Comedy Award’s Lifetime Achievement Award in Comedy; 1988 Hasty Pudding Theatricals Woman of the Year; 1989 Television Critics Assn Career Achievement Award; 1989 Emmy Awards’ Governor’s Award; The Women’s International Center (WIC) Living Legacy Award (posthumously in 1990). A US Postage Stamp was also issued with her likeness on it in 2001.

The Queen of Comedy passed away in April 1989.  She had a very full and productive life for a woman who “had no talent” and whose fame was based on he own television concept that was turned down by the networks twice, because the American people would not go for it.

You can  find Lucy Ball stuff in movies, tv shows reruns, and even in tin signs.

Biography by Ian Ripley, PopStarsPlus.com, Sr

U.S. Route 66 (also known as the Will Rogers Highway after the humorist, and colloquially known as the “Main Street of America” or the “Mother Road”) was a highway in the U.S. Highway System. One of the original U.S. highways, Route 66, US Highway 66, was established on November 11, 1926. However, road signs did not go up until the following year.[1] The famous highway originally ran from Chicago, Illinois, through Missouri, Kansas, Oklahoma, Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, and California, before ending at Los Angeles, encompassing a total of 2,448 miles (3,940 km)[2]. It was recognized in popular culture by both a hit song and a television show in the 1950s and 1960s. More recently, U.S. Route 66 was referenced in the 2006 Pixar animated film Cars.

Route 66 underwent many improvements and realignments over its lifetime, changing its path and overall length. Many of the realignments gave travelers faster or safer routes, or detoured around city congestion. One realignment moved the western endpoint further west from downtown Los Angeles to Santa Monica.

Route 66 was a major path of the migrants who went west, especially during the Dust Bowl of the 1930s, and supported the economies of the communities through which the road passed. People doing business along the route became prosperous due to the growing popularity of the highway, and those same people later fought to keep the highway alive even with the growing threat of being bypassed by the new Interstate Highway System.

US 66 was officially removed from the United States Highway System on June 27, 1985[3] after it was decided the route was no longer relevant and had been replaced by the Interstate Highway System. Portions of the road that passed through Illinois, Missouri, New Mexico, and Arizona have been designated a National Scenic Byway of the name “Historic Route 66″. It has begun to return to maps in this form. Some portions of the road in southern California have been redesignated “State Route 66″, and others bear “Historic Route 66″ signs and relevant historic information.  You can still find all the old route 66 reproduction tin signs still around.

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