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http://newyork.craigslist.org/mnh/atd/4729804413.html Not mine but thought maybe someone here would want to inquire about this. I emailed, waiting to see what he is asking.

Neat! Good luck!

Fran

That's an interesting piece of Edison advertising. The man's face doesn't resemble the original in Massani's painting. I wonder if a dealer had his own face substituted somehow? Very curious...

It's doubtful that this is a remnant of one of the Edison Railroad Advertising Signs, shown in the May 1907 issue of The Edison Phonograph Monthly (see photo below). The Craigslist artifact is too small for that, and of course the horn equipment is different. More likely, it's part of a later advertising banner, first announced in the June 1908 Edison Phonograph Monthly (see photo below). The location of the trademark signature doesn't correspond with either piece of advertising, but I believe there were a couple of banner variations.

It would have been great if the seller had troubled to measure the piece, instead of using a "full size horn" (whatever that means) to gauge dimensions.

George P.

It would have been great if the seller had troubled to measure the piece, instead of using a "full size horn" (whatever that means) to gauge dimensions.

George P.[/quote]








I asked him what the exact dimensions are, I'll let you know if he answers back.

The article states 10 feet long. It looks like the advertisement is about 4 feet. If you removed the right side of the advertisement it would work. Also this photo on page 16's horn seems to look similar, the face is odd though. Can't get a good enough look when I blow the picture up.

Here's a scan of the commonly-found Edison advertising postcard, along with the closeup of the man's face on the large Edison artifact. I suppose the disparity could simply be artistic license...

George P.

George,
I think it's the same face, but enlarged to fit the banner/billboard. Part of the reason it looks different is the black outline around the face, which I assume is there because back at that time there was no PhotoShop to remove the background images. It looks like the image was outlined in black, the background removed (probably in the old method of cut and paste - literally cut and re-pasted) and maybe enlarged photographically and re-colored, because the new photographic image would be in black and white. I think the Anderson's in Florida have a re-creation of this banner...

Variations:

So I've emailed this fella 3 times asking what the dimensions of the sign were and his asking price. No reply. Can anyone explain this to me? If you're looking to sell something wouldn't you respond if you were looking to sell?

One would think so...!

George P.