What a wall wants.
If your wall is anything like my wall, it's been pestering you for the past, oh, nine years or so to get it an authentic NYC subway roll sign. And each time my wall bugs me about it, I refer my wall to my checking account, who in turn smacks us both in the face and says, "Wake up, nerds. Subway roll signs are expensive."
Then my wall and I go sulk in the corner and mutter insults about my checking account under our breath.
Antique New York subway roll sign, $335
But my wall and I still like to dream. That's why we're lusting after this vintage roll sign from luckylittledot over at etsy (that's their pic, above). We're also a into a few hot little numbers over at subwaysigns.com.
And while my wall and I are purists who prefer vintage signs (I blame it on my dad's side of the family--we're all antique junkies), if you and yours would rather not deal with the older stuff, check out some of these lookers over at Restoration Hardware:
Small subway sign art, $495
Large subway sign art, $795
(Hmph. Stupid checking. Next time, my wall and I are seriously just hitting up my savings account.)
All images / websites / content © their respective owners.
Home Decor, New York City | tagged Subway Roll Signs | Email Article | Share Article | Permalink | 7 Comments
Reader Comments (7)
My checking account usually just punches me in the gut. Those signs are awesome, though. Have you checked out Restoration Hardware's gift guides? I spent way too long looking at them last night.
Haven't seen it yet. Will definitely be keeping an eye out--thanks for the tip, Lauren!
I don't know about the vintage subway signs anymore. The visual of you and the wall sulking is enough eye candy for me. Why don't you snap that moment, frame it, hang it, and call a truce?;-)
What is a roll sign anyway? I live in NYC, use the subways, but not sure what you mean. . .
what the what!?! i spent a fairly decent chunk of time last weekend researching where to get subway signs for our revitalized home decor. is there nothing cheaper? i thought the transit museum used to have them.
Right?? I believe the transit museum DOES have them, but I think you have to catch them at the right time--they're not always available and not always easy to get. I think I'd try link in my post--subwaysigns.com. He's been around for a while...
Oh Lydia, you have me LOL-ing at the wall n' me comment... (-;
A roll sign is the old-timey sign they used to use on the side of subway cars to indicate the train's destination. When the train changed its destination (got to the end of the line, for example), a conductor could manually "roll" the sign to update it to display the correct destination. We basically still have them now, except they're (mostly) digital.
More info here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rollsign
Thanks for the link. I have tons of vintage pieces and prints, framed and unframed, at various price points at www.subwaysigns.com. My vintage pieces are the real deal and my prints are printed on artists canvas, not paper like some large chains are doing. Always willing to work with the budget-minded client too. Thanks again.