seller claims this is orig. letters seem too lack clarity ?

your 2¢ .. ...

https://www.ebay.com/itm/Vintage-Or...-Porcelain-Sign-Gas-Station/153749779159

I would be concerned

I agree terrible job on lettering.

Here is my question...because I am really baffled by these reproductions...where are these coming from?

The porcelain process is not an easy one nor cheap? If each shelving color layer is placed and fired at a different temperature then either other processes are used or the traditional process sloppily done? Are there “reproduction labs”, much like meth labs, churning these out? Are they all coming from India? Are there dark underworld figures with talent manufacturing these in different locations in the USA? Where would this Metro come from WITH the Texlite Dallas Mark?

I know that some signs are marketed and sold as reproductions as inexpensive substitutes for the real thing. I have seen countless Texaco “Indian” gas pump plates 18” by 12” sell on EBay as the real thing. And people buy them! However, besides this I do not have a clue about WHO IN THE WORLD IS DOING THIS.

I agree that these reproductions are a reality...I just cannot fathom where they are coming from, how they are being produced and what kind of a profit these are making for someone or some organization. I wish that 60 Minutes would do a segment on this and we would see the shadowed dark figure in the interview explaining through the voice alteration technology how this was taking place....But alas I know that is not going to happen. So the mystery continues!

That'a a reproduction, without a doubt. The computer font on Texlite-Dallas is all you need to see. I've found they are usually off center some or as you can see on this one, the lettering on the "makers mark" seems to run downhill on Dallas. Not to mention the green outlining on Pegasus on the rear section is really off the mark, way too sloppy to be an original.
Darin

Repop for sure

Reproductions are definitely made in India. They might also be made in South America, Germany, and Tennessee, to name a few.

I remember a guy on-line talking about the porcelain sign company he was starting, I believe in Tennessee (I believe he posted on OldGas). It sort of makes sense because there are a ton of repops on eBay coming out of Tennessee. And there’s nothing wrong with making signs represented as repop, it’s the alterations that’s the problem. I wish every legitimate repop manufacture made an intentional obvious difference in their signs. Gas pump heaven is starting to do a lot to make sure there PPP’s are obvious.

As far as makers marks, copyrights, origin of manufacture, “property of”, and date stamps..... the fraudulent repop companies don’t care. Whatever makes it look real to make more money.

And as far as profits go, it is probably exponentially huge... growing by the month. There are hundreds of guys selling fake pump plates from $75-$750+ every single day. Just look up any guy selling a fake pump plates or signs on eBay, click on his user name, click on other items for sale, then click on sold items, then sort them from highest price to lowest. Or what’s really sad, is sort them by date and you can see how many people they are ripping off weekly (and that’s just one seller!).

And the bigger signs are bringing in tons of money, selling for several thousands of dollars every day.

It’s sad, but it’s seems like it’s getting to the point, where it’s hard to think of a sign that ISN’T reproduced.

-Steve