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In advertising school, we would-be copywriters were made to take typography class, so I have a slight sensibility for this stuff. Typography is kinda fascinating, actually. Here's a famous example:
Look at that simple, thin sans-serif typeface, with the inward-tilting "M"s.
That is classic 1968-'72.
Considering the very-handmade appearance, I would not think of this as being cutting-edge style, so I'd go more for about 1971.
The faux-deco "OLDS" letters are also characteristic of this period (think: "The Sting").
The faux-1900s "Deposit" letters are really more mid-sixties, but I'd say that the sign-maker just picked that up from ideas of curved-dash Olds that were floating around then.
I don't know what Eric does as a profession, but he knows what he's talking about.
Just like we can see that a car has quad headlights and infer it's 1958 or newer (aside of some 1957 anomalies), the same can be said with fonts - they reflect an era.
Hello All
I have been in the sign business since 1979, right out of high school and now own my own business for 20+ years.
First let me tell you there are over 35,000 different fonts right now. and just the slightest difference can be and is a different font. I try to match the best I can when someone brings something into me, but first I ask them who made it and if they know the fonts name. A lot of the time the fonts are free and Sometimes they can costs in the hundreds of dollars on my end to download.
There are fonts being summited every day. www.dafont.com
So looking at the box I would say the word "Deposit" would be from the 1930's for when it was started being used. Don't know the fonts name.
Also America kept with the straight or block letters on signs because of how many immigrants were coming from other counties and it was easier to read and write the letters.
The "OLDS" is an art deco style from the 1920's
The rest is from around the 20's-30's and could be Futura, this font has about 20+ different styles.
So knowing this and looking at the picture it doesn't look like it was hand lettered but silk screened. My guess would be in the 1950's.
Okay, a check of modern fonts finds that the font in question is closest to a modern font called "Mesmerize Expanded."
The problem is that, aside from a few old favorites, such as Helvetica, Courrier, and Times New Roman, most "modern" computer-mapped fonts are not the same as the old non-computer typefaces, so it is not surprising that there would not be a perfect match between a new font and an older typeface.
I have searched older Letraset typefaces (remember Letraset?), but I have not found any of these, though I suspect that that's what these are, and that the lettering press-transferred onto acetate, then projected and traced.
