what country is this from?

[agentsteel53]

http://www.ebay.com/itm/VINTAGE-ROAD-SIGN-RARE-ALUMINUM-NUMBERED-INTERSTATE-SIGN-/121282719139?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item1c3d036da3

it looks to be a route shield to me.  its construction (with additional frame around the border on the back) looks to be possibly European.  anyone have any idea?

[sammi]

Definitely not American, given the shape/size of the route marker (27"x14"?) and the font (which I think doesn't match even old fonts). Why it says "INTERSTATE SIGN" is beyond me.

Also, the quotes around "RARE".

[J N Winkler]

At a guess, it is a Luxembourgish route marker, though the current signs catalogue for Luxembourg does not show a standard route cartouche with blue background and route designation consisting entirely of digits (blue background is currently reserved for autoroutes, which get an A prefix).  It could be Finnish too, except the typeface is wrong.

[Brandon]

Could it be rail instead?  A yard marker or distance marker instead of a route marker?

[Scott5114]

The font is Eurostile, which was designed in 1962. So it would have to be newer than that. As far as I know, nobody uses Eurostile for road signs. Which leads me to believe that it is not a road sign, and if it is meant to be one, it is a fake.

[hotdogPi]

House number, maybe?

[jeffandnicole]

Notice in one of the pictures the screw holes in the back.  So definitely not any type of sign that would be used on a normal sign post.

Other possibilities could be a stall number; stadium section number; something along those lines.

[agentsteel53]

*shudder*

compressed Eurostile.

bad taste pops up in the weirdest places.

I thought it wasn't a particularly good-looking font, and now I see why.

[Alps]

Looking at the construction of that item, it's not a fake, but it sure as hell isn't a road sign. Guy has no clue what he's selling. Since I have no clue what I'd be buying, forget it.

[Road Hog]

My guess is it's a marker denoting how many meters to the exit. Those are common on European freeways. In Germany they count down 150, 100 and 50 meters to the Ausfahrt (giggle) with a stripe for every 50 meters. This is probably an old version of that (and probably not German).

[agentsteel53]

My guess is it's a marker denoting how many meters to the exit. Those are common on European freeways. In Germany they count down 150, 100 and 50 meters to the Ausfahrt (giggle) with a stripe for every 50 meters. This is probably an old version of that (and probably not German).

the fact that this 300 of similar construction has shown up gives much validity to your theory.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/RARE-ALUMINUM-INTERSTATE-SIGN-NUMBERED-ROAD-TRANSPORTATION-SIGN-MANS-CAVE-ITEM-/111302366528?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item19ea235540

[J N Winkler]

My guess is it's a marker denoting how many meters to the exit. Those are common on European freeways. In Germany they count down 150, 100 and 50 meters to the Ausfahrt (giggle) with a stripe for every 50 meters. This is probably an old version of that (and probably not German).

It is possible these signs are formerly part of countdown markers, but there are a couple of factors that argue against that theory.

Germany has been using countdown markers since the 1930's, when they were installed on the first Reichsautobahnen.  The design used back then, which is essentially the same as that used now and is also diagrammed in the signs annex to the Vienna convention, has a two-line expression giving the distance to the exit above and on the same panel as the diagonal stripes (cf. StVO in PDF format for the modern version; scroll down to "Zeichen 450").  The main difference between 1930's and modern German countdown markers is the countdown interval; 1930's markers counted down in increments of 200 m (600 m, 400 m, 200 m), while modern ones count down in increments of 100 m (300 m, 200 m, 100 m).  Germany was probably the first country to use countdown markers, though advance notice of exits on the Italian autostrade was given using colored flags.  When other countries in Europe copied the German design for their own motorways, they generally either kept the distance expression on the same panel or omitted it altogether (as in Britain).  I know of no example of a country mounting a distance plaque without units on the same post as a countdown marker with stripes only.  This approach increases mounting costs without saving on fabrication costs since it entails mounting two signs to one post instead of just one sign, and each countdown interval has its own design of diagonal-stripe sign, so the signs are not interchangeable among different intervals.

Also, the numbers are a bit big.  The advertisements give panel size as 27" x 14" x 2", which implies a digit height of about 12", which is taller than any of the digit heights recommended for use on mileposts in the US (6" or 10" for ordinary mileposts, 8" for enhanced location reference markers), which in turn are as tall or taller than the distance expressions used on countdown markers that have them (cf. the dimensioned drawing [p. 180] in the Spanish traffic signing catalogue, which specifies 150 mm digits--about 6").

It is possible these signs might have been used as part of an unrelated countdown scheme, e.g. for railway crossings (countdown markers are also used for this purpose in Germany, but without distance expressions and with an increment of 80 m; railway-related warning signs are mounted to the same posts).  But I don't know of any European countries that actually used such a method with white-on-blue signs.