A Mystery Sign....

[ctsignguy]

I am sure a few of you saw that odd-ball Ohio 99 on eBay last week...

Not being too sure one way or the other, I emailed ODOT about it. (I have lived in Ohio since 1961, and i dont recall anything like this, but who knows?)...

I sent the eBay link to ODOT along with the following message...

" Some collectors of old signs and i saw this old Ohio-shaped cutout on eBay and we are wondering if this was a legitimate Ohio route shield....

http://cgi.ebay.com/OHIO-highway-99-metal-SIGN-bicentennial-red-white-blue_W0QQitemZ270558043444QQcmdZViewItemQQptZLH_DefaultDomain_0?hash=item3efe841d34

If this sign is real, can you tell us about what years it may have seen use (we know the FHWA allowed states to play with colored route markers from the late 40s to the 1970s, but being a near-lifelong resident of Ohio, i have no recollection of any such signs in use by ODOT) Can you or someone in your archives department clarify this interesting piece? Thanks!"

Caused some internal discussion from what i saw

"Paul,

Any ideas about this inquiry? Please feel free to correspond directly with Mr. Kleperis in regards.

the reply:

"Andy,

I've worked at the Sign Shop for nearly 40 years, I have no idea where that marker came from.   Someone could have had a private sign contractor make the marker, if ODOT was involved, it had to be before my time. 

Paul Trapasso
Sign & Signal Shops
Office of Traffic Engineering"

I got this back to me

"Thanks, Paul.

Mr. Kleperis,
Please see Mr. Trapasso's response below. If anyone would know, it would be him.

Thanks for your interest,"

Well, i won the sign (decided even if it was fake, it was too cool to pass on...)

Here is it's pictures...





Now, let me give you the gory details...the Tale of the Tape, so to speak

Sign is 15 3/4 inches wide, 16" high...the same dimensions as a 1940-50s Ohio cutout  I set it over one of my ohio cutouts...no deviation at all in pattern

It is old Scotchlite sheet (yellowish tint in light) everything is silkscreened.

Outer white band (edge to the border > 3/8" wide
Border > 3/8" wide  This is blue and definitely in accordance with ODOT design practice
Inner white band (border to red field) > 3/8" wide

This was pretty consistent all around the sign with tiny deviations, but not noticeable to the nekkid eyeball...

The red field (red translucent paint) was 13 1/2" wide and 13 3/4 " tall,  give or take fractions  But it is VERY consistent with the border and sign edges

The numbers were silkscreened when the red was applied. They are standard ODOT 'C' font '9s'   * 1/2 " tall, 4 3/8" across. The thickness of the number itself was 1 1/4"

i wanted to  see if anyone knows more...if it is not a real sign, someone spent a lot of money to have a sign made for a lark....silkscreen for a one-off can be rather high, especially as exact as these dimensions are, it couldnt have been cheap, which leads me to wonder about this one....

Well, guys...opinions

[mightyace]

Well, I started passing through Ohio in 1968.  Then I lived there from 1985-1995 and have passed through there every year since and haven't seen anything like it either.

[Hellfighter]

Perhaps it was a prototype shield, that never got through testing.

[agentsteel53]

I maintain that some city or town made it, but apparently 99 doesn't pass through much important, so some very small town had a very large budget to make such a professional-grade sign.

[Scott5114]

Was there a previous incarnation of OH-99 that passed through somewhere more substantial?

[ctsignguy]

According to John Simpson, no

Route 99
From route 224, 1 mile south of Willard to route 4, 8 miles north of Monroeville.

Counties:
Huron, Erie

Length:
23 miles

General Direction:
North/South

Intersections:
0: 224; 1: 103; 4: 162; 15: 20,547; 18: 113; 23: 4

History of route 99:
# Original state highway.
# Originally routed from 1 mile south of Willard to Monroeville.
# Extended to 4 miles west of Sandusky along previous unnumbered road in 1938.
# Route 101 to 4 miles west of Sandusky decertified in 1967.
# Truncated at route 101 in 1967.
# 8 miles north of Monroeville to route 101 decertified in 1971.
# Truncated at 8 miles north of Monroeville in 1971.

So it was never that important.  Which makes it more curious...

[Scott5114]

4 miles west of Sandusky...Maybe Sandusky made it as a trailblazer?

[US71]

I see another OH 99 sign is on e-bay (or is it yours?)

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=270564215603&ssPageName=ADME:B:SS:US:1123

[agentsteel53]

same seller.  I wonder how many he has.

[ctsignguy]

Just two...i have the one, this is his last he says...

[US71]

Just two...i have the one, this is his last he says...

You should buy it... use it later to barter for something else you want

[agentsteel53]

I'll be going after this one.  It's so unusual that I gotta have it!

[ctsignguy]

Just two...i have the one, this is his last he says...

You should buy it... use it later to barter for something else you want

Thought about it for a moment but deferred to Jake....he likes the wacky, unusual and plain odd-ball signs and these 99s certainly qualify....

Only trade bait i have now is an extra Connecticut Turnpike shield i recently picked up...

[Alps]

If only you'd ask less than $100 for the CT TPK shield.  Oh, I can dream.

[Ian]

Only trade bait i have now is an extra Connecticut Turnpike shield i recently picked up...

You're the one that stepped up on me and won that??? 

[ctsignguy]

Steve > I would ask under $100 for it, but i would prefer a trade for a sign i dont have..

Ian > oops!  Sorry about that...if i had known you were on it i would have laid off!

[US71]

Only trade bait i have now is an extra Connecticut Turnpike shield i recently picked up...

You're the one that stepped up on me and won that??? 

Yeah, he did that to me on an AR 10 cut-out last year.

[ctsignguy]

Man, you still mad at me over that?   

[US71]

Man, you still mad at me over that?   

Just jealous