sconnick

SmallParkShuttle is right, these were available from the MTA a number of years ago.  I didn't have the spare cash back then, but if memory serves, they were either $325 or $350 each.

The R40 is still listed, but originally it wasn't alone: web.mta.info/nyct/materiel/collectsales/pdfs/mc08331.pdf 

That R4 piece is beautiful. Does it still crank? My guess is that'd be the difference between cloth-like vellum and whatever material the TA used just before the mylar rolls, but it's hard to say.

 

I'm with you; I love the Vignelli rollsigns, but it's an arm and a leg each time I even go near one. I wonder if the solution will be selling a couple of the porcelain signs that seem to be in more general demand. Or blunt luck! I even tried writing to the producers of the signs once, vaguely hoping they might have some leftovers in the old storage rooms. No chance.

 

Also, for those keeping score at home, each week this eBay seller has a collection of beautiful old porcelain signs for sale. I've never been able to get one as they sell for more than I'm usually willing to pay, but technically speaking there have been some phenomenal deals relative to the signs' actual values: http://www.ebay.com/sch/ktorreg/m.html?item=181895174847.

Yep, the R4 roll still cranks - and pretty smoothly at that.  Probably some cancer-causing chemical in the grease used to lube the gears decades ago that never breaks down.  I didn't pay much for that sign, either - maybe $150 in the box.  The eBay seller had two and they just didn't get bid up for whatever reason.  I missed the other one by a few minutes, but virtually stole this one.  Especially with that houseofmemories nut cutting everything up and marking it up 1000%.

I initially picked up a few segments for the artistic appeal, but I quickly got hooked on the actual historical importance of collecting them and as such, I have a fondness for complete rolls now.  Mostly older stuff.  The most expensive items are probably the complete BMT Standard rolls.  One destination sign (not pictured) and one route sign.  

Anything with a lot of rail dust!

Aren't they! I saw a full R16 sign box with a colored roll pop on eBay for $850 once, and it immediately sold. Very desirable! I've got a green CC cut from one of those rolls on my wall, great piece of deign. Interesting font on the R16 you've got, something between the original R1 font and R32 font it looks like.

You're right, looking at it now next to this sign in my garage, from R4 #757, it is just a bit different. Even the material has a slightly different feel...

And those brightly colored ones are just waaaay to expensive for my collection. It's bad enough how much the rest of this has cost me thus far!

Quite a collection! Is the R16 one pictured? That sounds like a very interesting one. The R16s had some of the most interesting rolls, as those mylar rolls from the late 1960s that were placed inside are also some of the most colorful and elegant rolls the system's seen. 

Yup, the R16 destination sign is the tall one - Rockaway Parkway, Eastern Parkway, 8th Ave Manhattan.

It was replaced by those very colorful (and VERY hard to find) mylar rolls.

Hell of a collection! Interesting seeing those new-ish Helvetica R33-R36 rolls with the on them, not something present on most redbirds. Those Arnine boxes are beautiful themselves. What are some of the un-rolled sections? 

Thanks!

From memory, I believe the unrolled sections are:

• An R46 end route sign
• Additional sections of the R33-36 side route sign that was cut up and framed (in the background)
• Another complete R33-36 side route sign
• A complete R33-36 end route sign
• A complete BMT Standard destination sign
• More sections of an R1-9 end route sign (like those framed) - that B/CC on one panel was always interesting to me
• Additional sections of an R1-9 side destination sign (northern, if believe)
• Also hiding somewhere is a complete R1-9 end destination sign, still in the sign box

In the boxes are both a R1-9 side route sign and a BMT Standard route sign.

My favorite, though, is the original R-16 end destination sign that looks like just a three panel segment, but is actually the entire roll hung in a shadow box.  That one was rare enough that I wouldn't go near it with a pair of scissors.  They only made 200 of those cars, and the signs were replaced with mylar less than 20 years after they were built.

Arrgh!  Look at all this stuff!