Grosset and Dunlap Series Book Advertising Sign

Earlier this week I happened upon an eBay listing for a Grosset and Dunlap advertising sign.  I briefly debated about whether to take the Buy It Now.  The starting bid was $49.99, and the Buy It Now was $99.99.  The shipping cost was $11.55.  I considered whether anyone else would care and whether deactivating the Buy It Now would be the better move since prices are generally quite low right now.  My luck would be that a like-minded person would come along and be willing to pay a high price, so I grabbed the Buy It Now.  Items like this survived in very low quantity, so I felt like my decision was the right one.  Chances were that someone else would have understood the scarcity of this item and would have wanted it as much as I did. 

1950's NANCY DREW, HARDY BOYS, TOM SWIFT, JR, PEGGY LANE & FURY Advertising Sign

I have been eagerly waiting for the sign to arrive all week.  It finally arrived today.  I was so excited when I saw the package!

I was so excited that I had to photograph the package right before I opened it!  Normally, I only photograph packages when I expect to have a problem, but this time, I wanted to document my excitement!  I could tell that the sign was packaged well, so I knew it had arrived undamaged.

I knew that I had made the right decision in purchasing the sign as soon as I picked up the package, seeing how large the package was and feeling how heavy it was.  I saw the frame in the auction picture, but I did not expect or care whether I received the frame.  I knew as soon as I felt the weight of the package that I had received the frame as well and that it was heavy.

After I extracted my purchase from the package, I then removed the sign from the frame, simply because I wanted to examine it closer.  That's just a requirement whenever a purchase like this is made.

The sign is in two pieces, and the split is very clean and straight, so it is possible that the sign has always been in two pieces.  The sign is on heavy cardboard.  I didn't think to measure it while I had it out of the frame, but the cardboard is probably around 1/8 inch thick.

I had to spend awhile cleaning adhesive off of the glass from the frame.  The seller placed tape on the glass to keep it from breaking during shipment, and a bunch of adhesive stuck to the glass when I removed the tape.  That took some effort to remove.  Finally, I got the sign back in the frame.  Even that part took effort because this is a frame that screws together.

I was able to get the two halves of the sign lined up better.

Since the Peggy Lane series was published from 1962 through 1965, this sign must be from that time period.  Notice that the sign has the books priced at $1.25, so I feel like the sign is most likely from around 1962 or 1963.

Also of interest is which series are featured on the sign.  Nancy Drew, the Bobbsey Twins, the Hardy Boys, and Tom Swift were all Stratemeyer Syndicate series.  Fury and Peggy Lane were Grosset and Dunlap series.  The series books written by independent authors, such as the Judy Bolton, Vicki Barr, Cherry Ames, and Rick Brant series, were not mentioned on the sign.  Those series were all in print at the time this sign was used.  Of course, another Stratemeyer Syndicate series, the Dana Girls, was also not mentioned on the sign.

I am extremely pleased with this purchase and believe it was worth the price paid.