This 16″ cast aluminum NJ State Highway 27 sign comes from the 1927 NJ highway renumbering era. It came to me in really nice condition, with no need for restoration. It’s amazing to think that these little signs were ever the standard on state highways. Route 27 used to extend from Newark to Trenton, but its southern terminus is now in Princeton. The banner photo at the top of this page was taken in Lawrenceville in 1934.

The back of the sign was originally painted white, and was painted over in black sometime after being installed on the road. The white backs must have been considered enough of a distraction to warrant the black-repaint.

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A comparison two signs from the same style period shows that different block sizes were used for the numerals. I had assumed that the smaller numerals (on left) were older, and were enlarged at some point in time for better legibility. However, historic sign expert Jake Bear informed me that several states used different numeric fonts seemingly interchangeably, and therefore, the block size may not indicate which sign is older.