The Ed Tapanes Collection

Ed Tapanes is one of the people I’ve had the great pleasure to get to know over my years of collecting. Ed has quite a fascinating collection of historic street furniture and related items from New Jersey and beyond. His collection is worthy of its own page here on Garden State Signals. I will be adding content as I receive it from Ed, so stay tuned…

Guidepost Signs

This milled steel guidepost sign from Cape May was made by Lyle in the mid to late 1920s.

The cast iron Rahway sign is a long-lost cousin to my Union County guide sign.

Regulation and Safety Signs

Ed has some really wonderful regulation signs. The cast One Hour Parking sign is from Atlantic City. The cast round STOP is Jersey-specific, and looks similar to one Ben Kranefeld photographed in a someone’s front yard.

Reflector Panels

This obstruction warning reflector panel, made by Signal Service Corp of Elizabeth, has a mirrored back that reflects light through red glass windows. Ed estimates the weight to be between 15 and 20 pounds. These can be seen in many of the old highway photos on this site. Note that the 1931 literature mentions “AGA”, which stands for American Gas Accumulator. Signal Service Corp. acquired AGA around 1932.

This reflector panel with Stimsonite reflectors probably dates back to the 1940s. The “SS” logo on the panel does not actually say “Signal Service”.

Safety Patrol Stuff

According to Ed, “That school STOP sign is two embossed steel signs with a metal pipe in the middle. Kids were stronger back in the day.”

Highway Shields

Mass Transit (NJ)

The Public Service “Take One” box was mounted inside buses to hold bus timetables.

Other NJ Signs

I recently tipped Ed off to this old porcelain “Passaic County 1” bridge marker, which he gratefully snatched up. Hmmm, why didn’t I buy it? Examples of these signs can be found on the excellent Alp’s Roads website.