a sign of things to come: a new and exciting spacex discovery by arto

Continued from yesterday

It was almost an out-of-body experience for me, out of the blue, on an ordinary Tuesday day in this all but hibernating town, coming across something so pertinent to our collecting interests.

With hands trembling, I picked the advertisement sign from the shop window. Yes, it was for sale! Oh bliss! 

It was SpaceX!

Letting the shop owner know the reason for my obvious enthusiasm, I got to learn the whole story behind the sign - and behind those antique candy containers I had been buying. And it turned out to be one of a really close call.

On the same street, just a house or two away, there was another derelict wooden property that had been closed for ages, bound to be demolished to make way for a new kindergarten. The house was due to be taken apart with everything inside unchecked.

Like in a fairy-tale, the bulldozer that was supposed to do the job broke down just before it was getting into action. It was only then the antique shop owner asked to look inside. As it turned out, it was an old store property with much of the unsold & promotional items inside. "They never threw anything away", as the shop owner put it.

A smaller-scale Beeches incident, so to speak. Luckily enough, the shopkeeper was able to make a last-minute deal for the movables, at least for a fraction of what was there. This SpaceX sign, just barely saved from oblivion, among them.

With illustration of the SpaceX Moon Base Set, the sign is a printed cardboard glued onto a tinplate backing with attachments on both ends.

 I guess it was supposed to be attached on top of a toy rack or onto a shelf end. The cardboard measures 51 x 25 cms, and is glued to the backing with three horizontal glue stripes (which has made it a bit wavy over time). 

The picture is the Moon Base Set cover illustration with top portion omitted, the SpaceX logo repositioned & a bit enlarged on the top-right corner. There are no other texts on the sign.

So there it is. SpaceX Finnish style, out of the blue!

Remember all those stories on the Blog of people having-seen, having seen a Nuclear Ferry or a Moon Base Set or something legendary as a child in a shop window, just a fleeting yet enduring memory of a treasure passed by? 

Seeing that SpaceX sign in that shop window, quietly waiting for me, was something very similar, but in reverse - because it was real, a dream still attainable.

Cheers

Arto

Finland