” The biggest change in the manufacturing technique was changing over from stencils to silkscreens. That was a boom to the manufacturers, and gave them the ability to increase production and cut their costs. Silkscreens are a lot easier to manufacture than stencils as far as labor intensity.
Porcelain signs in this country, at least initially, were pretty boring, and then all of a sudden they started getting really graphic. In the 1890s, they were minimal as far as the coloring went, but right around 1900, they started to blossom into this colorful competition from one manufacturer to another.
Porcelain signs were only one segment of a huge advertising market. There were many other things being made to advertise, most of them paper or cardboard. All manufactured products came in packaging of some type that they would profusely illustrate with their company’s logo or some kind of graphic art. Porcelain signs were basically confined to the medium that had to be exposed to the elements. Whatever went outside wound up in porcelain.” —-Michael Bruner
