Carson Kressley: Kressley Farm Signs, ca. 1950
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GUEST:
My grandparents on my dad's side had a very famous pony farm, and in the 1950s, Shetland ponies were a very popular thing. There were Westerns on TV, and people were moving to the suburbs, and people thought, "Wow, I could have a pony in my backyard." So there was a boom in that industry and the Shetland pony breed. They had about 200 ponies. They had auctions here on the farm where they would sell the ponies to the public for that pony farm, which is not this property, but close by. They had signs made up. So the blue one, I think, is one of the earlier ones, probably from the '40s. The yellow one, I think, is a little bit later, maybe the '50s. I love signs anyway. I buy old signs, and I love the crackly paint, and I like the, the mood they create in a, in a design space. But because they're family pieces, they really spoke to me, and I love having them in my home.
APPRAISER:
I think the yellow one is, is very cool. But to me, the other sign, the one with the image of the horse on it...
GUEST:
Mm-hmm.
APPRAISER:
And it's on cardboard, not on tin...
GUEST:
Yes.
APPRAISER:
...but it just gives you a great folky feel. I think you can insure them, you know, put an insurance value on, on that sign, at least $1,000, because just to have to reproduce that or try to recreate it would cost every bit of that, if not more.
GUEST:
Right.
APPRAISER:
The other sign, I would include that in the insurance value, but, you know, put $250 to $500 range.
GUEST:
Okay.
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