Sold: Combination Garment Sign

Clothing advertising sign / lithograph tin / c. 1910s

Antique tin sign advertising a curious patent clothing design, c. 1909. In necktie and high collar, a gentleman models what might best be called a button-down dress shirt onesie. Though perhaps not the hottest selling design, the “Olus” was an innovative and likely short lived “combination garment” granted patent number 908,802 in 1909 by Edward J. Quigley of Newwark, N.J. While the appropriate occasion for wearing the Olus remains unclear, the sign asks “What Good are Shirt Tails, Anyway?” and laments “Can’t Work Out of Trousers” which seem to indicate Quigley would have had the American white collar workforce all clad in striped onesies at the office. The tin sign has great graphics and colors, and was likely one of only a handful of signs made to advertise this absurd example of American ingenuity.

Good antique condition with some small scratches and in painting (upper right hand corner of the oval, small area near gent’s waistline).

Measurements

9 inches wide
19 inches tall

Shipping

Free in the continental United States. If an international buyer, please contact me for a shipping estimate by clicking here.