Ghost signs, ghost ads & other phantoms

Koffie Rombouts – Antwerpen, BE – Lowlands Correspondent, Gaia Son

Sep 19th, 2014

ANTWERP (Belgium). Bogie motor car type 7000 (1908-1975). With publicity of “Koffie Rombouts”. Postcard of VETRAMU/AMUTRA No. 39. Photo E. Keutgens. – The Traveler’s Drawer

Alles begint in Antwerpen, waar Frans Rombouts op een dag besluit een brandtrommel te huren om zijn eigen koffie te branden. – It all began in Antwerp, where Frans Rombouts decided one day to rent a coffee roasting drum to roast his own coffee. – Rombouts Website History

Luchthaven – Vliegveld Deurne – Antwerp International Airport – Belgium – Gaia Son

Sep 18th, 2014

by Frank.

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April 2005 © Gaia Son

Gaia Son in the Ghardaïa Province- Algeria, March 2007

Sep 11th, 2014

by Frank.

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El Goléa – oasis town and commune – capital of El Ménia District, in Ghardaïa Province, Algeria. © Gaia Son

This summer I spent a week with my friends Gaia Son (FAB’s Lowlands Correspondent) and her husband Bob Kovel (artiste extraordinaire) in Amersfoort, NL. One night Gaia showed me some of her photographs and I insisted on her curating some virtual exhibitions for the Fading Ad Blog. This first slideshow is of Son’s trip through the Ghardaïa Province in Algeria- located in The M’Zab Valley (a UNESCO World Heritage Site) in the Sahara Desert and ending in Outoul in the south of Algeria.

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Gaia Son with her Touareg Berber guides – photo by Louis Cador

Netherland Shipbuilding Company – Nederlandsche Scheepbouw Maatschappij – North Amsterdam, NL – Lowlands Correspondent, Gaia Son

Sep 9th, 2014

by Frank.

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Commemorative book – August 1894 – August 1934 http://www.ndsm-werfmuseum.nl/

http://www.ndsm-werfmuseum.nl/diverse-uitgaven

Featured Fade: Chew Virgin Leaf Tobacco Ad – Blood Tonic Pentimento – Fulton Street – Bed-Stuy, Brooklyn – Vlad Iorsh

Sep 7th, 2014

by Frank.

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Virgin Leaf tobacco was a trademarked chewing tobacco marketed by McAlpin & Co. Since I have never seen their past ads as claiming to be “for the blood,” I am assuming this is a pentimento – two or more ads superimposed upon one another – of the Virgin Leaf ad with a blood tonic. Would love to climb that fence and get a straight on shot of this right after it rains.