Enamel sign found diving (earlier in the year)

[blobbottlebob]

It is with some drool that I've observed some of you find cool old signs in the past. They certainly are neat, but they don't relate much to diving. Mainly because they never turn up. To be entirely honest, I have found over the years just a few little ones including an OLD DUTCH CLEANSER and a WOOL SOAP sign. Both were small, worn and rather rusty.

I have also found municipal signs like stop signs that must have either blown off their posts or been thrown into a river or lake (maybe to hide the evidence of a crash?????). But this year, I found a really cool sign.....

 

[blobbottlebob]

I was in a river diving in a spot we've been to before. I was having a good day, having found some of the only old bottles that we pulled out on our first tank. So, I let my buddies go out ahead of me and waited to see where they would go first. I meandered downstream finding some anchors along the way. One was super cool, -but hold that thought, I'll come back to it later. Midway through the tank, I finally settled into an area where we'd found stuff before, but where I'd never really dug in much. I started clawing around and put my hand on a thin piece of glass. I always try to look at them before discarding the pieces in case it was something good. Even with the poor river visibility, I immediately noticed a bright yellow glow emanating from the object. It took only a fraction of a second to realize, it wasn't glass . . . .

 

[cowseatmaize]

Wicked slow tease Bob but I'm liking it so far. Pics will follow....right?

 

[blobbottlebob]

. . . It was a sign. I didn't read it underwater. I just pulled it free and then started to make my way a bit shallower. The spot where I found it was too deep to stand in and there was some current. So, I swam up the embankment at the bottom and positioned myself along the side of the river in about four feet of water. When I stood up, the sign was still submerged in one hand. I was surprised to see one of my dive buddies only a few feet away. He was finishing up his tank already and trying to get back to a spot where he could get out. I pulled off my mask and told him that I'd found a sign. He asked where it was, in my float? (Note: we have a float at the surface to store the stuff we find). I told him "NO", I had just found it a few seconds ago. He asked if it was big. I said 'kind-of big'. "Well. Let's see it." I pulled it out and right away he was half speechless. Wow. This is what it's all about.

 

[blobbottlebob]

Sorry Cows. People didn't like me telling the story slowly last time either. Man, I've really had a good year.

Pics are coming.

 

[blobbottlebob]

Right away, he thought that it was not a common sign, he'd never heard of it. And the enamel was clean and brilliant on one side. A little dirty and stained on the other. Here it is;

 

[blobbottlebob]

The dirty side before any cleaning.

 

[cowseatmaize]

No problem! It's way better that than a 50 line post with no breaks.
I just happened to be watching this and was on the edge of my seat.[][]

 

[blobbottlebob]

Super cool that it was two sided. That really protected it at the bottom. This dirty side was presumably down, pressed into a piece of steel that was rusting. But a lot of it was also just river scum or algae. I tool a soft cloth and dawn dish-washing soap to it. About a half hour later, it already looked better.

 

[cowseatmaize]

That's awesome, those tv picker guys would give you $500 easy. They like signs.