Recycled Neon Channel Letters from Storefront Signage
Channel letter signs are expensive to buy and for good reason.
Fonts and shapes and overall look must be designed.
Then the letter channels are formed by hand or machine.
Neon or argon tubing is then bent to fit inside the channels to light the letters.
An average price for a letter unit from a sign company can vary from $9 to $15 per inch.
Some charge by the length of the letter, others the height, still others both!
Then it has to be installed, wired up and tested.
That is additional and separate from the making of a letter unit.
Removing a sign from the building after a business closes is another expense.
So you can not expect to get old sign letters for free.
Being the avid fan of neon that I am,
I feel recycling neon channel letters makes sense.
I often observe relatively new channel letter signs go up on eBay© with similar ad copy.
"Paid $4500.00 new, buy it now for less than half!" followed by
"Local pickup only, Will pack and deliver to freight dock for fee."
The opening bid will be from $2000.00 to $3500.00.
The auction of such a used neon channel letter sign doesn't seem to draw any interest of purchase at 2K and a drive to fetch with today's fuel costs.
Sometimes those auctions just vanish without a winning bidder, never re-listed.
Others will re-list and re-list a few times, again without bidders.
Even less will start to drop the price at each re-list.
What gives? Two main reasons I see are;
One, expensive shipping costs for complete signs.
Shipping a channel letter sign and needed transformers costs upwards of $200.00 to $300.00!
Reason two, breakage. It seems no matter how letters are packed,
something will break en-route if packed by a novice to glass items.
I also found some channel letter signs for low prices.
"Low opening bid - buyer pick up!"
The opening bid might be $199.00 for a 13 letter sign.
Why were the prices low? Back to that shipping cost!
Another issue is the fragile nature of glass items.
I personally have experienced about 1/3 of package contents broken as an incoming rate,
irrelevant who shipped it!
Not good. So the boxes arrive,
and I would find that I may or may not have what I wanted.
How did I get into neon channel letters? Well, I'll tell you.
I started a new business in 2004. That new business needed a sign.
I was very limited on signage display space on the business' building.
So, it all started when I found a neon channel letter sign for sale on eBay©.
That sign read BASEBALL CARDS.
I immediately noticed I could use most of the letters to spell out "CAR SALES".
I bid and won the auction and drove to Chicago to fetch the sign letters.
So for rather cheap I was able to get most of the sign I needed.
That sign's letters was only part of what I needed though.
So, I ended up buying a few other signs to find the rest of the letters I needed.
Some signs were picked up by me, other signs I had shipped to me.
The neon channel letters listed below are available for
purchase from me.
They are extras from the various complete signs I bought.
I'm not doing anything with them but storing them.
No, I'm not a sign shop, nor do I manufacture these channel letters.
If you haven't visited my
about me page,
you probably should to get to know me better.
USED CHANNEL LETTER PRICING : $ 2.00 PER INCH TALL
SUBTRACT $ 10.00 FROM LETTER PRICE FOR NO TUBE
PACKING CHARGE $ 12.00
LETTERS WITHOUT TUBE $ 5.00 PACKING
Shipping a single letter or two for personal "illuminated initials" proves to be fine.
I usually pack the glass in one carton and the channel letters themselves in another.
Of course, the size of the letter matters the most, 2 foot tall letters are best sent singly.
I pack the channel letters and neon tubes well to ensure safe arrival.
So browse the letters below and see if you find a set of letters to spell a word for your business or maybe your initials.
If you found 5 letters that you could use for a word in your business sign,
or for personal whatever, plan on 3 cartons to ship 5 letters to you.
Personally, I find Fed Ex does the best for me and how I pack to ship.
Thanks for stopping in for a look!
I'm happy to move any of the letters listed below onto a new home where they will be used.
Recycled Neon Sign Channel Letters For Sale:
Please note that thumbnails of sold letters do not open full-sized pictures.
14.5 inch tall neon channel letters:
These letters remain from a "WHITE MOUNTAIN" sign.
All these 14.5 inch letters are made with single stroke white glass tubes.
Charged with argon, they light bright white.
The tubing brand is Voltarc© (Made in U.S.A.).
Tubing color is Snow White 6500©.
The white plexiglass covers are in very nice condition.
Aluminum "can" riveted construction,
color is chocolate brown on outside, white inside.
The font is rather fancy as you will see in the pictures below.
They have double backs on the neon tubes so these letters can wall or raceway mount.
Please note listed measurements are to the outer edges of the Jewelite© trimmed covers.
16 inch tall neon channel letters:
These letters remain from a "BASEBALL CARDS" channel letter sign.
The "cans" are all welded aluminum construction.
The cover material is white plexiglass.
All letters measure 16 inches in height.
The font is rather narrow as you will see in the pictures below.
They have double backs on the neon tubes so these letters can wall or raceway mount.
I was told the production date was 1992.
These remained in service for 12 years.
The letters I used are still lighting brightly now spelling out "CAR SALES" .
The tubing brand used was the best, Voltarc 13mm commercial grade Snow white #6600.
All these letters light very bright with the double stroke tubing.
The quality job done bending the letter tube would allow operation without the cover installed.
The tubing is bent so nice, it could even be used completely separate from the can!
For one to two letters, recommended transformer voltage would be 6,000 Volts.
Comments: Has old cracked dry blue vinyl on the outside face of the cover.
Removes with hair dryer and credit card or plastic razor.
Trimming has cracks and signs of age and weather.
The letters I had left over was an A, 2 B's, D and L.
I have already sold one of the B's and the D.
The table below shows the remaining letters available (spells LAB).
NOTE: The blue vinyl has been removed from the letter L's face.
The trimming is loose from the letter L completely.
16 inch tall neon channel letters:
These letters remain from a "TENNESSEE FEVER" channel letter sign.
The "cans" are all welded aluminum construction.
The cover material is white plexiglass.
All letters left in stock measure 16 inches in height.
The font is quite standard, like Arial.
They have double backs on the neon tubes so these letters can wall or raceway mount.
I was told these letters were made in 1994.
These letters were used indoors as a mall store sign.
So the letters are not weathered at all.
The tubing brand used was the best, Voltarc 13mm commercial grade Snow white #6600.
The quality job done bending the letter tubes can allow operation without the cover installed.
The tubing is bent so nice, it could even be used completely separate from the can!
For one to two letters, recommended transformer voltage would be 6,000 Volts.
Can spell out 'ENTER', 'RENT', 'TEEN', 'TREE', 'TEN' or 'NET' to name a few...
These letters are stored on my storage area's cross beam.
So very few photos of these letters (06/02/2010).
| 16 Inch Channel Letters |
Letter off picture |
Letter on picture |
Letter open lit picture |
Letter E (1 of 2) |
 |
|
|
Letter E (2 of 2) |
|
|
|
Letter N
That is just a wire hanging in front of it, not a crack in the cover! |
 |
|
|
Letter R |
 |
|
|
Letter T |
 |
|
|
I also have spare covers from the letters I used open faced. |
Cover only: E
Cover only: R
Cover only: V |
|
|
22 inch tall neon channel letters:
These letters remain from a "PACK / SHIP" sign that I bought for my initials.
All these 22 inch letters were made with single stroke white glass tubes.
When the letters arrived to me, most of them had broken tubes.
The letters that still have tubes are charged with argon and light up white.
The blue plexiglass covers are in faded condition.
The trimming has cracks on these letters.
Aluminum "can" all welded construction, color is brown on outside, white inside.
The font is rather fat as you will see in the pictures below.
They have double backs on the neon tubes so these letters can wall or raceway mount.
I have no clue as to the production date.
For one to two letters, recommended transformer voltage would be 6,000 Volts.
| 22 Inch Channel Letters |
Letter lit picture |
Letter open picture |
Letter open lit picture |
22 inch letter A has SOLD! |
22 inch letter A has SOLD! |
22 inch letter A has SOLD! |
22 inch letter A has SOLD! |
22 inch letter H off |
Top view shows the loose trim. |
Letter H with cover open.
It has no neon tube! |
The letter H, I and the slash have no neon tubes inside. |
22 inch slash off |
Slash mark with cover open.
This letter has no neon tube! |
22 inch letter I off |
Letter I with cover open.
This letter has no neon tube! |
22 inch letter P off |
22 inch letter P lit |
22 inch letter P open |
22 inch letter P open and lit |
