Baltimore, MD
The Baltimore Enamel & Novelty Co. also known as Balto Enameling Co. was founded in 1898 as the Baltimore Enamel Company; this porcelain enamel giant quickly positioned itself to become the largest manufacturing company of its kind in the U.S. An important component of the enamel company’s success came from the manufacture of porcelain enamel license plates for states across the United States.
Sign making was another area of their business that The Baltimore Enamel & Novelty Co. flourished in. They created outdoor porcelain enamel signs that would stand up to the elements and still display and advertise very well. Some of the most well known porcelain signs they made we gas and oil (petroliana) signs for Texaco, Atlantic, Gulf, and Sinclair just to name a few. Breweries also hired the company to produce porcelain signs and porcelain beer trays for them to promote their brewery as well as some of their products.
In 1943, they closed in part due to WWII and the metal shortage that followed.
The Baltimore Enamel & Novelty Co. made various porcelain signs and beer trays for breweries like Providence, Narragansett, East Buffalo, James Hanley, New England, Hubert Fischer, Arrow, Dawson’s, Hartmann, and Consumers as well as many others.
Below are a few examples of Baltimore Enamel signs:
