A north-east antiques dealer is selling a collection of Aberdeen’s iconic black and white street signs, pointing to some of the city’s most celebrated sights.
Strichen Antiques only came into possession of the weather-beaten cast iron markers this week.
But their post advertising the signs for Marischal College, Provost Skene’s House, Castlegate and public toilets has already caused a stir on social media.
The listing is so new, that proprietor Jenny Smith told The P&J she wasn’t sure how much they would be sold for.
A sign of the times? Social media suspicion at sight of Aberdeen’s history up for sale
A handful of social media users questioned where the dealers had sourced the historical waymarks from, with public concern high after the recent security lapse at Union Terrace Gardens.
‘Granite-gate’ resulted in a full-scale audit of historically-protected granite and other masonry from the city centre park, which is still undergoing a £28.3 million facelift.
Stacks of stone and one of the instantly recognisable street lights from the Victorian park were dumped in the garden of Aberdeen businessman, Mike Wilson.
An Angus woman was at the centre of a storm only days later, after trying to sell of some Union Terrace Gardens-ish looking balustrades were put up for sale on Facebook.
They later turned out to be concrete, not granite.
But Mrs Smith said there was nothing so intriguing about Strichen Antiques’ procurement of the signs.
“We bought them off another dealer, I don’t know where in Aberdeen they were,” she told us.
“He offered them to us so we bought them. That’s what happens in this business, so it would be need to be traced right back.”
Efforts to trace ownership of waypoints had us lost
Given the landmarks highlighted, it is likely the metal pointers came from the lower end of Union Street or the Broad Street area.
The road outside Marischal College was part-pedestrianised in 2018, at the cost of £3.2m.
We traced the signs to the previous owner, who sold them on to the Strichen business.
They had bought them from a “reputable” private businessman in Peterhead, who they believed had been in possession of them “for some time”.
That was as far along the line as could be traced back.
Speaking anonymously, they said: “If you look at them, they are really quite worn and I wouldn’t have thought the council would have had them up on display recently.
“These would have been in much better shape because if you look at Castlegate sign, it’s almost so rusty that you can’t tell what it says.
“I think the seller has property and things get left behind. From my point of view, the wear on these signs would tell you they are not ‘new’, shall we say.
“They could be stolen – who knows – but I don’t think they have been stolen recently like from Union Terrace Gardens.
“Not that I buy stolen goods but – if I did – I wouldn’t be buying anything as recognisable as Aberdeen street signs.”
