Thursday, December 2, 2010

Old Farm Sign Uncovered/Schodack NY

On a quick trip upstate a couple of months ago I uncovered an old farm advertisement sign buried in the Funk Rd area of Schodack Landing region. I used a metal detector to discover the item. After time sitting in my garage I got around to attempting to restore it enough to get an idea what it said. After some research and careful cleaning I believe it to read THIS IS AN IH FARM. The IH standing for International Harvester Company. The oddest part of my research found a copy of the sign on e-bay. It was on a fridge magnet sold out of Chino , California. I also discovered to my shock that there is an international refrigerator market centered in the US , England , Hong Kong , and Bangkok Thailand. They sell all sorts of stuff. Anyway back on topic. Many farms did and to some extent still do put up signs that advertise an aspect of their farming. Funk's Seed Corn , IH tractors , Agway as examples. The sign and equipment probably came from Benny Funk's farm equipment company near Chatham NY. The same family for which Funk Rd was named. This dealership supplied farmers in a 3 county area. He died just a few yrs ago shortly after selling off his large supply of old cars and equipment he had taken in trade etc. RIP. So a small piece of farm history from a rusted out old sign dug out of the ground and semi restored enough to tell a small story.

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