Stuertz Drugs Opal Glass Sign

Very little is known about the Stuertz Drugstore other than it was most likely located in the Paducah area of Kentucky. The sign is internally illuminated, with light shining through raised glass letters, also known as opal glass or milk glass. Opal glass was a patented, well-known produced of the Flexlume sign company, although it fell out of favor in the 1940s and hasn’t been produced since. The technique was considered a lost art with limited resources and blueprints left, until Brad Smith was able to recreate the treasured lettering. In 2021, after many years of attempting opal glass recreation, Smith found the last remaining inventory of new-old-stock opal glass letters, along with a rare inventory of blueprints. With this, he was able to perfect the historic technique and help the Museum restore this sign.

Very good

Several opal glass letters (S, Z in Stuertz, and D, S, in Drugs) were recreated by Brad Smith using original Flexlume blueprints and other time-period-specific techniques