“Star” Search: Tracking the Roto-Sphere

In last month’s update, we introduced you to one of the rarest “stars” in sign collecting – the Roto-Sphere! With only 234 ever made more than 60 years ago, keeping up to date on how many remain and their condition is a challenge. Luckily, there are sign aficionados like Debra Jane Seltzer to do the work. A long-time friend of the ASM, Debra Jane runs the website Roadside Architecture – a repository of over 70,000 photos of signs, buildings, and gas stations across the country. She began the website in 2000 and frequently updates entries based on her research and most recent road trips.

Roto-Spheres promoted all sorts of businesses across 36 states in the US and even abroad. Tracking the known remaining signs means trips to: Colorado, Florida, Indiana, Louisiana, Michigan, Missouri, New Mexico, Tennessee, Texas, and Utah. During her trips to document the Roto-Spheres, Debra Jane met Warren Milks, the creator of the Roto-Sphere.

Milks shared with her that though the spheres fit in with the space age designs that were popular in the early 1960s, leading many to nickname them Sputnik signs, his inspiration was not space but a tv commercial for either a toy or a Christmas ornament. Visit Debra Jane’s webpage dedicated to the Roto-Sphere here.

Knowing the location for each of the Roto-Spheres helped the ASM be ready when word that Factory Tile in South Bend, Indiana closed. Known for it’s large porcelain neon sign topped with a Sputnik sign, the closure meant a Roto-Sphere was available.

Stay tuned for next month’s update for more on the ASM acquiring the Factory Tile Roto-Sphere and the work done to restore it. Join the ASM & Society of Commercial Archeology to learn more about the Roto-Sphere on Thursday, 8/12.