Although nowadays some (like myself) covet enamel signage for their strong designs and vibrant colours, in the mid-20th century, redundant signage was often just seen as a useful source of weatherproof, flat metal. 

 

When this bistro table was being made (or perhaps an existing table was having it's top replaced) I suspect the curved edges and rounded corners of a Martini sign made it the perfect candidate for a table top... It’s DIYing creator made up for the fact it wasn’t quite the right size by hammering out the upper and lower edges and riveting it to this shapely iron base before painting it silver to hide the table top’s original purpose... A couple of hours and a large tin of elbow grease later and the silver paint is gone revealing a reasonably well preserved sign that makes for a unique, quirky garden/side table! 

 

The sign itself is a fairly standard French variant of Martini's enamel advertising featuring their iconic 'ball and bar' logo and was produced by Vox Publicité of Paris and probably dates to the 1940s-'50s. I would speculate that it was probably a couple of decades later that as a redundant piece of bar advertising, it was mated with this iron base perhaps as a frugal piece of renovation. 

 

Condition remains pretty decent - there's obviously enamel loss around the middle of the upper and lower edges where the sign's been flatted to sit on the round upper part of the base and further enamel loss to the corners where additional rivets have been placed, but the layer of paint that was on the table top when I bought it has kept corrosion to a minimum, there's some mottling to the red of the Martini logo and it doesn't sit perfectly flat, but it's a unique piece that oozes charm and certainly has an interesting history!

 

The table is 72cm high, 50.5cm deep and 68cm wide.