Sign collectors beware

I have been browsing through ebay and completed listings recently and have seen lots of signs that look fake, advertised as vintage and even appearing to have been artificially rusted. Be diligent and research the authenticity of any piece you are buying online.

I was driving thru a small town one day, and there was an old wagon for sale in front of a building, I stopped and went in an open shop door there, there was guy at the work bench scratching up some signs with a fork. I said hello and he jumped! must not have heard me come in....anyways, he said i'd have to go into the front area of the building NOW! I did, and when he came in I asked about the wagon....well...I left shaking my head....I then  stopped at a dairy queen next door for a burger and sat there watching him put those signs he was scratching up...up against the outside of his building, he then came back out and started spraying them with something he had in a pump sprayer. I left and started back home and thinking about it, was he spraying salt water maybe? the signs did look pretty new. prolly reproduction signs and he was trying to make them look old?