In 1995 I was living in Bahrain, a tiny country in the Persian Gulf. During my two years there I scoured the whole country for enamelled signs; most of the old shops had been demolished when they hit oil in 1936. This was the only sign I ever came across. An elderly shop keeper was amused that I wanted to buy it and he asked for 500 fils - about 60pence. I actually gave him 1 dinar (1.20) It was a run down shop with hardly any stock.
When I left Bahrain, the sign was shipped out in a box and sent to the UK by DHL. At Heathrow the freight waybill was removed and accidently switched resulting in a box being delivered full of anoraks made in Pakistan!
I went beserk with DHL and would not let it pass. The head of DHL said they had lost the consignment and offered compensation. I threatened to advertise the loss in a UK newspaper. DHL then put me in touch with their European warehouse in Belgium. A brilliant man spent three months tracking it down; the sign even went to the Hong Kong Jockey Club!
Eventually I got the sign back. Perhaps the moral of the story is to pay a fair and decent price for signs. My ex-wife said to me "Did'nt you feel bad at offering him such a small amount of cash?" Err..maybe on reflection yes.