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What a clever sign. I hate to run this so soon after there has been another one on, but since the last one was in such substandard condition, I don't think it would have any relevance to the value of this one.I am no expert on the field of Hamm's collecting, so I will stick to the basics on the description . The sign is in excellent condition. The item number is 214 and measures 17" across, 9" deep and is 11-1/2" high. From all appearances, I would say that this sign is from the late 1950's or early 1960's . When I found this, the cord still was rolled up "factory style" as shown, which leads me to believe that this thing has had virtually no use whatsoever. The main body of the sign is constructed out of cardboard and a relatively thin plastic that I imagine would get brittle with age, but the great thing about this sign is that it has almost no noticable problems anywhere. The plastic snow base / body has no staining, paint, burn marks, etc, anywhere, and appears glossy and bright white with no yellowing from UV exposure. The method of attachment between the plastic and the base cardboard is also intact, which I find amazing since it is only factory stapled and glued together. There is one two very small stress cracks at a base staple (where you would expect to find one) which I have tried to show a close up of. The "Hamms" logo on clear plastic has a split at the base of it where it has a fold to attach to the "snow base" . The split runs about 2/3 of the length, from left to right, and I have shown a picture of my finger pointing at the area where the split ends, since I could not get it to show up in a picture. It also has a slight "lean forward" when viewed from the side, which is probably partially due to the split, but probably more to do with gravity. The back of the sign which is primarily cardboard up from the base is also in excellent condition, with no water stains, scrapes, tears, unusual discoloration, etc. The whole sign seems to have been factory attached / bolted to a cardboard flat that fits perfectly into the manufacturer's original box for shipping. And yes, by the way, that is the original box shown in the background, and that will be included with the purchase. It reads "a GENUINE GOODMAN DISPLAY, L.A. GOODMAN MFG CO CHICAGO 21 ILL. " . The box does have one flap missing, and has some writing, tears, etc, but what a neat go-with to complete the sign. When looking at the bottom of the base, it appears to have two factory routered access holes for servicing the light or motor / assembly that are perfectly clean and mate up with the sign base, which tells me that this is the stock platform "base" that it shipped with. It is attached via two small screws with nuts. I think that all of these signs that have been on Ebay in the last year appeared to have had the base removed / missing the cardboard shipping platform. As you know, the Hamm's Bear skates from one side of this sign to the other via an electric motor inside.The bear itself is amazingly glossy, and probably looks as good as the day it was made. On a previous example listed on Ebay, the seller noted that his had kind of noisy motor, but this one seems to have none of that issue at all - it is very quiet, and I have posted a You Tube video with sound of it in action to show that (/watch?v=_r1LGWX5gwc). In the video, I am speaking in a quiet voice at approximately 1 foot from the camera microphone, and the camera is about 2 feet from the sign, so there is some reference of how quiet it is. I have no way of knowing how quiet or loud any other example is, but I would have to say I don't know how any vintage item like this with an electric motor / moving parts could get any quieter than this one currently is . In the back is the "Billboard" that changes scenes as the bear moves, and is the only other thing that has any sort of condition issues on this item. The permanent scene is fine. The rotating scene with the glasses has the most noticable flaws-It appears that the sign was likely stored for a while ...

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