LONDON UNDERGROUND 'BULLSEYE' ENAMEL STATION SIGN

LONDON UNDERGROUND 'BULLSEYE' ENAMEL STATION SIGN, from Elephant and Castle Station, central roundel with Elephant and Castle for the Bakerloo line, made by the National Signs of Hendon with Registered Design number 659.814

183cm square in two equal parts with some chips and damages

Notes: The Northern line station was opened in 1890 by the City and South London Railway (C& SLR) while the Bakerloo line station opened sixteen years later in 1906 by the Baker Street and Waterloo Railway (BS&WR)

The very first roundel started life as a platform nameboard in 1908. In 1913 publicity manager Frank Pick commissions typographer Edward Johnston to design a company typeface and in 1916/17 the new typeface is put on the bar and a circle is registered as a trademark in 1917. By this time, the proportions of the roundel had been reworked to suit the new lettering and incorporate the Underground logo type. The solid red disc became a circle, and the new symbol was registered as a trademark. By 1919, Johnston’s standardised roundel symbol was being used on publicity, and it began to appear on station exteriors and platform nameboards from the early 1920s. Around this time, Johnston introduced exact guidelines for the reproduction of the roundel. The proportions of the 'bullseye', as he called it, were re-designed to incorporate the standardised company typeface