#56 • Hand Painted Tattoo Shop Sign - Coney Island Joe

Part of The Strange & Unusual: Oddities Galore! (timed auction by KJK Auction Hub)

High bid $400.00

Status: Sold

Vintage Hand Painted Tattoo Shop Sign : "Knock on Door" Straight off the wall of one of Philly’s most storied — and most notorious — tattoo parlors. This hand-painted wood sign hails from Coney Island Joe’s Tattooing, run by Joseph “Coney Island Joe” DeMatteo out of South Philadelphia, part of the wave of old-school tattooers who came up on Coney Island before migrating south once NYC shut tattooing down in the ’60s. this shop kept a low profile for good reason. Coney Island Joe’s operated for decades as a fixture of the neighborhood, quietly respected by locals even as it moved in circles that made national news. A rare surviving piece of a shop that’s since closed, and a genuine artifact of East Coast tattoo history’s grittier, more colorful chapter. Provenance available on request. Approximately 30" long.