The restored Jerry's Nugget sign in the Neon Museum Boneyard.
Liberace’s florid signature included at times a stylishly line-drawn piano and candelabra. The scripted ornate logo appeared on autographs, documents, coffee cups and also his grave.
The signature also appeared in neon at the former Liberace Museum, before winding up in the Neon Museum’s Boneyard among the other iconic artifacts.
Last week, the Liberace sign was one of two restored and relit signs returned to the Boneyard, each sponsored by donors who stepped forward to see them brought back to their original form.
The Jerry’s Nugget sign, restored by YESCO in celebration of the North Las Vegas casino’s 50th anniversary (and made possible by the casino), returned to the Boneyard September 11. The once paint-chipped and faded sign with broken bulbs looks brand new with the glowing gold boulder atop the Jerry’s logo.
Both signs were repainted, had bulbs and neon replaced and electrical elements brought up to code. The Liberace restoration, undertaken by Jones Signs and completed with striking pink neon, was made possible by the Shulman Family Foundation.
“We have had people approach us in the past, but it’s never come to fruition,” says Neon Museum Executive Director Danielle Kelly of donors funding restoration of works in the collection. “Now we have a place, a proper museum campus.
“It’s really meaningful because it’s members of the community reaching out to us and demonstrating a shared passion for the mission of the museum.”
Both signs are part of the Boneyard’s permanent exhibit and are among six in the yard that have been restored.
A PBS documentary about the restorations will be shown in October.
