Chicago's Dinkel's Bakery Sign Hits Auction Block Starting At $5,000

CHICAGO — Less than a month after another iconic Chicago eatery’s sign was auctioned off for nearly $33,000 on the same day a neon Chop Suey landmark went for nearly half as much, the vertical neon sign that hangs outside a longtime neighborhood bakery has also hit the auction block.

Dinkel’s Bakery, which closed last month after 100 years in business, is auctioning off its famous neon sign that hangs outside of the Lincoln Avenue bakeshop. Donley Auction Services in Union will auction off the neon sign that simply reads “Dinkel’s” on June 4, and has the sign listed with a starting bid of $5,000, according to the auction site.

Donley Auction Services estimates the sign could sell for as much as $10,000 to $20,000, but Randy Donley, who owns the auction company and has been dealing in antiques for more than 50 years told Patch on Tuesday that the fact Dinkel's owner has said the proceeds will go to charity could drive the price even higher.

Dinkel’s was opened in 1922 by Joseph Dinkel, who started the business after immigrating from Bavaria, according to the auction website. The bakery moved to its current location in 1932, according to the auction site, and its current owner, Norman Dinkel, Jr., took over the business and operated it until it closed last month.

Norman Dinkel, Jr., who is 79, announced in early April that the bakery would close, and told Block Club Chicago that the bakery sold more than 5,000 doughnuts the day after he announced the business would close.

“It’s never a good time to close, so I’ve got a lot of mixed emotions,” Dinkel told Block Club Chicago. “It’s a very traumatic day for me personally, for my staff and my customers. No one wants to see this, but it’s time.”

Dinkel announced that he will be donating all of the proceeds of the sign to Misericordia and to the Sisters of the Poor. Donley told Patch that while the opening bid is $5,000 for the sign, the bidding process could get interested based on the fact the money is going to charity.

"That means a lot to people," Donley told Patch in a telephone interview. "There's a lot of people who would just love to see the money go to the right location and so (the sign) has the potential of doing a lot more just because of that."

The other driver of the price could be the fact that the sign's connection to the neighborhood where it has been displayed since 1932 is familiar to a potential buyer, Donley said. The sign will be taken down shortly after the June auction and the fact the buyer will be part of seeing it come down from its Lincoln Avenue home after nine decades will also factor into the appeal of the sign.

"Once it comes off the building, that whole process is never going to be repeated," Donley said. "If you want to be part of that, here's your shot and a lot of people want to be part of the removal and part of the history because that will be documented forever."

The Dinkel’s sign auction will come about a month after Chloe Mandel, the wife of Smashing Pumpkins frontman Billy Corgan, purchased the sign that hung outside of Orange Garden for $17,000.

The sign, which was also neon and prominently included the words “Chop Suey,” was a longtime favorite of Corgan, who once jokingly told his wife he wanted the sign for his birthday, Mandel told Patch. The sign, which came down a week after it was purchased, will soon be displayed in the Highland Park tea shop and cafe' that Corgan and Mandel own and operate;

The Orange Garden sign went in the same auction in which the sign that hung outside of Chicago Joe’s restaurant and bar sold for $32,400.

"My heart was set on it,” Mandel told Patch about purchasing the Chop Suey sign. "I was pretty sure (I'd get it). Unless someone was going to blow me out of the water, my heart was set on it and once we started bidding, I think it was pretty clear."

The Dinkel’s sign is one of four Chicago-area business and restaurant signs that Donley Auction Services has up for bid. And as was the case with Corgan’s love of the Orange House Chop Suey, nostalgia often spurs people to want to own a sign outside a familiar business.

But Donley said that the fact that the Dinkel's sign does not include the word "bakery" may limit its appeal to a more Chicago-based market rather than nationally, where signs have been a hot ticket item for years. But like the Orange Garden and Chicago Joe's sign auctions that Donley oversaw, the long-time auctioneer said the bidding could get fast and furious for the famous Lake View neighborhood sign will be taken down after it is auctioned off.

"It only takes two buyers," Donley told Patch. "Then when you have two buyers, how deep are their pockets is what it comes down to."