Deciphering the faded ads on a brick building along the Bowery

The only thing more delightful than coming across a faint faded advertisement on the side of a building is looking closely and realizing there might be two ads, one painted over the other.

This kind of signage is known as a palimpsest—writing that’s been altered or covered by fresher writing, with traces of the original still remaining.

This ad was spotted at one end of the Bowery near Chatham Square. “Turkish” can be clearly deciphered; this was an ad for a cigarette brand called Turkish Trophies, which were available to New Yorkers at least since the turn of the century.

Enticing ads in newspaper archives show that Turkish Trophies went “10 cents for 10,” and they were popular in the U.S. in the late 1800s.

But take a closer look at the ad, and you’ll see the word “for” in yellow, and then a little to the right “you” in capital letters of a different typeface. Meanwhile, the T for Trophies appears to have another letter over it, possibly a fancy script F.

That F is a giveaway for Fletcher’s Castoria, a laxative for children sold by Charles Henry Fletcher since 1871. Ads for this prune-flavored product appeared all of the city, and a few of them still exist. One appears in newsreel footage of the Brooklyn Bridge in 1899, which can give you an idea of how long this medicine has advertised itself on city buildings.

Other words seem to appear beside the side windows; one might be “have” under “you.” There also seems to be another word in yellow under “Turkish.” Studying the faded letters feels like decoding hieroglyphs.

Which ad came first, the Turkish Trophies or the Castoria? My guess is Castoria.