Fred Lupton of Saline shows off part of his antique National Cash Register and porcelain enamel paint sign collection.

Lisa Allmendinger | AnnArbor.com

A collection that features antique brass National Cash Registers and porcelain enamel paint signs might seem like an odd coupling, but Fred Lupton of Saline doesn’t see it that way.

Currently an engineer for Toyota at the Toyota Tech Center in Ann Arbor, Lupton began collecting the cash registers and the signs, circa 1890 to 1950, about 20 years ago.

In fact, he’s developed a website and is always on the lookout for antique cash registers that might come on the market.

“I’m an engineer,” he said, “And I like working on and restoring the insides of the registers.”

As for the polishing and lacquering of the approximately 17 cash registers in his collection, he says that job is best left to other people. He takes off the cases and ships them UPS to people who are experts in that sort of restoration.

Currently, his collection of cash registers and about 40 signs is displayed in his upstairs office and in a large room in his basement, but he’d like to share it with the public.

He’s hoping to loan his signs and perhaps one of his cash registers to a restaurant, a bar or an ice cream parlor to be used for ambiance.

However, he doesn’t want to sell the collection or give it away — he’d just like more people to see it.

“I’m open to negotiation; whatever will protect my stuff,” he said, should the establishment close its doors.

Two of Lupton's antique cash registers.

Lisa Allmendinger | AnnArbor.com

Lupton’s cash registers range from brass to nickel-plated brass to copper and wood, while the signs are mostly from the U.S. The collection also has signs from England, Australia, France and Belgium.

He built and designed the shelves that display the cash registers, and he calls the cash registers “mechanical marvels.”

He said their “value depends on the integrity and condition,” but they range from $400 and up to $2,000.

“It’s a good thing to have the top sign,” he said, referring to the name of the store that previously owned the cash register, but that sign is usually missing.

“National Cash Register had a presence around the world,” he said.

Store owners would turn the registers back into the manufacturing company for a rebate when they acquired a new model. Each register can be dated by serial number and if a collector is lucky, there is still a tag underneath the cash drawer that says when it was sold and to whom.

“National had a 50- to 60-year campaign and made about 3 million cash registers just in brass,” he said.

Originally, sales were rung up by pushing down a button and a white flag appeared showing a number.

“The flags were an American advertising icon,” Lupton says, and although no one’s seen one on a cash register in 60 years, he still sees those iconic flags in advertising campaigns.

Back in the day, sales were tallied by hand then rung into the register. At the end of the day, the merchant would reset the register to all zeros before the next day’s sales began, he said.

Lupton’s wife, Jennifer, said when her husband is working on a new cash register project, “I never see him,” She said she's amazed that he can manage to take apart and put back together all those little screws and pieces. The last one took him almost two years to complete.

Lupton is a member of the Cash Registers Collectors Club of America, which has about 130 members, he said.

The collecting bug has even caught on with Lupton’s two daughters. Maggie, 9, collects key chains from all over the U.S., while Emily, 12, collects antique pins.

Lisa Allmendinger is a reporter with AnnArbor.com. She can be reached at lisaallmendinger@annarbor.com. For more Saline stories, visit our Saline page.