The piece de resistance is the brass John Hancock of John Wanamaker. It was the first sign given to McGillin's when Wanamaker's went out of business in 1995.

Wanamaker opened his flagship department store a year after McGillin's started up, but it was unlikely he ever slammed a pint there—Wanamaker was a strict Presbyterian who didn't drink, making his canonization in a tavern an ironic one.

Near to the Wanamaker's sign is the Strawbridge & Clothier "Seal of Confidence," which is imprinted with a man dressed in colonial garb and a Native American in headdress shaking hands in what is presumed to be a sign of friendship. Or the transmission of small pox.

While most insignias were donated by store owners, some were salvaged from demolition, including tiled signs for Lit Brothers and Gimbel's, which initially hung in the subway.

Will the sign from the recently closed Lord & Taylor on Chestnut Street make the cut? Owner Chris Mullins doesn't think so because they aren't a Philadelphia institution. And it would mean taking precious wall space away from one of Philadelphia's great capitalists, who probably never took a sip of alcohol in his life.