The iconic Sam the Record Man sign is real, and it’s spectacular. Except that it’s in hundreds of pieces, in the back of a tractor-trailer tucked away north of the city.

But it will rise again, according to Ryerson University officials.

Conspiracy theories about its fate have dogged the famous sign since it was last seen in public in 2008. Ryerson took ownership of it shortly before that, when it bought the Sam’s building that year.

On Friday, as part of a public relations blitz, Ryerson allowed 10 news outlets 10 minutes each with the sign. The Star pushed that to 15 minutes.

The rules of engagement were simple: See the sign, verify its existence — as much as can be possible with a bunch of glass tubes, transformers and other sign-related parts. It seemed to be all there.

There was one other rule: “We ask that in your reports you don’t share the exact location of the sign, in order to help keep it secure,” a Ryerson spokesperson warned in an email.

Not to worry, said the sign’s keeper, David Grose; the sign is locked up like a prisoner. The wheels on the tractor-trailer where it lives have been welded tight. And a bunch of cameras have eyes on it.

Plus there are the inherent difficulties of stealing a one-of-a-kind sign that weighs about the same as a killer whale.

But the Star can reveal that it is being held at Gregory Signs in Concord, Ont. — it’s on Google — under the watchful eye of its keeper.

One reason for the junket was to dispel the myth that the Sam’s sign won’t return to public view, said university spokesperson Erin McGinn, or that the university might be trying to get out of a deal it brokered with the city.

“Yes, it will be put up once again,” she said.

Ryerson had promised to re-erect the sign in exchange for the city not designating the whole building as historic. The city gave the university two spots to choose from: at its former location, where a student centre is being built, or its library just down the way on Gould St.

The university is working with the city to figure out the best location, as “it doesn’t really fit on either building,” McGinn said, adding that the university fulfilled its end of the bargain by trying hard to make it work at those spots.

The giant, neon-infused dueling records might be restored on a building at Yonge-Dundas Square. Or somewhere else — no one seems to know.

“I can’t wait to see the Sam’s sign back and bright. It’s the best sign in the city,” said Grose, an easy answer to an even easier question.

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