Three Potato Four sometimes has large vintage letters and things like that, however they are pretty pricey (IMO) and also tend to go fast.

Love the table with the saw horse base and glass top- where can I get them? I hope it's not a budget buster.

I have been looking for some giant numbers/letters and can't find anything that's a) within my budget or b) just right.

So I bought a jigsaw and I'm going to make my letters myself and distress them to look like the real deal. Sure, it kind of bums me out that they won't be the old ones that I have wanted, but most of the guests in my house would have no idea anyway.

lawnmowr, the picture is from West Elm....

See, that picture is a good example of my issue with West Elm as a whole. It looks awesome and I would totally want my office to look like that. But the moment I get into the actual store and start looking at the pieces individually, I realize I don't really like any of it well enough to want to buy them. *sigh*

As for large letters, found a couple of things:

Paper mache letters (cheap, but maybe not the look you're going for): http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?ref=sr_gallery_20&listing_id=16291159

You could buy them from a sign maker, which is slightly pricey but totally customizable: http://www.woodlandmanufacturing.com/aluminum-letters.asp

Or I found a couple of hits on ebay. Though with those letters you may have to do the distressing yourself.

Browse the vintage furniture stores on 14th street and chat with the owners. Most of them will keep an eye out for specific things if you give them a reasonable budget. Maybe not cheap, but authentic.

~k

Ebay.

And Anthropologie used to have smaller zinc letters.

you could also check out ebay

Anthropologie still has small and oversized zinc letters:
http://www.anthropologie.com/anthro/catalog/category.jsp?popId=DECORATING&selectedProductSize=&navAction=poppushpush&navCount=1&pushId=DECOR_ACCESSORIES&itemCount=-1&id=DECOR_ACC_MONOGRAMS&selectedProductSize1=

Also, Urban Outfitters has some enamel letter (not sure of the size)

I actually just bought a huge "w" at Michaels for a dollar. It's MDF, but I'm going to paint it.

Though they aren't old, there always seem to be large wood letters in the home section of Marshalls, TJ Maxx and Homegoods.

I'd second Yellow Canoe's comment and make your own, at least to get you by. Scavenge some scrap ply from the street and tile together the image of a few big letters, numbers, what have you (use the rasterbater if you need a hand blowing images up), rock out, and repeat.

Unfortunately, the best places to look for actual vintage letters is the places that aren't selling them -- junk yards, etc. Any SHOP will charge an arm and a leg for them.

You could get your own custom made from Ponoko: http://www.ponoko.com/
I've not had anything done there my self but a friend of mine got some amazing result from there with a lamp he designed.

Sometimes the Brass Knob on 18th street has things like that, or Millennium on U st. but being so cute, they get grabbed quickly!

I would like to find these letters, too!

I just found a great site that sells them. They are several thousand dollars but they have fantastic close-ups if you want to make your own.

1stdibs.com

We specialize in nothing but large letters at Bay City Cargo in Belfast Maine. We have about 10,000 or so of them! :) Mostly these are the metal-plastic letters that were on movie theatre marquees. Check them out at www.baycitycargo.com or call us at 207-338-1975 anytime.

We sell vintage sign letters primarily from old store fronts. All of our signs have the electric and neon removed and are ready for hanging or re-lighting! Check us out for very old, vintage items AND slightly used, beautiful letters!

typos.etsy.com