PHILADELPHIA – Iconic signs removed from the Trump Taj Mahal casino-hotel in Atlantic City have ended up in the middle of a court fight.A Philadelphia recycling firm contends it bought the letters T-R-U-M-P from two signs awaiting disposal earlier this month for $250 and now hopes to sell them for more than $100,000, according to a lawsuit filed Friday in Common Pleas Court in Philadelphia.

But the firm — Recycling of Urban Materials for Profit, or RUMP — contends its potentially lucrative online auction was canceled after a sign company declared the letters had been sold without authorization.

The suit, which both praises the value of President Donald Trump’s name and notes his unpopularity in the casino city, seeks a court order to resolve the letters’ ownership.

The suit says RUMP markets and recycles “architectural artifacts and signage for profits.” It names as defendants Eastern Sign Tech and Trump Taj Mahal Associates, both of Atlantic City.

The defendants could not be reached for comment Saturday. A copy of the lawsuit was provided to the Courier-Post by Mount Laurel attorney Zachary Grayson, who represents the recycling firm.

Workers remove the Trump name from the sign at the entrance of the former Trump Taj Mahal casino in Atlantic City on Feb. 15. (Photo: Michael Ein, The Press of Atlantic City/AP)

According to the suit, two unnamed partners in the recycling firm were driving past the closed casino on Feb. 16 and noticed workers removing “the iconic TRUMP portion of the casino signage.”

One partner approached a worker “believed to be the foreman of the crew” and offered to buy two sets of letters, both spelling Trump’s name, that were lying on the ground.

The worker confirmed the partner’s belief that the signs were to be disposed of, according to the suit.

It adds the worker “recounted how the day before he was transporting a large ‘Trump’ sign on a truck for disposal, which was greeted throughout his travels in the Atlantic City area by rude gestures and insults.”

According to the suit, the worker agreed to the sale after calling a supervisor, and the partners “paid in full and arranged for the immediate pickup of the ten letters.”

A Philadelphia firm has gone to court in a dispute over ownership of signs from the former Trump Taj Mahal casino-hotel. (Photo: Courier-Post file photo)

It says the partners were loading the letters onto a truck when a security guard approached them.

“When the guard heard that (the) partners had purchased the letters from the sign company, the guard wished them well, expressing his personal opinion that they had gotten a bargain.”

The letters were taken to Philadelphia, where the recycling firm “immediately” offered one set for sale on eBay, according to the suit. “Within days, the bidding reached $7,500, with hundreds of individuals bidding or watching the progress of the auction to make later bids.”

But the suit says Eastern Sign, after learning of the auction, “sought to repurchase the letters, now claiming they were sold without authority.” It contends the security guard who had spoken to the partners “now claimed the letters were stolen and sought to involve the local police.”

The suit notes Trump has “jealously guarded his brand and successfully created a situation where his name or association with his name lends value to what might otherwise be an ordinary project.”

“Because of how closely guarded the Trump brand is, it is unusual for an item such as this signage to come on the market,” says the suit.

The value of the Atlantic City signs “is further increased by virtue of its association with one of Trump’s more notorious business failures.”

Trump opened the casino in 1990 but lost control of it during a bankruptcy.

The casino was most recently owned by billionaire investor Carl Icahn, who closed it in October. Icahn acquired it after the bankruptcy of Trump Entertainment Resorts, a firm once owned by the president.

According to the lawsuit, the sign has additional value as “presidential memorabilia.”

“In addition to the value lent by the Trump name, these signs are attractive to the collectors of casino memorabilia,” the lawsuit adds.

The suit argues the operator of the former casino abandoned ownership of the signs “by contracting for the disposal of the letters once they were removed.”

It argues that if Eastern Sign “cannot deliver title to the ten iconic letters,” it should be required to compensate the recycler “for the fair market value (RUMP) could have achieved by properly marketing the iconic letters at private sale or public auction.”