I recently mentioned something along these lines in an email to Richard Weir (Pegasus), wondering if the items that I'm paying good money for these days will still be worth something in the future. That week I had purchased a Mobilfuel Diesel plate and a hard to find Magnolia Lubrite quart. I am 32 years old, and collect Mobil for a couple reasons. I love the Pegasus design and have since I was a kid, and my favorite era is the 1930's to the 50's, when these companies were in their hey days.
A lot of the seasoned collectors I know at one time worked for the company they now passionately collect. Richard worked for Mobil. A local collector friend Dave Rowlison delivered for Marathon, and he collects Marathon items. I think there will always be those that will collect these items due to their association with a particular company. (As long as we still have gas stations and oil companies in 50 years!)
Another aspect I look at is that although we collect petroliana in particular, a lot of the items fall under a much larger catagory we all know as advertising. The objects we collect, any way we look at it, were never meant to be permanent fixtures in this world. When you look at the prices of century old advertising items, there is still a general appeal and a market for it, even though those products have not been available for 75+ years. With this in mind, I feel that there will always be an appeal with Old Gas memorabilia. Maybe us 30 somethings that are collecting this stuff are out of our demographics as far as interests, but I feel in a way I am preserving the past for the future generations. That I am happy to do, so even if it isn't worth much in 40 years, I'm happy to preserve it. In the days in the not too far future when my nieces get old enough to ask me what an oil can is and when were those used, I will be able to say, "When I was a boy, oil came in cans, not plastic bottles......." Have a good day all,
Darin
