I have been collecting for a few years now. I keep hearing the same thing being said "all the good stuff is gone. Its sitting in peoples collections." It does seem like when i meet an experienced collector he wants to push all the common stuff off for sale but when it comes to the good stuff, its always NFS. Of course i dont blame Anyone for this. I have pieces I would never sell. This is just a question i am posing to everyone.

How much do you guys agree? Is anyone locating items that are truly rare, hard to find with any real frequency? Where have you found the best pieces in your collection? If you have picked up any really good pieces lately i would love to see it!! Inspire me. Show me it's still there to be found.

No not really IMO (FREQUENTLY,NO)and I speak of items not already in someones collection
since we are in the auction business,when your called to go look at an estate,you never know what your going to see and even find better stuff once you start digging it all out!
And they may not believe it's worth anything.And this goes for any kind of collectible...I am still a believer that the whole barn-find/American picker thing is way out of hand,people spending stupid because of something they saw on TV.

I still occasionally find stuff not just petro at bargains worth alot more, a few years ago I was quite lucky with a few signs. Last few years its gotten harder but I don't travel as much since the high gas prices so maybe thats why. I hate to go to antique malls and all the good signs etc hanging on the wall are NFS and the stuff for sale is junky repro glass, cookie jars etc, never the gas oil signs or road signs. At an antique mall I believe the stuff should be for sale not there to make you wish you could get it and never can.

While I do agree a large amount of the good stuff is in collections, I also think there are still good items out there to be found, rare items too. You see them posted on BOTW every so often, when a member chances upon a scarce item that they didn't expect to find out in the wild.
Frequently? No, I don't think any "rare" items are picked up with frequency, that's why they are rare! I don't really expect to go to antique malls/shows to find old gas stuff any more as everyone is an "expert" and the prices are ridiculous more often than not. If you expect to find harder to find items these days you have to do lots of networking, advertising, etc. to get the word out you're looking for this stuff, like everyone else is doing. 9 times out of 10 it's going to be common stuff, but you never know when that rare item is going to show up. Good luck on the search!
Darin

Here is something to think about.

What are everybody's thoughts on the quality of items at shows? Seems to me that in the past five or so years the amount of good items has decreased.

IMO with easy worldwide access to online bidding, the better items will continue to go to auctions where the seller can maximize their profit.Most shows or antique stores are filled with the run of the mill items and over priced low grade product.

Posting ads in the paper is a great idea or on craigs. you will have a bunch of junk calls/emails but every once in awhile you will get a good hit and score some neat stuff.
So no it is not all dried up.

There is still a lot of great stuff out there.
The issue to me is just that it's getting more expensive.......

...I've said it before: people have been complaining about this since the first gas show I attended 17 years ago...

I have to say it always seems like the stuff is getting harder to find but then I find a great piece. I think there are a lot of variables in collecting. As a collector your taste changes over time. Your expectations of quality also change as time goes by. When I got into this hobby which was not long ago....i thought finding anything such as a simple can was a nice find. The older collectors had less competition which made it easier to acquire some nice pieces.....but they did not have the internet.....once the internet hit some pieces that were thought to be rare turned out to not be so rare. There are many types of people in the gas and oil sector.......there are the true collectors, the dealers, the wanna be pickers ect. The competition is high...hence the prices go up and the supply shrinks. I have thought about getting out of the hobby many times. Finding quality pieces at affordable prices is very tough. Everyones thinks they are an expert because they can look up what a sign sold for at xxx auction. My personal opinion is that prices in this hobby are based off preception which is whats driving the gas and oil hobby prices up and up. There are still quality items at fair prices out there. Building a great collection at todays prices is not easy. Prices on many items are not affordable for many people......but this gives you the drive....the drive to search harder, do more leg work, and find those great deals. Finding the items is a huge part of collecting. There are tons of items still out there waiting to be found.

Yes -It would stand to reason that the more people that are interested in this hobby, the less really good stuff to go around. Its not gone. Look at all the country store stuff that was so hot in the late 90's. It was tougher to find a nice sign at that time then it is now. You've gotta hunt and be patient. Look at hunting and fishing, the best hunters and anglers are patient and persistant -then you get better with experience. The guys that give up right away and say the fish arent biting go home with nothing at all. I try to be open minded and if I think something will be desirable to someone else, I'll buy it and try to make some money off it to fund the real addiction.

JimT I really like that frame of mind you gave. Thanks for the responses on this guys. It's an interesting perspective. I'm glad to hear that the general consensus is not frustration. I had a private message from another Olgas member earlier who told me that he found a piece he had been looking for for 12 years. That must've been exciting. That type of find would give us a thrill that you could never get if you found something impulsively. Anybody have any pictures of recent really where our unique finds they have had? I do watch the buys of the week and I've seen some great stuff. I would just love to hear any stories people would have of it.

WRONG.
As your Knowledge has increased so has the Quality of the stuff YOUR looking for. YOUR not Settling for Barn Hangers anymore, YOUR looking for Better/NOS Condition.
YOUR not going to find the Good/Better stuff watching TV [unless you are Known to pay Close to what the Finders are asking].

The Most Expensive thing in Most Collections is WALL SPACE! Offer a Fair price for a piece your wanting, that collector has other thing he would like to display. Just maybe more than the item your wanting.

A lot of the high doller items at the shows are never seen by most of the people at the shows. People network and give their friends first chance at stuff in the hopes that their buddy will do like wise.

As for the original Q, yes, there is still probably a lot of nice stuff out there as yet "unfound" but it probably takes more effort to find it. A lot of collectors buy something and hang onto it for years before they sell off their collection. So when something is found, it may go to one show and again be "lost" in someones collection for the next 30 years...

Everything in every collection will eventually be for sale.......you just have to wait 'til it is......then step up and pay what it takes to acquire it. Just like everything else in life (from cars to houses to women), the good stuff ain't cheap.

Richard

& the Women WON'T last as long as a Nice Sign.
LOL

Thats the truth. I just thought my wife was hot and wanted to take her out a couple times. NOw, Here I sit with two kids and a crossover SUV. What the heck happened to my life?? LOL. Do you guys that travel to collect see a regional difference? I am in Colorado.

I think uou have to take into account DB's comment regarding what grade you are looking for.I'm in New Mexico and will tell you that the 9.5 and better stuff is getting hard to find,particularly when you are after brands that had little if any presence in this area;Dixie and Champlin come to mind.

I will say this.It's a lot easier to network with other collectors who attend the big shows all over the country than it would be to travel a lot.I'm just saying you can't go to all of them,but you can get to know some guys who do go to a lot of them.That's where some of my good stuff came from.Good luck,

I too agree with DB's statement about the longer you collect, the better quality items you seek. When I first started collecting I bought every dirty, rusty, crusty old gas related item I came across in the shops or out of barns. Now I leave a good amount of those like items in the barn and don't bother dragging them home. When you're new to this, you want it all. When you get to know the hobby better, pick a specialty or brand, understand supply and demand, junk price vs. high quality price, you quickly find out the value is in the nice stuff. That is the case now as it will be in the future!

It's been a while since I've found some good stuff but I'm always on the hunt LOL. I have found some good stuff cheap but that was in the 1980's. DB's right I still have the signs.

It does seem harder to find good signs now because all my friends look all over for a few months and then show back up at my house trying to buy my stuff

It is drying up quickly...just like Coke, jukeboxes, etc. I have been going to Coin Op shows since 1985 and have seen the stuff disappear. When was the last time you actually saw old signs hanging on a building? If you can see it from the road...it will not last long. There were visibles, Coke "buttons", neon clocks, etc. everywhere 20 years ago in rural Georgia. Try to find them now. Collect long enough and you will see what I am talking about. Dave Jones

It's not all gone...It's still out there somewhere. The fun part of collecting for me is spending hours searching & never knowing when or if a killer piece will show up. Great discussion!

Yes it's all gone. Don't look anymore.

.... Really

... quit looking

... OK OK maybe there's still something left out there for you.



Check out my page on Facebook and you'll see it's still out there!

Pauls Picks

What Wes just mentioned is true. There are alot of major peices that exchange hands at gas shows that nobody knows about. For instance, a one peice Penn Drake globe sold at Columbus for $16,000 outside in the parking lot. Or the year before that when a wayne double display case pump (unrestored) sold for $30,000. As for the question at hand, my prediction is that in the next 10 years, we will begin to see some of the best petroliana ever made begin to surface because of the generation thats shall we say "cashing out and buying the farm." SAVE YOUR MONEY. Goober

Goober, it's been a while since a post made me wide eyed, but yours did it. You're not kidding about saving the money. The big boy toys cost a lot and you have to be willing to pay for them for sure.