Primarily Petroliana Shop Talk Forums Shop Talk Petroliana Forums General Petroliana Discussion A collection for sale

Gonna go see a collection up for sale anything worth looking at from these pics ?

Looks like there's plenty to look at!

Gulf signs on the wall are fakes. But, Looks like alot of cool cans.

As Keystone stated, other than the cans I don't see much of value. If all the models are the ones that they sell at Carlisle each year for $10.00 each, or are worn originals there isn't much else. If the models are worn originals, think of how many people you will need to find to just get rid of them at cost.

Let's just make an assumption. You are buying this collection to keep a number of the cans, sell off the rest, hoping you break even. Unless there are some cans there that are worth some money, I don't see where you will be glad you made this deal.

You may be looking at a lot of this collection for quite some time.

But, then again, all this assumption depends on what he is asking for it, and what else is there we can't see.

Jack Sim

A needle in the haystack at best....need better pictures as I see a few cans and maybe a couple of old pedal cars/tractors if they are complete otherwise as Jack says...lots of flea market stuff.

Try to get better pictures of the 2 gallon cans!

Grille shells, spot lights, pedal cars & tractors, toy trucks MAY all have decent value. Watch for condition issues and reproductions. Do your homework before you buy!
There are a lot of decent cans there.

Show us better photos please.

Thats all they sent me.

Late last summer I was hired to go from St. Louis to Palm Springs, CA to evaluate what was supposed to be a $2,000,000 collection. They had a website that showed a lot of the collection. When I got there, everything was up on the walls, (just like the cans you are showing on the shelves) clocks, signs, what wasn't on the walls was in cabinets, but they were all locked. I spent about four hours looking at hundreds of items, taking pictures of what I could, but having a feeling, something is wrong here.
I did prepare an appraisal for the auction company, but I basically told them, I cannot appraise anything I cannot touch. I could not tell if that Cleveland looking clock hanging 15' above me was an original or a repro.
Since this was my first rodeo my thoughts were, should I blow smoke up the auction house telling them this collection was worth $2,000,000, or should I be honest with them and tell them he may have spent $2 M buying this stuff, it was not worth that at an auction. I chose the latter.
I know this sounds like a lot or useless information, but take a good look at what the seller is offering you. I don't think any national auction house would touch this, so this means a local auction house. I estimate I have been to over 1000 auctions in my life and from my experience after the first hour they will be selling things by the box load.
I am experiencing something like you are right now, an old bar want me to purchase over 50 beer related signs, but the problem is I cannot find one that is worth more than $250, so regardless of what I pay them, I am looking for 49 other people to buy the rest, even if I break even with the first item.
In here or just about any hobby, what you are looking at is a bunch of "smalls." This is probably the hardest items of any hobby to dispose of.
As others have stated we need better pictures, but just stand if front of all this and ask yourself, "Am I going to keep all of this stuff," if so, buy it at a reasonable price, but if you intend to sell the stuff, you may be looking at some it when you reach my age of 80.

Jack Sim

A ton of smalls in those photos. If you're being offered an opportunity to 'pick' the collection you need to arm yourself with enough knowledge to know what to leave and what to take chances on and how you're going to dispose of anything you buy that you later decide you made a mistake buying.

The Ford grill shells can be found as cheap as 20 up to $80 at swap meets (except for the nicest straightest brightest examples which will bring more). Some of the toys might be worth buying, but the pictures don't show them well enough to say they are 40 or 100 or more in value. The pedal tractors are worn out meaning at most expect 50-80/piece value. Perhaps the white car is worth something but can't tell from the angle. And if you know nothing about cans and those offering know more than you do then you'll likely be having serious issues.

Take a tape measure and measure the signs, possibly the Gulf's and Texaco are 15" lubester panels. If you measure 12"(11.5-12) just leave em.

I do see some things I'd have to seriously look over though.

Depending on the seller's desire to be picked or to be rid of the collection you might do all right if armed with enough knowledge.