Primarily Petroliana Shop Talk Forums Shop Talk Petroliana Forums General Petroliana Discussion Handy Oiler collecting

Hello all. I posted my introductory post over on he newbie thread so Hi to all you collectors out there. I need a little assistance with finding information on the little 4oz cans of handy or home oilers. I bought one last month and I'll be danged if Im not already up to about 12!. I think they are pretty cool. Im not a gas collector or anything but these little cans are with certain colors and logos I find to be a cool collection. I ordered the price guide from Amazon but from what I have read in one post its not much on way of history and such. Can anyone guide me towards a person or site that discusses these types of oilers if there is such a person or place. Thanks much,
Jack

About 25 years ago I discovered these little cans. At the time I was attending as a vendor, about 22 petro shows per year. When I wasn't selling I was looking for gas pump literature and handy oilers. In those days the guys wouldn't even put them on their tables, they just had them all in a box. I just asked them how much they wanted for the whole box. After every show I would go home with 20-30 cans. My problem was I didn't have any place to display them, so about 10 years ago I gathered them all up and took them to Iowa Gas. I rented a room, told the house to remove everything except the bed and the TV. I had made display panels to show them all. I had over 500 cans with me plus over 300 duplicates. The first day I spent walking around handing out a flyer that explain what I would do. My room would open at 7 pm, and the first 25 guys could enter and as they left someone else could come in.
Right before 7 I looked out the hole in the door and they were lined always down the isle. There was no discounts the first night, and everything was marked with the price. We did over $7,000 the first night. The second night we offered everything with a 20% discount. We did another $7,000+.

Every year when I would set up at Hershey I would always look forward to seeing probably the biggest two handy oiler collectors. I can't remember their names, but they were both from Pennsylvania. The younger of the two had over 3000 in his collection and the older gentleman had around 2500 in his collection.

Now everyone displays the cans on their tables at all the shows, they have become a large collectible, it was nice to get into something when it was just starting.

The highest price I ever sold a can for was around $475 for a very old Texaco can. The lead tops are the older ones and the higher priced. I collected anything that was in that shape of a can, some only collect the cans that came from the oil companies. Pick which way you want to go.

Jack Sim

Refueler01-
Be careful! In no time you will multiply them by 100!

There are two different issues of "Got a Drop of Oil " a 1st & 2nd edition.
I haven't added any to my collection in several years.
I have limited my collection to 4 oz & smaller.


Dave

Hi Dave, nice collection. I think I will limit my collection to home oilers only and keep out the glove lubes and lighter fluid cans unless the logo is way to cool to pass up. The thing that attracks me is the color of the can and the logo pattern.

No doubt. Received my Texaco black and red tin yesterday in the mail.

Would anyone have a list of oilers or a photo library showing large collections?

You are asking too much. People don't buy my Gas Pump Identification book before they want to find out what kind a pump they want. They find a pump, then they want more info about it. There have been a few books about these items, but they have been just to show what they have collected so far. No one in this petro hobby has ever published anything as to why you should collect any particular item. This is up to you,

This is no difference than any other hobby, if you want to collect clam shells you go to the ocean. You are in a perfect place living in the Indiana location, in June head over to "Check to Oil" convention in Ohio. Just a little further head to Iowa Gas In August. Also in Indianapolis the shows around you. Just go, put some money in your pocket When I quit going to shows, I was either attending or setting up at 22 shows per year, almost one every two week end per year. From St. Louis, I came home from Hershey, refilled the truck and headed to a show at the infield of the Orland, Florida race track.

Scan up to the top of this page, click on "Events." This should inform you as to what is going around where you live. Sometimes, this might get a little out of date, but this is because the persons who are putting on these events, just do not let Jim know about them in advance, So..check this section often.

One more thing, unless you have more money than I do, all around you are items you can purchase. You don't want it, but because you have been a steady follower of Old Gas you have learned what others are looking for, so stick you neck out, buy it, post it here on OG, if it sells, you may have found a way to pay for the nest can you buy. If it doesn't sell, write it off, this is how almost all of is here on OG learned our first lesson.

I have been around this petro hobby for over 30 years, and I have witnessed many who have established what could be called fabulous collections. Almost all of them have started at the bottom, buying what they liked. Then they decided they liked signs/globes, etc, and picked this particular direction and made a really fabulous collection out of it.

Get out there an get your feet wets

At the nest show, just ask where Jack Sim is, and come in the room, I always have at least 60 cold Budweisters waiting.

Just ask Jolly John.

Jack Sim

Good show this month in Peotone Illinois. Set up is Saturday around 10 or so, open to the general public on Sunday. Cost probably $50 to get in on Saturday. Sunday is maybe $20 at 7 AM and then $5 at 8AM? Always a good show. A lot of dealers will haggle some on the prices. Always a selection of handy oilers there. The two "Got a drop of Oil" books show a lot of oilers but are no where near all inclusive. Probably 3000 to 5000 or so different ones out there? Nice little items to collect, they dont take up a lot of room and they can be bought for a couple bucks up to $hundreds, depending on the can and condition. I collect Sinclair stuff so I concentrate on those.
Good luck!

I also collect oilers, especially Mobil, my three favorite.
Steve

Thanks for the information guys. I will check out some of the events coming up. Being new to the collection of these items I did know if someone had created a history of them yet. I just purchased a glass oil bottle that is a 3 in One Oil Co. small bottle to go with the several 3 in one oilers I have. I think I am going to try my best to not collect all oilers just the ones I think have a good Logo or Color combo that I like. Probably will change down the road to a specific company but not yet. Thanks.

Jack Gaskins
MSgt Retired United States Air Force

I recently purchased a number of old automobile magazines, mostly 1910 and under, the oldest on is 1903. These mags are filled with ads. So my opinion is these cans go back to at least 1900. They were not always just used with automobiles, some cans even had leather treatment stull in them. I doubt anyone will write a history of them because no one knows who invented them, and the ads only indicate the reason you should use the product.

Jack Sim

That is a good idea. Might look around at halfprice books and see if they have any old magazines. Been searching the internet for photos of can collections but have not found any. Would like to see others collections.