Primarily Petroliana Shop Talk Forums Shop Talk Petroliana Forums Showcase and Stories, Petroliana REMEMBER WHEN.....A LOOK BACK: JAN. 1995

Welcome to the first installment of "Remember When....A Look back". I think a hobby has finally arrived when the collectors of a history preservation hobby have their own history.I will attempt in these bi-monthy articles to reflect where we were 10 years ago based on issues of Check The Oil magazine. I hope everyone will enjoy looking back and reflecting on those times. And for the newer collectors, I think the pricing of some items will be very entertaining. Enjoy and now presenting January 1995

JANUARY 1995
The mag's front cover consists of a collage of very colorful and graffic matchbook covers from the Steve Perrault collection. In the Publisher's Note by CTO founder Jerry Keyser, it is interesting in that he announces contributing editor Scott Benjamin will no longer be writing for CTO, but has decided to start a "competing publication". As we know, this "competing publication" became Petroleum Collectibles Magazine.

MAILBOX: This section includes a recap of the 1994 3rd Oil Capital Gas & Advertising Show. No items or pricing was given. There was some results from the Robin Poole Auction in West Union, Ohio, which I will now list.
A rack of 8 generic oil bottles for $160
Sinclair 6"x36" sign at $450. This was the highest priced sign that sold that day.
The highest priced globe was a Shell clam shaped one piece (the very common one) at $625!!! It is noted "this globe could be bought over the phone in the $350-$400 range."
A "Fantasy" Dixie crossed flag globe at $325.
A pair of Sunray and Sunray Ethyl globes at $425 each. These are $1200-$1500 globes now.
5 & 10 gallon bulk cans $125-$150 each. !!!
Odd Texaco quarts $80
Repo Shell sign $55
Tiolene oil bottles $65-$75
Sinclair uniform on a mannequin $300
Frontier Fleet Fuel globe $175
MFA globe $325
Sparco single lens on metal $225
It is noted that the crowd was made up of bidders, NOT familiar with pricing in the hobby!

The Richfield Beacon Service Stations Part 1 This tells the history of the elaborate 36 stations with 125' towers that spanned the Pacific coastline in 1929. The towers were beacons for the early airplanes to use for navigation.
The Paper Chase by Steve perrault. This was an article on the "recent surge in popularity" of paper related collectibles into the mainstream of the hobby. What's "hot" is matchbook covers, calenders, photographs, ink blotters, postcards, and door jamb reminder stickers. Steve mentions oil change reminders that were hung from the throttle or chock knob. The "highly detailed Oilzum version has been seen changing hands for $30 plus!" I wonder what this item would bring today? $100+?
Oil Patch Russell by William Clifford. Covers the history and description of a crude oil/petroliana museum in Russell County, Kansas. The museum houses everything from drilling tools, gas pumps, globes to drilling derricks. The museum is located on the N.W. corner of the intersection of I-70 and Kansas Hwy. 281 (Fossil street). Is this museum still in operation?
Ramseier's Texaco by Michael Karl Witzel. This is an excerp from "The American Gas Station". It is the story of Ed Ramseier who opened a Texaco station in 1950 Colorado. It recalls the stations glory days and its demise after the 1973 oil embargo. This book is a "must have" for a collector
Early Gulf Maps, Just How Early by Dave Leach. This article is on dating the early Gulf maps from 1915-1929. This info will be presented in the near future via the Map of the Month segment in Shoptalk.

Now one of my favorite parts of "Looking Back". FOR SALE ITEMS I have included a cross section of items listed that had selling prices on them.

GLOBES
Conoco lens, one pair, red on white $150
Texaco lens for Gill body $90
Skelly "It's Better than Gasoline" 15" on metal $595
Midland 13" plastic $150
Skelly Diesel #1 Diesel #2 NOS faces for plastic body. $100 a pair.
National White Rose wide glass body $450
Skelly on wide glass $375
Skelly Aero-Max Ethyl and Sinclair Power X Superfuel on glass $425
Sinclair Pennant 13 1/2" single lens mint $175
Marathon Mile Maker w/running man in center 13 1/2" single mint $150
Browder 76 Regular $275
Kanotex Bondified Gill lenses $250
Texaco and Skychief lenses for Gill body $250 pair
Visible Gasolene one piece etched $750
Zephyr Regular and Ethyl on red ripple bodies $2600
Boron Supreme on glass 13 1/2" NOS $275
Dixie 13 1/2" NOS on plastic $175
Flying A Aero Type Gasolene, also Richfield Aviation 15" $2500 each
Tydol Ethyl $600 Tydol "Flying A" $400 Sinclair Dino $300

SIGNS
Gulf 6' porcelain $325
Atlantic Kerosene $125
Gulf curbside price sign. NOS 1950's. Changeable numbers. $375
Mobil 12'x5' lights inside, mint. $500
Genuine Ford Parts. Small oval porcelain. $275
Gulf Solar Heat single sided porc. 46"x58" $275
Pure Premium pump plate $20
Skychief pump plates $150 pair

GAS PUMPS, AIR METERS, LUBSTERS
Texaco Oil Cart completely restored. Double pumps, cart on wheels. Original signs. $750. This pictured cart had two 15" green T signs that look excellent. Just these two signs will bring more then $750 today.
Glass cylinder 10 gallon 12"x27" $400
Gilbarco air inflator w/pedestal base $225
Wayne 60 complete and straight w/globe attachment. $450
Bennett 756, Tokheim 39A nice condition $200 each
Wayne 60 w/deco top $375
Pure Pep ad glass for A-38 $150
Milwaukee visible complete $400 Milwaukee visible, some parts missing. $175
Boyle-Dayton 1918 air operated gas pump. Excellent restored condition with El Rico globe. $2000
Tokheim 10 gallon with original cylinder $600
Fry (Mae West) 10 gallon $800
Fry (Mae West) 5 gallon $700

MAPS, PAPER ITEMS
Maps 1920's $20 1930's $10 1940's $5 1950's $4
Gulf Safety Chek credit card slips, old logo. $2 each
Richfield 101 gas blotter, attendant and two pumps. NOS $12
Jenny oil change tags $3 each

OIL CANS, CONTAINERS
Valvoline, Shell, Gulf, Quaker State, 4 oz. handy oilers $9 each
Johnson Oil Co. 1 lb. grease cans. Orange/black w/hour glass-wings $35
Shell oil bottle (Imperial) $70. Havoline qt. bottle $65
Veedol 1 gal cans. 1920's $35-$50 each
Oilzum 1 lb. NOS 1950s $15
Shell Eastern bottles $100 each
Whiz Radiator can $25. Prestone Everready Anti-Freeze can $45
Zit auto dry-wash can. Early $165
Gilmore 15 gal. oil can, nice $750 OBO
Risolene Snowmobile oil. Full qts. Excellent cond. $15 or 2 for $25
Oilzum under seat service can $500
Gulf Supreme vertical gal. can. Pre-dated shield logo. Mint. $125

MISC.
NOS patches. Esso, Esso Service, Esso Dealer 4x6 ovals $3.50 each. 2x2 Mobilgas $2.00. 3x3 Mobilgas $3.00 3x3 Mobilheat or Mobilflame $3.00
Texaco banks by Ertl. Set #6 thru #11 $240
Conoco and Marland Ertl trucks. Complete set of #1 thru #3 plus "samplers" of #3. Eight trucks total. $225
Whiz top patch kits. Elves dancing. $35
Philips 66 Salt/pepper shakers. Square top $30, round top $35 per pair
Mobilgas S&P $50 pair
Texaco Jet Fuel tanker toy truck. Near mint w/box $235
Prestone porc. thermometer 8x36" $135
Texaco North Dakota tanker $75
Exide Battery display rack. NOS $150
Kimble Tire thermometer, wood 1930's $60
United Service thermometer. wood 4"x 15" $195
Esso S&Ps $30
1925 En-Ar-Co board game $35
Texaco 1950's credit card machine $30

This concludes January 1995. I hope some of you enjoyed this "Look Back" and that it may have brought back some fond memories. Until next time, remember "you don't know where you are going until you know where you have been".



[This message has been edited by Gary Drye (edited 01-01-2005).]

Gary...thats alot of typing. Thanks for taking the time and the look back.

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Hubba: GAS GEEK , OIL FREAK and humble moderator

[This message has been edited by djhubba (edited 01-01-2005).]

Great job Gary. January of '95 was when I started collecting.

Thanks Gary!
It is funny that you posted this now. I was going though some boxes while the wife was gone this week. I found a big stack of Check The Oil mags from about 1996-2001. I got them from a buddy in So Cal. I pulled them out of the trailer and went through them the past few days.
I learned a lot! It was a VERY different hobby in the 90's.
One thing I noticed was the pumps! There were SOOOOOOO many pictures from gas bashes that has the best pumps in them. I had NO idea there were SOOOOOO many cool clockfaces out there. The were tons of Sharmeters, lots and lots or wayne 800's and lots of double clockfaces. Several pics of big display pumps too! I did not know that at one time (mid 90's) you could go to a gas bash and see 2-3 double clocks, roman columns, and a handful of really rare clocks. (even on the West Coast)
It was an eye opener. Where are all these now? They are not being sold, at least not that I see. Are they in the collections of guys who know what they are worth now? Car guys who don't know what they have?
There are a lot more killer pumps out there than I knew of.
I wish I was collecting In the 1990's!!!!

Thanks Gary, It's interesting to compare prices from just 10 years ago. A Wayne 60 for $375! I wish I could turn back time and buy a truckload of them for that price.

Gary, thanks for the good work with this, your first installment. I'm still wet behind the ears regarding this great and crazy addiction, I wish I would've collecting 20+ years ago!!
Take care,

Neal

Ten years ago I was picking up pumps for scrap prices. The last Wayne 60 I bought was 7 years ago for $125 and it had a signal face plate. Times have changed. I'm glad I haled in all I could find. Richard

'Tis nice to remember The Good ol' days, but you also have to remember the wages you were getting then & the availbe cash you had to spend for toys !!

I remember walking past a TOK. 850 for $90, thinking THAT GUY IS NUTS. OH ! how times have CHANGED.

We never thought we would see globes selling for $5,000, or unrestored pumps for $1,000 +