Primarily Petroliana Shop Talk Forums Shop Talk Petroliana Forums General Petroliana Discussion New Book on Repops?--Should Happen!!

Hey all you literary types! I haven't heard anything in the wind about a book on repops, so I thought I'd bring up the subject and maybe plant a seed in someones mind.
Now is the perfect time to do a book on this subject because the older repops are still fresh in everyones mind and generally known as to where they came from. Think about it, this would maybe create a new legitamacy for the repop industry and encourage them to be dated to produce some actual value. We all know that the older repops that were quality made and had dates on them, are going up in value. I just paid $500 for a reproduction sign that originally sold for $100 new and it was very hard to find!
The info for such a publication shouldn't be hard to obtain, as everyone in this hobby would gladly offer up any info they have, just to expose the repos and preserve the value of the old and original stuff! NOW when they're being produced is the time to be gathering this information to be used for a publication!
Think of all the possibilities! As more and more are produced, you would be able to bring out book #2 and Book #3 and so on and at the same time doing a service for both the collectible antique industry and the reproduction industry! Its mind boggling if you stop to think of all the possibilities!
I'm not the literary type and I don't have enough time left in my life to undertake a project of this magnitude but hopefully someone out there does! I want to be first in line to buy a copy and would gladly help with sales in my area!
What do ya think! ANYONE INTERESTED!!

I would like to see it happen to.

Sounds like a good idea to me !

Sounds like a great idea there Kevin. I think it would be a big book a lot of repops out there

While not interested in authoring a book....I have always had a desire to do a repo newsletter that came out monthly. I've got all the necessary connections with printing, direct mail, etc and a new website in the works about to be completed. I've always wondered if there'd be enough subscribers at a few bucks a month to merit the time involved. Lord knows, I've handled enough repos down thru the years....maybe publish a few "Dear Abby" type repo-related q & a's and show some pictures updating the newest phonies. Not wanting to compete with PCM or CTO who do regular, appreciated repo expose's, but a full page, double-sided color newsletter that focused on what was being discovered as fake would be cool.

K W & Seth, They are both Great Ideas. But I think the Monthly News Letter would be the best way to go, that way we can all be constantly up to Date with the Repops that surface on Ebay and Shows passed off as originals because sometimes only a few of these low numbered weathered or nicely done repops surface than they are forgot about for years until some one that thinks it is original liquidates there collection or passes away and the Family of the owners sell them as originals again. A book could not keep up to date as well with this issue I don't think. This News letter should focus on every arena of the Hobby from Signs, Globes to Oil Cans because everything is being Reproduced now days. Then a person could 3 hole punch the News Letter and put them in a 3 ring Binder for referance further down the line. Seth if you do it I will subcribe, So put me Down for your 1st. Subcriber....

Just My 2 cents on the Topic.

the trouble with a monthly newsletter is what is shown in January is never seen by someone who subscribes a few months later, Even if you had them all you would have to look thru all back copies to find something you "remembered seeing before. The trouble is not as much as the new repros coming out, (there is plenty of attention on them), It is the early repros that have aged and have been sitting in someones garage the for years, They are being "forgotten" that they were repopped
I think a book would be the best for identification of the repros known

I also agree with you KW, however to do it right would take a huge commitment ...i have thought about it for years & just do not have the time or connections like Seth.....I agree with Seth on the newsletter however think a compilation of all the photos compiled into book form every 5 years or so would be a great addition....These newsletters or books should not be limited to the gas & oil hobby as there are many of us who collect other unrelated advertisingm maybe even have a repo advertising clock section....its a great idea & somebody will eventually do it.....

A book (ask Jack) is just SUCH a commitment of time AND capital, without any guarantee of recovering your investment NOT TO MENTION making anything for your time. A newsletter would still be work, but in short bursts with low capital investment, and it would be nice to be able to always diligently call out each new fake as it comes available.

Although this is something that I just casually threw out there, I would be willing to start the project up (the newsletter) if the support were there. Again, I have a new website currently finishing up url www.okautomobilia.com. This is where I will be selling merchandise (original only, contact Don for the new stuff), talking up my auction, & blogging. There is no reason why the newsletters couldn't be archived for subscribers to search. Interesting thought....

Just asking, why not do it electronically vs. using print media? If you had the capabilities to document and web host pictures you could charge customers a fee to access the web content. It could be stored on a server with the ability to easily update and expand coverage of repops as more info becomes available. It would certainly give others an easy way to contribute their expertise. If you needed a hard copy, simply print it off on your own printer the information desired. I would think it would be cheaper to get started and easier for the end user to get up to speed regardless of when he buys his subscription. Just a thought.

I am not a negative person. If I was I would never had put the investment in all my literature and the time it took me to write the books that I did, but the biggest thing I see that will prevent this from happening is how can anyone put in writing a statement that a certain item is a reproduction without having first had that item in his hand and has assertained that it was a reproduction. Can you imagine the work it would take just to get each of these items to inspect, and what happens if you make a mistake.

Years ago there was a lot of excitement about repros, there was even a meeting (at the CTO Convention in Columbus) about forming a group, club, whatever, to get a lawyer to go against reproductions and their makers. I can't remember my exact words, but I told the group they were not thinking this through. In my opinion I felt there wasn't a lawyer who would take this on, nor was there enough money to pursue this idea, and who was going to control all this.
The meeting broke up, I walked out the door and over to Ron Scobie and we were talking, when a guy came up to me and introduced himself and congradulated me on being the only person at the meeting with the b...s to say anything about the idea. It never got off the ground because it wouldn't work.

One more thing, anyone thinking about writing a book or writing anything, give me a call before you spend a dime. 314-427-3943.

Jack Sim

I agree with Ohio Oil, I think this website would be the best place for it. Instead of printing a month flyer I would purpose paying a month fee to access a part of the website call "fakes". I would love to see Jim get paid more for all of his work. If you want access to this part of the website pay for if not don't. I would supply Jim or whoever takes on this task with all the photos that I have or I take in future of "fake" items. I take as many or more photos than anybody in the hobby.

As Ohio Oil said it needs to be printable. That is just my two cents.

WOW! Looks like there is a lot of interest on the gathering of information on these repops, at least in some fashion or another!
I really like Seths idea as it would be a way of cataloging them and after enough information was gathered, it could be consolidated into a year book!
Another thought is the legalities of the whole thing and knowing for certain that something was produced after a certain chosen date, although I think information would flow in so fast that it would be easy to document the start of production on a lot of these repops.
Seth---If you start it, I will be out there in the country selling subscriptions for you! I really think it would be a winner and you would have no worries over loss of capital.
Nothing against the electronic media but this would be something you could carry with you on road trips and have constant acess to. Its hard to beat printed material for a reference guide!!
Lets hear some more opinions!

It would be very simple to offer a newsletter either thru e-delivery or regular mail, and fairly simple to archive them online for future reference. So to that end, it could work however the end user wanted it to.

As for the legalities of calling something reproduction, the main thing would be not to focus a SPECIFIC singular item owned by a SPECIFIC single person. It couldn't turn into a place where disputes between buyer's & seller's were solved. For example, right now, there is no doubt the T-53 little pegasus are fake.....and if you printed that these were hitting ebay and the shows by the hundreds and are in your opinion probably fake, all you've done is offered your opinion...I'm no lawyer, but I'm not sure that any one single person could sue you for it. I mean, what if I had Chevy Truck newsletter and I said that in my opinion Ford's were crap....is Ford going to sue me?? What if I reviewed movies and I said Gran Torino sucked (which it doesn't by the way)....all I've done is offer my opinion.

Anybody else think this way or am I being naieve?

Good point Seth. Your right it would be just opinions unless you showed an original pic of one and showed why and how it is a fake. There will be more time involved and just 1 guy saying what he thinks... well that just doesn't work. We all know what the out come of those are.