Primarily Petroliana Shop Talk Forums Shop Talk Petroliana Forums General Petroliana Discussion Future value of gas collectibles

Hope I did the quote thing right...
The wife of one of Wes' co-workers came over one time, looked in our showcase and said "What's Sinclair?" LOL!

Lots of good points. In my opinion, there will always be a group collecting Petroliana because it appeals to different people for completely different reasons. There are some who like collecting things from their "glory days". Some go hog- wild for anything connected to the automobile and some appreciate the beauty of some of the pieces.
My son is 18 and he and his friends are really into muscle cars. My daughters (16, 14) each bought a Red Crown Tee shirt from Old Navy and I didnt think they had the slightest interest in my globes. Kids are paying attention whether we realize it or not.
As for prices? I agree with whomever made the point that quality pieces and rare pieces will always appreciate. The market will have its ups and downs, but will always trend up over the long term.
Perhaps this is an appropriate question for a new post, but what can we do to get more people into the hobby, especially younger people? I stumbled upon this hobby by accident. I had no idea that there were so many nuts out there who would spend lots of money on a gas globe, sign or pump. Now Im one of them.
John

Vermonter and everyone - butter churn was the first thing I could think of. But you are correct we need to get more younger people invloved. At this point we may be in charge of our own destiny.

I recently mentioned something along these lines in an email to Richard Weir (Pegasus), wondering if the items that I'm paying good money for these days will still be worth something in the future. That week I had purchased a Mobilfuel Diesel plate and a hard to find Magnolia Lubrite quart. I am 32 years old, and collect Mobil for a couple reasons. I love the Pegasus design and have since I was a kid, and my favorite era is the 1930's to the 50's, when these companies were in their hey days.
A lot of the seasoned collectors I know at one time worked for the company they now passionately collect. Richard worked for Mobil. A local collector friend Dave Rowlison delivered for Marathon, and he collects Marathon items. I think there will always be those that will collect these items due to their association with a particular company. (As long as we still have gas stations and oil companies in 50 years!)
Another aspect I look at is that although we collect petroliana in particular, a lot of the items fall under a much larger catagory we all know as advertising. The objects we collect, any way we look at it, were never meant to be permanent fixtures in this world. When you look at the prices of century old advertising items, there is still a general appeal and a market for it, even though those products have not been available for 75+ years. With this in mind, I feel that there will always be an appeal with Old Gas memorabilia. Maybe us 30 somethings that are collecting this stuff are out of our demographics as far as interests, but I feel in a way I am preserving the past for the future generations. That I am happy to do, so even if it isn't worth much in 40 years, I'm happy to preserve it. In the days in the not too far future when my nieces get old enough to ask me what an oil can is and when were those used, I will be able to say, "When I was a boy, oil came in cans, not plastic bottles......." Have a good day all,
Darin

Interesting comments by all. I'd ask you all to name the most knowledgeable person you know in the U.S. with regard to gasoline pump globes. Scott Benjamin & Lonnie Hop come immediately to mind.....followed very closely IMO by Aaron Hop. Don't know Aaron's exact age, but he's still in college.....so probably 19-21. And I've heard Lonnie say more than once that Aaron's the one with all the knowledge locked up there in his head.....something about old age and brain farts!!

With folks like Aaron, JJ, Darin, Tara & Wes, Scott (quartcans) and a host others I see here on Oldgas and at shows and auctions(that's people 25-35 years younger than me), I'm confident that when it's time to auction off MY stuff, there's gonna be lots of collectors out there that will bid high and often to grab it all up. Right now's probably not the best time to do that, but 5 years down the road..........?

Richard

The one thing I didn't see (and I could have missed it) was the need for each of us to cultivate an appreciation for the things we find so attractive, satisfying, etc. in one or more young people in our lives. As someone mentioned the youth of today collect nothing nostalgic. Quite likely this is because of the life-span of things in their lives as compared to those yhat were in ours growing up. They are inundated with objects that they change out more often than we let go of our old underwear. Although not pettrolium related, here's how I started out my son.


By daverichey

That is Cool Dave!! Now you need to get him Gas Boy to put out front of his Place.

This is a stuff subject because there are thousands of gas and oil items to collect. I have been a gas collector for about 13 years now and I have seen ups and downs in price for items. I buy what I like, if I resell it latter for more than I paid fine, if not, that is the way it goes. There are also allot of nice people in the hobby which really adds to the enjoyment and quite a few young collectors. I have also seen interest from my car collector friends, that usually starts with one gas pump and well you know.

Never fear-I've bumped him (and me) into petroliana. Unfortunately, this pic was about 14 or so years ago and he's now a college freshman.

Next time you're at a show take note of what age group is doing the buying. There are exceptions like Wes, Tara, and Aaron, and even several guys in their 30's, but the majority of pertoliana collectors are in the 40-65 range. I think prices will remain strong for a number of years, and the really high end stuff will continue to command strong prices for a very long time. But the low to mid range stuff will decline in value as aging collectors sell out.

There are a number of reasons why younger people aren't involved in the hobby. Some have been mentioned already. The escalating prices that have caused many to view their collections as investments can actually price the younger folks right out of the hobby!

Gas and oil is one of the few consistent things that hold their value, Other collectibles like battery op toys, books, bottles etc are slow or dead right now at least for me. Other advertising if old and original and good graphics like coke, soda etc still do good if nice condition. Pumps very good. Motor oil cans have to be good graphics unless real rare as I have lost money on common or average looking ones. Early and rare gum machines, vending machines good.

I was going to bring up the same point way earlier in the thread when posting about common stuff declining in value as time goes on. IMO, the can market is not nearly as strong for the common stuff as it was even 5 -6 years ago. The ultra clean and rare cans still continue strong. Once again, IMO, that's an indicator of what could happen as a whole to this hobby.

Vermonter hit the nail on the head with the "How do we bring more collectors into the hobby?" I've been wondering the same thing.
Has anyone on Oldgas ever done speaking engagements or worked with Scout troops? If so, I'm wondering how it worked out.

Also--
IMO, I think prices will eventually go up if the oil situation gets bad again. I think there will be nostalgia among the millennials for a time when you could pop down to the gas station and buy enough gas to go driving around in a private car. But I don't see prices going up until these people hit their late 40s or 50s.

Maps, I think, have enough of a crossover appeal to historians and geographers, that they will at least hold up in price. I hope.

Oil and Gas memorabilia is a relative young collectible. Realisticly maybe 30 years old? Take a look at some older areas of antiques/collectibles their trends might lend insight to where this hobby is going.

I don't have enough diverse knowledge to make an informed analogy. However, I would say that in ALL specialty areas of collectibles the lesser condition, less desireable or common items have modest gains in value and poplularity with age. The extraordinary pieces will increase substantially over time.

Even with an aging collector base and little infusion of new collectors the best items will be highly valuable in the near and distant future. Personally I see the extremely graphic, colorful, rare items entering into the area of "art" and not advertising thus getting into "big" money or high investment ranges.

If I were looking to collect something for investment or with future value considerations, I would buy automotive signs. The car hobby is never going away (taste may change, but there will always be car buyers). Otherwise, I would and will continue to buy what I like....small independent Oklahoma oil company stuff mixed in with high quality globes and signs when they can be obtained.

I have found people collect things they relate to. Once the folks are gone that remember the old gas stations, Thats when the value will decline drastically.
Look at Glassware and China, 10 years ago it was selling at our auctions piece by piece, Today, those collectors are dead and gone. We sell glassware and china by the box now.
Lets look at the antique and classic cars. Today a 1929 Model A at auction brings, $35,000. Then a 1969 Plymouth Road Runner at auction brings $135,000. The guy that remembered the Model A is dead. The guy that remembers the Road Runner is in the prime of his life, and by golly he is gonna have one.
Just my obersvations