Primarily Petroliana Shop Talk Forums Shop Talk Petroliana Forums Showcase and Stories, Petroliana Every Dog has his day!!!! Marland OPE globe find!

Hello Old Gassers!

It’s finally my turn!
It all started when a customer of mine at work who is fixing up his Grandpa’s old gas pump contacted me about an auction sale he spotted with a “Marland gas globe” listed in the bill. He wanted me to go with him and check it out, as he is nervous about the real vs. re-pop debacle. I agreed to go with and check it out and said I wouldn’t bid against him. It turns out he was willing to spend $125.00 and that was it.

When we got to the auction I couldn’t believe my eyes as to what lay on the plastic card table. A one piece etched glass Marland Gasoline globe. My buddy throws it up in the air inspecting it and announces no cracks and that if he could get it for $125.00 it would work on his pump until he found something better.
He asked me what I thought and truthfully I was numb…… and mumbled yea “It’s a good one”

I got to stand and for about an hour watching people who knew nothing about globes juggle it around looking at it before the auction and it about drove me crazy! There was an old bayonet next to it and and a little kid started taping the globe with it… I was going CRAZY with anticipation. Let me tell you the bayonette got moved down the line!!!! I have never been so nervous in my collecting days….
I was also thinking what if nobody bid more than my friend would go… I agreed to not bid against him!
And with the crowd at this sale -that was a definite possibility!!!!!

Long story short he was out of the bidding in two bids and I stepped in and got the globe for a very reasonable price. The thing is mint glass wise with not so much as a flea bite. Absolutely mint! There is a cloth gasket type tape around the base to cushion it. I carefully removed it to expose a makers mark of
Solar Elec Company, Chicago
Patents Pending
Which is embossed ever so slightly into the glass at the base- upside down to the rest of the globe.
The paint is all original with one face better than the other.
The inside is filthy with dirt which I will be carefully be removing……
The exterior is going to remain untouched with original patina!
I Still cannot belive this find!

In the end my freind was happy I got the globe and even happier when I gave him an old white crown globe I had laying around for a finders fee!
Better pics to follow

Great globe!

great find!!glad ya got it!

Thanks Guys! and also thanks to DB & JJ for thier $.02 worth!

WOWSER! Great find and great story! I especially liked the part where you had to watch the kid with the bayonet, tapping on the globe! LOL I could picture the whole scene in my mind! I think that was great that you gave your friend a finders fee too. Congratulations!

Let me tell you~ I can't say how nerve racking it was.... just seeing a globe like that laying down on a table in the middle of a bunch of non petro stuff was a total rush in and of itself!

Great find! I know exactly how you feel, because I've witnessed the exact same type of tension watching buffoons mishandle, tap, and molest globes on hay racks full of junk. You're right - it's nerve-racking!

It think that cloth tape on the bottom is original - I've seen it before on NOS globes.

Wes

The kid with the bayonet is CLASSIC.

Happened to me as well...a Chevy Claock in my case though, not a MARLAND OPE!

happy for you--

Great globe and Awesome story.
Mike

Cool story and globe

Just out of curiosity, what is the value of a Marland globe?

Are you asking me or the globe experts??? lol
I don't really know ~ other than it wasn't much last Saturday!Lol
Hopefully its not an indicator as to the direction of the hobby!
Seriously....
I would like to hear some opinions as to the value but really would like to know exactly how rare it is? I really don't know much about the one piece globe market... Is this a globe seen much? I have some globes original and re-pop but my collection is very "low brow" compared to this one. Also would like to know more about the Solar Electic Co. Chicago.
Any info would be appreciated and thanks again for all the kind words from the old gassers! I am planning on Iowa Gas this year so I hope to meet you guys in person!
Jim

I would think it would be in the neighborhood of $2000.

Wes

I have paid $2500 and $3500 5-10 years ago for my pair. The $3500 was different with no outline ring and is a narrow body. The $2500 one is identical in style to the one pictured in this thread. The most I have ever heard of one bringing was in the neighborhood of $4200 at one of Seth's auctions, less than 5 years ago.

There are two different versions like the one being discussed in this thread...... a small "Marland Oils" which is harder to find and large "Marland Oils". This is the one with the larger lettering in the triangle.

I figured $3000 to a Marland or Conoco collector or someone who collected one piece globes.
$2500 does seem to be a fair number in my opinion.
I collect globes but don't collect the 1 piece globes myself. I am also not a big fan of metal body globes. I know call me weird. LOL

One pieces are more difficult to break. LOL!

They take a pretty good wack with a bayonette! If you notice in the pictures the bayonettes there to the right and then it's gone!!!! lol

Thanks! that's some good information to know.... What is the diferent between wide and narrow in the one piece globes?
I will post a side shot in the buy of the week tomorrow with some better pics!

There are three basic body styles of etched one pieces: wide, wide rounded and narrow. Yours is wide rounded.

Marland one pieces were for the most part wide rounded with the exception being the odd ball narrow one w/o the outline ring that I have.

Great story and find!! I went to an auction recently and they had a Sinclair Power-X globe with the "?" decal on it yet. The auctioneers helper makes the comment that it is a sinclair globe under the decal and proves it by pulling a large part of the decal off. DUHHH. I could not believe it. Someone made the comment you just ruined that one.

Keith

Auction in central kansas on a thursday about 2-3 weeks ago? If so, that was me stating that the auctioneer ruined the globe. I bought the red ripple.