Primarily Petroliana Shop Talk Forums Shop Talk Petroliana Forums General Petroliana Discussion Where do you find this stuff?

Go to current operating business & ASK if they have any old/new signs they didn't/aren't going to use For Sale. If you don't ask, they will never know your interested. Ask if you can leave a WANTED adv. somewhere close to counter.
Find the coffee shop/cafe where the Older generation hang out in the mornings, let them know what your looking for.

Flash, he was a collector for almost a week. Till someone offered enough $$$$ for him to remove sign from wall!

I collect what signs I can for the right price. I do not pay retail. NO WAY! I find out what the going value for the object is, and I proceed to buy it at the lowest price I can. I do not "in the heat of the moment" buy anything UNLESS it is way lower than retail price. Since I know what the object is worth on the open market. I will buy some things just to resell them to fund my collection, but that is rare. Again it must be way under the open market value!

I collect 90% signs and 10% other gas related. If I had a building to put stuff in to, or build a 30's-50's gas station on property (which would most likely be never due to where I live) I would open my collection up to include all gas stuff. I live 3 blocks from San Francisco and all the homes around here are on 35 foot wide patches. Smashed in like sardines!

Thats right Dick ! Everything is for sale. Except my toys !

flash_1967
Everybody is a seller sooner or later,,collectors are lucky there are sellers ( or flippers as you call them )..

Thanks Wes. I try to tell people that a seller/flipper should be their best friend. Some dont get that!

Mike,
I know from my personal experience and a few others that a collector will pay sometimes way more than an item is worth. Just the nature of collecting... sometimes you get a great deal and sometimes you pay to much. Every ones wants to be cautious of what they spend but sometimes people put to much emphasis on wanting it cheap.

WE AGREE ON THAT JOHN....

Actually I think they are jealous that sellers/flippers make some money on them, but if it weren't for them they wouldn't find it.. COLLECTORS can't be everywhere and find everything,,, sometimes it's us sellers that dig stuff up for them..we should be thanked not critized for our hard work,,, LOL !!!!!!
( Actually I'm a collector/seller,,,) that way I can afford more stuff to collect,,,but Shhhh,,, lets not tell the die hard collectors that Bill....ha,ha,ha,,,..

99%* of stuff is for sale - dont care how rare it is, if someone wants it bad enough and has deep enough pockets, it will be theirs.

*heirlooms and one-of-a-kind things

That is the truth. That is why you need to be educated and patient. This website has educated me so much! I continue to be educated daily on here as well. This website is a phenomenal resource for information and "flippers".

I agree with the "flippers" here, if it wasn't for them, these items would not be here or anywhere up for sale. They would still be collecting dust somewhere.

I hate to correct you Bigtom,but you are wrong when you say "99%of stuff is for sale" regardless.You have to understand that to many collectors,collecting for the enjoyment of the hobby and preservation of history as aprimary motives,money is of little significantance.

I could point to several examples where very valuable pieces and/or collections are being donated to museums reater than being sold.A couple of examples have been posted on here.

Further,around here,I could name some collectors who have been asked to "just put a price on it" and responded "not for sale".Money can buy things from people who want money;it can't buy history from those who value it more than money.

My best donation this year, one of many, was a 1860's minute book, hand written for the buying of supplies, hiring men, building a derrick and striking oil. They named it the Drake Well.

AND DICK's 36B TOPS

I just sold two POLARINE bottles on Ebay for $132 for the pair, with original spouts and caps.
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&rd=1&item=150592047924
Ebay is good place to finds deals.
Or watch sites like ours. I sell most of my pumps from our site and a want list from customers.
Good Luck hunting!

Dick WHO?
ROTF,LMAO