Primarily Petroliana Shop Talk Forums Shop Talk Petroliana Forums General Petroliana Discussion Mobil Plate Questions, Need Help???

I bought some Mobil plates recently and have some questions for the Mobil experts out there.

First this Mobiloil plate. What was it used on and what time frame? About the size of a pump plate, but obviously wouldn't be on a pump since it's for oil not gas. Seems to big for a bottle rack as I know those were usually smaller than the pump plates.



Second, awhile back I posted this Mobilgas Special plate to verify that it was an original. The consensus was that it definitely was since it's the drop leg version and those haven't been repopped. The pegasus on this one is definitely more orange than red.



I just bought this one which is also the Mobilgas Special drop leg version, but the pegasus is defintely red and not orange.



As I understand it, the drop leg is a West Coast version of the Mobilgas plate, but what about the difference in color?

Thanks for your help!

Curt,
I don't know too much about the Mobiloil plate but the timeframe would be post WWII, but not into the 50s due to the "serif lettering".
Mobilgas pump plates changed to "sans serif" in 1946, Mobiloil cans changed to sans serif in 1949 so, my initiated guess would be 1946-48.


The Mobil red of the 50s was a rather light red, almost tomato (the repro shields are far too red). I have a couple of US plates with the blue border and the pegasus' are also quite orange on those (both are Ingram-Richardson).
The two plates in the pictures may have been made in different places due to the difference in color and also the differnce in "Gasoline". It is thicker on one of them.
My guess would be different porcelain factories.
have a great day!
Claes

[This message has been edited by fast66 (edited 04-15-2005).]

[This message has been edited by fast66 (edited 04-15-2005).]

Curt....I pretty much agree with Claes regarding the dates.......my Mobiloil pump plate like yours is dated 1946. As to how the sign was displayed, logic would say it would have been on a oil cabinet-rack or lubster-oil pump of some sort. You would expect the sign on a GAS pump to be Mobilgas, not Mobiloil, but I don't think it always worked that way. The Aumann auction in June will include a Mobiloil Aero pump plate similar to yours, and the owner found 2 of them on a GASOLINE pump in a junk yard in Mississippi. I would think the pump probably had a Mobilgas Aircraft globe and these 2 signs "advertising" that Mobiloil Aero was also available for sale. I have seen pictures of 1920's era gas pumps with Mobiloil signs or decals on them.

Regarding the orange color on the special sign, my guess would be fading caused by exposure to weather. That sign would most definitely have been red when new.....but sometimes the red fades after long exposure. All of my PP's are red, but the shade of red varies slightly when compared side-by-side. Again, Claes is probably right....the quality varies by manufacturer and even between signs made by the same company.

Richard

What's interesting is that the orange sign is very close to the color on my restored Mobil pump which was a Mobil color match, while the red sign matches my other mobil signs like the cookie cutter and the station sign.

Who knows, but both appear to be real and not repop.

Thanks for the help guys!