Primarily Petroliana Shop Talk Forums Shop Talk Petroliana Forums General Petroliana Discussion Old Petroleum Industry Business Cards

Hi - I have a collection of petroleum industry business cards from the 1930's, 40's and maybe into the 50's. There are probably 60 or 70 different ones; none are pristine, but they're not falling apart, either. Some have logos - some don't.
Here's a list of most of the ones dealing with oil companies, refiners and distributers: Peoples Oil Company, Hugh Stewart, President, Nashville; Pennsylvania Refining Company, Butler, PA; Lion Petroleum Products, Southeastern Oil Company; Sterling Oil Company, Oil City, PA; Galena Oil Corp., Atlanta; Riddell Petroleum Corp, Houston;
Gulf Refining Company; Kendall Oil Company;
Crown Central Petroleum Corp, Memphis;
California Oil Company, New Orleans;
Placid Oil Company (Placid marked through and replaced with Hunt), Dallas; Continental Refining Products, Oil City, Pa; Pure, Beaumont, Texas; Pennzoil, local rep;
Lumsden-Herston Oil Company (Texaco Distributer); Chalmette Petroleum Corp, New Orleans; Delta Petroleum Company, New Orleans; California Commercial Co., (division of Standard Oil); Tiona Petroleum Co., Philadelphia; Acorn Refining Company, Cleveland Petro-Chemical & Construction Corp, Dallas; Cities Service (Magrath Oil Co.), Chattanooga; Shell (local lubricant rep);
Hood Oil Co. (Distributers for Standard Oil);
Tan-Kar Oil Co. of Montgomery; Atlas Oil and Grease Corp., Bradenton, FL; Billups Petroleum Co., J.S. Billups card, Greenwood, MS & Alexandria, LA; Republic Oil Refining Co, Atlanta; Standard Oil Company; Eastern States Petroleum Company, Houston; Bodie-Hoover Petroleum Corp (refiners), Chacago; Continental Refining Products (Oil City, PA); Hunt Oil Company, Dallas;
Canfield Oil Co. (lubricants), Cleveland;
Aaron Oil Co., Houston; Sun Oil Company, Jacksonville, FL; Ada Oil Company (Phillips 66,. Houston; The Texas Compnay, Atlanta Rep;
Deep Rock Oil Corp (lubrication rep), Chicago; Veneango Refining Co., Franklin, PA;
Continental Oil Co., Oklahoma City; Ethyl Gasoline Corp., New York; Atlas Oil Corp., Shreveport, LA; Peco Petroleum Co., Nashville; Allied Oil Co., Cleveland;
Coastal Petroleum Corp., Mobile, AL;
Pan American Petroleum Corp., Nashville;
Arkansas Fuel Oil Co., Cities Service;
Tide Water Associated Oil Co., Tulsa;
Southport Oil Corp, Birmingham, AL;
EI du Pont de Nemours & Co., Inc., Houston;
Southern Oil Reclaming Co., Anderson, S.C. The rest of them - about 30 - are cards from the associated industries - tanks, pumps, grease, etc. - even one from the Department of Revenue, Motor Fuel Tax Unit.

I've hunted all over the web, on eBay and on this site to see if there is any interest in this sort of thing, but I can't find any information, anywhere. That leads me to believe that there probably isn't any interest, at all, but I since I found this site, I thought I would ask.

Does anyone know if it would even be worth the time it would take to do the photographs and write an ad for eBay, or should I just pack them back up? I'm a jewelry designer, so this really isn't up my alley - I would appreciate any advice.

Thanks, Page

Page, if no one expresses any interest here within a few days, I'd list them on ebay. All of them as one lot or maybe two. I'd take pictures of the earliest (1930's) or ones with logos. Maybe about three pics per lot. List the ones you have in text and say you will send a pic of any that anyone is interested in. That would save some time from photographing 60 or 70 items. Good luck.

Hi Page,
I would be interested in a salesman or retailer business card for the "Michelin Tire Company" if you had one.
They were in business from 1907 thru the 1930 in the US.
Thanks,
Rudy

Hello Page, I am a collector of business cards and would be interested in the ones you have. If you could send photcopies of some, that would be helpful. Thanks, Ed
Ed Natale, Box 222, Wyckoff, NJ 07481

Hi Ed,

<<<<<<<<<<Ed Natale, Box 222, Wyckoff, NJ 07481>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

I tried to email you, but your box was overloaded so, I'll just post my response here:

I'll be glad to send you some photocopies. The easiest way for me to do it would probably be to
scan them - that way I can do a lot quickly. I have other types of business cards, also - some
railroads and airline cards, as well as cards from

I noticed that you gave your snail mail address; do you want me to mail the through USPS or is
it ok to send an email. Either was is fine.

I have one other type of item in that area, which might not interest you at all, but I thought
I would mention it. I have quite a few pieces of stationary with oil company letterheads from
the 30's all the way to the sixties. I'm not sure exactly how many different ones I have
because I haven't finished pulling them all together, yet, but, if you have any interest, I
could scan some of those, as well. Only a few of them are blank, by the way.

Just drop me an email and let me know if you want me to confine the copies strictly to the oil
and gas stuff, if you specifically want me to use snail mail, and if you want me to include any
of the other things.

Thanks, Page