Primarily Petroliana Shop Talk Forums Shop Talk Petroliana Forums General Petroliana Discussion Esso Kerosene sign from India

A few months ago I saw an ebay add for an Esso Elephant Kerosene sign, you know the one. it had a very low opening bid. I remembered I have seen the sign listed for 600.00 then I looked and saw the sign was from a dealer from India, so naturally I was very skeptical. I asked lots of questions from reputable sign dealers on what does the real thing look like, and how to spot any fakes. Long story short I bought the sign for under a hundred ,had no problems with shipping and I have to say I truely believe it is legitimate and not fake. I have taken it to other antique guys and everyone believes it is original. I emailed the seller and he said he had people all over India looking for the signs for him, but am I missing somthing, is there a diference between the ones from overseas from the ones in the US??

You'd have to have an original to compare it to. Personaly, I wouldn't buy anything from India or the Far East countries. If you are going to buy foreign, ask yourself "why is this in English and not the county's native language". Of course, a sign could have come from a military base or similar establishments. It's just not worth the risk to me. Now I wouldn't have any proble buying from a member of Oldgas that resides overseas. Like Claes (Fast66) I hope it is real for you.

Hi- Im pretty sure that there never was a US Elephant kerosene sign- when this sign first showed up in Collectors auction Calalog call in auctions- early 90s- went for a bout 7-800- then a lot of them started to appear that drove price down- late 90s I had about a dz of them and could not get more that about 350-400- As far as I know all the originals said Bengal enamel in lower left corner- then a lot started showing up without the bengal Enamel that seemed to be a little material-Still a good looking sign with edge wear- chips etc- either a very good repro or a change in the manufacture of sign-Possibly a couple of the more knowledgable sign guys like Ron Bettin or Butch Greer on oil gas could tell you more- hope this helps- thanks don

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Wanted 5 quart cans

As for as the listing being in English and not in foriegn language, I know a lot of reputable dealers from overseas that I have bought items from because the US market is the largest in the world and it only makes sense to target your ads where the money is, we have the most disposable income overall in the world. This sign in paticular has the Bengal Enamal on it, and is fired on porcelain with a couple of small chips, if it is a fake it is the best one I have seen. I wonder if the Elephant has anything to do with India, because the elephant is a symbol of India, also I know they do use a lot of kerosene, for heating and cooking. Did perhaps Esso use the elephant to target customers in India?? if anyone can shed some light on this I would be interested in hearing.

I'm not surprised at all that the sign has english on it. In India, the english language is everywhere, due to the british influence (and occupation) that ended in the late 40s i believe. If you travel to India (and go to decent-size towns) you will not have any problems at all if you only know english. I've got a friend from India, who just came to the US for the first time every a year ago. He speaks english better than my redneck neighbors, and we have a lot of fun terrorizing the town in his Mustang...

The elephant is a major symbol in India, and it also wouldn't suprise me if that porcelain company, with a name like Bengal Enamel, is located there as well, and fired the signs for Esso.

Wes

I dont know for sure but it makes since to me.

I also bought a esso sign for india years ago, they are legit. My sign came in packaging that was woven together is cloth and string covering balsa wood with styrafoam. It was a great deal for a little sign. I think with shipping I was into for $100 or less.

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Scott
Wanted- Powerine and Powerlube items!

Elephant Kerosene was a brand name used by the Standard Oil Trust prior to the anti-trust break-up. As mentioned above, it was only used outside the U.S., probably in the 1890-1911 time period. After the break-up, at least Standard of New Jersey (Esso) and Standard of New York (Socony/Mobil) continued to use the brand name for a number of years. Any Esso or Socony Elephant kero signs would have been used overseas, but could have been made either here or in a specific foreign country.....in some countries making high quality porcelain signs wasn't really an option, so they were "exported". In countries like India signs were made locally.

Richard