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His Max return will be to sell 5-10 in the next couple years then wholesale the rest or change his ebay name/get a couple of buddies to sell a few more.
Don't take long for collectors to learn a stash has been found, then the prices will DROP.

Dick and Randy i definately hear what your saying and dont disagree. I think you are both right in your thinking. But, i see a person who is methodicaly selling an item that also has some suspicious qualities other than the way they are being sold. I beleive Its kind of hard for us to determine the best way or the way that seems to be on the up and up in this particular situation. If we dont know exactly how many signs this person actually has. For, getting rid of thousands would be a different story than a couple hundred. Just trying to give some food for thought. I could be completely wrong.

I don't know if this helps guys but when I check a sign to see if it has been clear coated, you just take a point of a razor blade and make a small scratch....if it's white it's clear coated if its the color of the sign it is not.

Randy, Dick and Kevin. Do you guys find his method for selling them to be suspicious? Or just another factor that makes this situation that much more confusing? Im interested to know what, if anything, do you take from seeing the signs being sold in this manner. Does it make you suspicious? Not make any difference? Or does it make you more likely to think things are on the up and up?

The owners of the estate were pieceing them out very slowly over the last few years and eventually sold the balance to the picker I mentioned. He, in turn, sold the whole group to one individual, so that he didn't have to mess with them.
I don't find find the sales method suspicious at all, as the retailer would be selling them in the manner he determined to be best to maximize his sales.
Sign condition and the fact that this bulk wholesaler would have 40+ of the same sign with questionable condition in his possession, are the only factors that have me suspicious. Even if they know that he was in possession of them for the last 30 to 40 years, it doesn't quite make sense? But then, there are a lot of things that don't make sense?

Those two links (above) show the same sign.
What is the era of this particular sign? The older the sign, the lesser the quality of the materials used to make them.
Although the circumstances and condition are unusual, it could be possible.
(remember the deal with all the no-nox signs not too long ago)

10 -12 years ago when i was into Cities there were several of these floating around . They were alot heavier than the original and the mounting holes on the flange were straight up and down. They were silk screened and did not have a clear coat.

I've been contacted by both the person that found these signs, and the man selling them on ebay. We discussed the condition issues and apparently, there are some in the group that did not have these issues. One of these gentlemen asked me to contact a friend of his that makes his living working with paint and restorations.
I did that and we discussed many scenarios that could have possibly happened to have caused this bubbling in the paint, with no real clear answer as to how it could have happened.
BUT, we did come to the conclusion that strange things happen to painted surfaces, and since it happened to this specific group of signs, and not random signs is probably more of an indicator of their authenticity, then the other way around.
If these signs had been reproduced for sale to the sign collectors of the world, they would not have been stored together and kept from public view for 30+ years, they would have been sold off as quickly as time permitted in order to recoup the costs of production.
There are some issues with the finish on this group of signs that will probably never be identified as to "WHY", so we can only use the other facts and circumstances to decide if they are "RIGHT" or not?
As I have stated before, these signs are right in every way, except for the finish and I can't explain WHY, or HOW they came to be this way. The fact that it seems to be limited to this group of signs is probably a good indication that it was either storage issues that relate back to the condition of the signs when they were placed in storage, or it was a batch issue stemming from the manufacturer? Its certainly nothing we'll ever be able to determine.
Coupled with the fact that they were effectively hoarded by the collector/jobber that had them, all signals would point to the fact that they are indeed OK, and are just some nice signs with condition issues.
Maybe I should never have brought my concerns to the table on these signs, but with a 5 year history of not knowing WHY, and having it bother me so much that I returned every one I ever got, I decided to bring it out! Its probably a good thing I did, because I sure feel a whole lot more confident about them than I did for the past 5 years!

great information and research Kevin. thanks

Great Job on your Research Kevin and I'm glad you brought the information to this thread.

Kevin, a friend of my is a proffesional painter. He mainly paints cars. I had a painted sign that was NOS from the '50's. It had same type of bubbling issue and seemed to have something over it like a clear coat. My friend told me that paint will do that if it gets wet and stays moist for years on end. I think this was a good topic.

It will be interesting to see how the prices drop from the 900+ the first one sold for to this auction and the next & next etc...now that some people know there are 40+ of these out there.

I saw two similar signs like these sell at a recent auction. If I recall, one was oil or gasoline and the other was maybe kerosene? Anyways, both were very clean looking signs and at the time I wondered if they were right or not. How many different versions of this sign are there?

Hi Folks,
My name is Glenn Miller. I am they guy who recently sold 2 of these Cities Service Flange signs on ebay and another on the auction in Ohio and I have one on my auction in Feb in Tomah WI and another on Chupps auction in a couple weeks.
I have been buying and selling advertising signs for over 20 years. I handle around 1000 or so signs a year. I would consider myself very knowledgeable if not an expert. Especially in determining fakes and reproductions.
I guarantee with 100% certainty that these signs are original and not reproductions. I have several that are near perfect with no bubbles in the paint. The bubbles in the paint were caused by heat and or condensation from being stored over the years.
And just for the record, these signs were found in Iowa, not South Dakota. (Although it was close to the border) There were 20 of them not 40. I invite anyone to stop by my shop in Wisconsin and I will show you the signs. If you know anything about old signs, once you have one in your hands you will see what I am talking about.

I have one of these signs and I have always believed it to be good and mine does have the bubbles as discussed before and did have small pieces of the old paper stuck to it. I bought mine out of Sioux City, Iowa also. Good discussion on this sign. Here is a picture of mine.