Primarily Petroliana Shop Talk Forums Shop Talk Petroliana Forums General Petroliana Discussion Woulda Coulda Shouda Bought It

Ok this should be fun , "THE ONE THAT GOT AWAY"
Send in your story of the great DEAL you MISSED and have regretted since.
Mine is The WASHINGTON CHIEF sign that was on the balcony of an antique store in north Washington state. 5 or 6ft sign, had a few good chips size of a cig pack, i think good gloss at least a 7 0r 7 1/2 condition, and it was 700 or 800 bucks..Guess i shoulda tried harder to get it, would sure enjoy it now..............................


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.dodogas .. Chiefless east of Seattle

A 42" Eason sign that sold on Ebay a year or so ago. I think oltoydoc was selling it--heard it went for $750. Eason is my pet company and I haven't been able to find another since...if the person who bought it is reading this, sell it to me!

Nope, not me that sold it. Sounds cool!

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Don "oltoydoc" Sherwood
Vintage Gas

There have been SOOOOOOOOO many.
The twin Wayne 800,
Tok. 850 [16 yrs ago], for$160.00,
2 Bowser 300's for $800 [14 yrs ago],
Joy pumps [several],
Lion 1 pc ETCHED, sold for $1500. Resold for $4,000,
Musgo 1 pc painted, sold for $750 [1980]
2 cases of 15" metal globe bands $150 ea cs.
ALL sold at Pomona.

Could not afford to buy it then, can't afford to buy it now !!

OH well, PROUD OF WHAT I DID BUY, and was able to KEEP.
Dick

dodogas...Great topic for sure...Here's my sad story. When I first started collecting gas globes in 1993 I passed up an NOS Rotaline (I think that's how it's spelled) 15" metal frame gas globe on a low profile body. It still had the original decal on the base of the globe, and the graphics were very cool as well. I think the price was $850. Maybe someday, I'll find another one like it, but have yet to see one.

I forgot to mention, tell us where you missed the item, it would be cool if someone responded that bought the item, and told what happened to it or where it is now. The Wash Chief sign was in Brewster WA about 8 or 9 yrs ago....................dodogas

Tokheim 39 tall that was all original with a one piece glass Marathon Running man globe in excellent condition for $650.00 right here in northwest Ohio.

This is a painful topic!
The one that got away from me was actually a group of items. We used to go to an antique mall in Indiana quite often. It was in a small town that the hiway had by-passed. Not much left there but some junk shops. There was one anique shop that was never open. Displayed in the front window were a White Star globe, 30"White Star Gasoline sign, 30" White Star Motor Oil sign, more glass globe bodies,a Mobiloil oil can rack, lots of quart oil cans, several other oil company and auto related signs, some early 1960's Ford showroom displays,same vintage Ford promo cars,etc, etc.....
We asked the lady that ran the antique mall if she knew when the store would be open. Turns out the guy that ran the shop was on call 24/7 with his job. There had been some major plumbing problems at the store too. The guy had quit trying to sell the stuff. I got the guys phone number and left a note on the door too. I called the guy several times. He was never home. I left messages with his wife and daughter for him to call me. I wondered if the guy ever got those first messages until I called there and his daughter recognized my name from the notes posted on their refridgerator. I also left more notes on his shop door. Other guys started leaving notes too. He never called me. This went on for over 2 years. I really wanted those signs and globes!!!!!! I could see price tags on the stuff. I was willing to pay his asking prices. He even re-arranged the store, but he never called.
I took my sons on a racing weekend. On the way home we drove by the shop. It was empty except for the auction sale bill taped to the window!!!!! This was on a Monday. His sale had been on Saturday. We went right to the antique mall and asked about the sale. Turns out the guy had 3 buildings of petroliana and automobilia. The auction had been poorly advertised. They didn't list any of the contents from 2 of the buildings. I couldn't believe the prices when I heard them. Other people confirmed them later. White Star globe $50, White Star signs $25-50 each, glass globe bodies with screw on bases $20 each,..........

when i first started gettin pumps & had just discovered the wayne 60 of which i had some then. but i didnt want any pump that didnt appeal to me. i had this color combo figured out i wanted to do for yet another wayne 60. i had just bought my first gas pump book but still knew very little about what was around/available. or what else id like to have. we would go to antique shops in redwing about once a month or more. i remember seeing a weird but cool lookin pump close to the road (busy road) a few times. so on the way home on one of our trips we took that route & i dropped a couple gears in the elcamino & pulled onto the shoulder & looked at this pump. hmmmmmmmmm i told the ol lady thats pretty art deco lookin & in nice shape. i think thats a tokheim? i looked a second while cruisin at a slow pace. she said stop & ask em if its for sale. naaaaaaaa then i dumped the clutch & smoked off!!! i told the ol lady i was a wayne man no tokheims for me & away we went. i looked up that pump when i got home & it was a 36-B. thats cool lookin i think i want one. i went back about 2 weeks later & it was gone!!!!!!! that was 10+ years ago & i asked this pump collector last year about a 36-B on that road way out in a guys front yard & he showed it to me. it is really really nice & he got it for $25.smacks!!!!!!

This is kind of the opposite of what this post is about, but here goes anyway.
When I first started collecting a few years ago.. I had no idea what anything was worth... I had 3 Husky pump plates that were in my old station and a guy had some Clack stuff that I wanted... actually it was the first Clack stuff that I had ever seen so I wanted it pretty badly.
Long story short... he allowed me $250 on the trade and turned around and sold it for $2,000.
I had looked on ebay, but at that time I had never seen a Husky pump plate sell.. and alot of the other plates were in the same price range.
I learned a lesson, but I do still go back to the same guy... he has given me some decent buys since then and he does have access to more stuff than I do.
bob
I am alot more careful now.

Dodogas. Don't know if this is the same sign, but there is a 6' Washington Chief sign on the wall of the HotRod Cafe in Post Falls Idaho. He also has a similar Idaho Chief.