Primarily Petroliana Shop Talk Forums Shop Talk Petroliana Forums General Petroliana Discussion GAS PUMP VALUES

Recent posts have brought up having values listed in books. For my first book I contacted four collectors, two in Michigan, one in Ohio and one in California. Dick Bennett was the one from California, and Glenn Thompson was the one from Ohio. I was the fifth. Sadly Dick and Glenn have passed away.

Because of the great deal of correspondence between DB and my self we became friends. When I wrote the 2nd Edition, I ask DB to supply all the values. Now he is gone, so I decided to just put values on the pumps myself.

The book is finished, ready to go to the printer with an expected date it will be available being mid-January. Just in the last few days I have added 15 more pumps to the book. If I had the money to travel to locations where I know I could access literature I could add 100-200 more pumps, but I can't.

Now the reason for all this. Recent posts here on OG have discussed values. My new book will not be printed by a big publishing company as the first two were, it will be self-printed, therefore I will not be having someone tell me what they want in the book (like values).

The new book will have almost 2200 gas pumps shown, many of which you have never heard of. Now, give me your opinions, should I include the values I have come up with, or would you rather just have an identification book?

Jack Sim

Jack, personally I like the idea of a Guide having values... I realize that exact values; is a fleeting concept.

Since I am not the most knowledgeable about pumps; having values, at least for me is a bonus...

Let your book withstand the test of time.
I say no single prices printed at all,as well as no ball park estimates like between $1200-$1750.That just messes people up and causes controversy.Especially if it's an identification guide book,because that's not a Kelly blue book.

If people want prices,attend an auction or swapmeet in their area or search the internet.

I agree NO PRICES, Just try to buy a pump that has been sitting outside for 60-80 years and the seller comes out with a photocopy of the page of your book with the price they want.
What would be better is giving pumps a 1-5 rating as far as common/rarity

I agree with no prices. Books are great for identification. It's up to the seller and buyer to determine the value on that given day. Or auction results help with values for the area and time period. Values change under different circumstances up or down.

I have been following this and have stayed on the side because everyone has an opinion.
But I think the book should NOT have values. If you look at our web site under "Things Found By Us"
https://oldgaspumpguys.com/Things_found_page_1.php
you will see we have bought and sold a fair number of pumps over the years. I think the site only goes back about five, but the best year was 230 pumps. Since my stroke a couple of years ago and having a hip replaced this spring we have slowed down, but are still looking for rarer or "survivor" quality pumps. We travel anywhere east of the Rocky Mountain's, preferably.
My point is "the book" is outdated the day it is published and really NEVER a good source for prices. The prices are a few peoples opinions, not reality. In order to price a pump you need to be actively in the buy and sell market. Ebay is a joke. $6,000 for a rusted incomplete May West?? Really? So sellers think they are ALL worth that and more.
The market sets the price. I see things like, $3000 FIRM and then, price drop $2700 and then $2500 and then $2000. All because someone thought they bought a nugget only to find it was 10 Karat gold, not 24K. There are so many variables when it comes to pricing. Mainly condition. I have had many people over the years decide on a price because of "the book" or Ebay, only to find out the pump is missing important parts or the visible cylinder "only has a small crack" or a "couple of BB hits" they think the local windshield shop can repair.
Jack has published the finest ID books ever. The hobby would have truly been lost with out them, myself included. I have always felt the price for the book was too low. As you can tell since they went out of print and sell for $125 and up. I would gladly pay $50 for a book of that quality. Jack raise your price. You have earned it.
Like I said everyone has an opinion. That's just mine.

Jack,
I also agree with the no value listed idea.

I have your gas pump books and air meter book ...great resources for the hobby...thank you.

I agree no prices. Rarity codes maybe.

A price guide is just that... a guide. If it is included it should have a complete description and include low and high values and a full explanation of what constitute a rating for a particular pump(condition, parts missing, etc. Dave

If I had to choose, and I can go either way which doesn't help you one bit, I would vote for giving the pump a rating for common/rarity. This could be seen as a compromise between giving, or not giving, a value and would help to establish a pumps desirability. Unfortunately any grading, whether it's a number or a dollar value will be misused, that's just the nature of the beast.

I have purchased both of your pump books and your air meter book and will most certainly buy the new gas pump book regardless of whether or not it has prices.

Agree.

My opinion would be place no values in the book. It is kind of a futile act anyway. It's like Zen pricing. Closing ones eyes and presto a price comes to mind. If it were possible to put an accurate price, its only accurate for a given condition and only on that day. Just my opinion. Thanks Jack can't wait to buy the new book.

Jack as an entrant into this OG world one of my first priorities was to buy your book. However when looking at specific pumps I rarely looked at the values as I recognized they were stale dated the day they were published. I do catch myself saying: they are rare or common based upon the valuation your experts gave. So after all that, my opinion is that you only have a rarity score and not prices. As others have said, mark me down for your new edition.

I think the book would sell better if it had values in it.

I still have insect pest ID books that have DDT as the recommendation. All the current books have no insecticide recommendations, making them timeless.

No values will make your book (especially with 2200 pumps) a timeless legacy. Without prices it will not be outdated.

If you have put a lot of trouble, thought and effort into the pricing, why not have it as a supplemental price guide? A booklet to sell with the book?

Keep in mind if you do have prices, there will be calls from people wanting 'freebee' prices on individual pumps in your books. If you did a rarity scale, and had a one page 'chapter' on how and where to find values, you may cut down on those calls. Though maybe not. There are a lot of lazy folk out there.

Regardless on which way you decide to do this, this book will be a crowning achievement in this field. I still can recite the names of authors who published my insect and plant disease guides of 70 years ago (the 40's) and your name and your books will be known for years to come.

I hope the price you charge for the book reflects the time and expertise you put into this book. After all if folks drop 1k or more on an old pump, they can afford to invest in a book that will be their reference guide to pumps.

Nicole