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Hello all:

I just joined your site (this is my first post), although I have visited it for several years now as an unregistered guest (shame on me for lurking in the background for many years). First and foremost, thank you to the originators, moderators, and members of this site for providing information for people in this hobby. I am in my early 40s and have been collecting mainly signs/advertising since 2002. Although I don’t sell what I collect, there is an interesting thread from 2009 that I was hoping some members could revisit now that 7+ years have passed concerning the “future value” of our collectibles – here is the link:

http://www.oldgas.com/forum/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=130529&page=all

I suppose my question to the membership is: Which comments in this thread have held true? Which have not? I am choosing this topic as I believe that I saw a posts regarding the last Morphy Auction in which there were certain opinions that the price for some globes were lower than they “should” have been. My apologies if this topic was revisited since 2009 or if it in any way duplicates any other posts in the recent past – there is a lot to digest on this site and I hope the topic is well received.

Thanks to all again for this site and the information presented here.

Please use For Sale forums to sell

Please - NO offers to Buy or Sell in this forum category

Statements such as, "I'm thinking about selling this." are considered an offer to sell.
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from my point of view here in belgium in 2016

items on ebay don't sell as much of before, but items on show are priced nearly 2 or 3 times what they were in shows a few years ago but they don't sell, seller have items for 6-8 years and overpriced their items, they don't want to sell as they always respond me by "I'm not in hurry to sell" or " if I don't sell it today I'll sell it in another show"

the second thing I saw on classified, collectors are selling an item for a great price, who bys it ? directly a seller who sell it the day he got it for 4 or 4 times the price he paid but 3 or 4 years later he still has the item

in general collectors are disapparearing, sellers here try to speculate on gas collectibles but overprice their items and with the actual crisis peple don't want to spend 3 or 4 times what the item worth

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Been collecting since the mid 80's and it's difficult for me to accept the current day prices for things in this category. But with that said I have appreciated a lot of value in my collection. I didn't go into this with the mind set of "making money" more to the fact that I just dug it.

So, with that said if your concern is about losing money, don't do it. But if you're happy with the price and piece and just collecting because you like the stuff, go for it and never look back. The only time I look back is that one piece I walked away from only go back and it was gone. Les


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Agreed with pricing at shows Nucky. I saw some very high prices at Hershey 2015 -- at least to me -- then again it was the last day of the show and they were being loaded by the sellers to go home unsold. Even at some auctions, it seems people are paying surprising prices for mediocre items. I purchased the lions share of my stuff prior to 2010 and it seems to me the prices have skyrocketed even since then. I question whether there is room for younger folks to start collecting...

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I'm not a collector but I am an appreciator of the hobby. I have been selling signage for 10 years and honestly what I see today is there is more difficulty in justifying the prices being asked.

Common signage has tripled or quadrupled in price because of pressure AT auction. People are using Morphy's and eBay sales as a gauge of 'value'. So you go to a show and a guys says to himself "Morphy sold one for X, therefore my sign is worth X." Or "Ebay has one listed for Y, therefore my sign is worth Y." Yet neither is true or valid. Auction prices such as Morphy's are well advertised auctions for individuals with deep pockets or narrow interests. The average early bidder is evaluating the signage or globe or can based on realistic value. The latter bidder and end bidder are paying premium prices because they have set aside realistic value for the desire to possess the item.

Ebay is similarly structured and is somewhat worse because it isn't limited by the size of the auction house or the call of an Auctioneer for a bid. And a guy in Timbuktoo who can't get a can that's plentiful elsewhere is willing to pay the higher cost of his desire to possess.

This has driven the perceived value above realistic value.

We all also can anecdotally reveal how many more signs have suddenly materialized at shows because it's profitable. We are seeing how much of a plethora of signs have been held back privately for years and years.

But there is a fight for a limited budget long time collectors have had to spend. Where 5 years ago they could spend $4000 on 10-15 pieces, now they might only be able to afford 3 or 4.

At some point in the near future a peak price is going to be reached for 95% of what's out there. I've already seen it start. New blood in the hobby has less of a budget and had been buying the lesser condition signs simply because they could afford them. But even those signs have become out-priced.

A few years ago I was one of only a couple regular sellers of sign at local markets. Now there can be as many as 5 or 6 sellers. That means less money in my pocket. So I've chosen now to avoid paying current wholesale pricing because my profit margin has shrunk and the fun of finding and reselling as a business has dulled. I now would rather take $800 I would have to spend on a single sign and spread it among 3-6 purchases which will garner me more money.

I know some may say, well a 'collector' isn't buying to make money. But there is an idea of again that realistic value of what is being bought.

I sincerely believe within the next few years we will begin to see a shift in prices to more realistic levels. As the short term collector finds out it's too expensive to add to their collection and shift interest.

The same thing happens in the vintage car market. A segment will increase to incredible levels, then the big payout buyers switch interest to something different.




Collecting anything keeps you young at heart!
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I agree prices are way too high. Just like old bicycles, cupie dolls, etc.
The younger generations don't collect things, way out of their price range and they didn't grow up with these things around so their interest to pay or collect them is low.


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Originally Posted By rkmiller
I agree prices are way too high. Just like old bicycles, cupie dolls, etc.
The younger generations don't collect things, way out of their price range and they didn't grow up with these things around so their interest to pay or collect them is low.


There are 20/30-somethings that appreciate 1950/60's stuff, but it isn't in a collecting way, but lifestyle, going retro I believe.

Hobbies are most often carried along by people who enjoy the subject of the hobby.... kayaking, skydiving, toys, petrolina. Interests evolve and people join or leave a hobby causing costs/prices to increase or decrease. No one 20 years ago would have predicted the rise of petrolina/advertising collecting. The people who collected did so out of pure interest and shows were about that interest, not about increasing profits from sales. The hobby wasn't on a steep incline when I started selling, but around 5 years ago it became "the thing" to buy signage and such. The prices then were still reasonable and affordable. Since then the pressure has skyrocketed and prices as well.

Reproduction/fantasy signs which were mosty divided into high production Andie Rooney type or low production high quality for collectors, have become signs to deceive for profit.

At some point people will choose a new 'interest', and I think we are close to that now because the market is flooded with so many signs much discussion on Old Gas is now around whether a sign is real or fake rather than it's history.




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Here's a different perspective from a younger collector. One of these 20/30-something collectors. I don't think it's ever going to drop off like a lot of guys keep saying. I've only been collecting for a few years now comparatively and I've seen people go from looking at some of the guides 10 years ago and getting a good laugh, now a lot of us are lucky to pay those same prices. The fact that this stuff is eternally tied to both hot rod/classic car culture and Americana nostalgia gives it a solid footing for the future as far as I can tell. Now some items are dropping off, I've noticed a lot of us that don't have the luxury of doubles and triples to compare with are avoiding the reproduced signs entirely. Another portion of the young guys have never gotten a chance to even see half of what's out there! And if we can't see we'll never stay up at night thinking about it or cash out our savings to buy it. So we stick with the stuff we know and already covet. Just one guys perspective. A lot of the younger guys don't have the first hand knowledge of this stuff, but heck, last time I checked most of us have never used a curb pump! We all find our own connection to it and we'll go looking for the guys that have it. The fact is a lot of our collections have been through several hands and I can only hope they'll go through several more.


Always looking for rusty old pumps and signage especially Visibles, Northwest or West Coast brands, and Standard Oil of California.

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