Primarily Petroliana Shop Talk Forums Shop Talk Petroliana Forums Showcase and Stories, Petroliana Globe of the Month(s) Metal body globes - Let's try again!

Hi Everyone!

Globe of the Month is alive and well! My apologies for dropping the ball these last two months. Sometimes life takes precedent over our hobbies, but Aaron and I are back, and we will be posting numerous photos of metal body globes in the weeks ahead. Feel free to post any photos of any metal body globe you have. In less than a month we will be at the Iowa Gas Show and will share photos of the metal body globes that we see for sale there. So post them if you have them!

Thanks!

Lonnie

The first thing we are going to look at for this months topic of metal body globes are low-profile and high-profile bodies. It seems pretty simple and basic if you have been collecting globes for even a little while. However, I remember many years ago, long before there were globe books or gas shows, that I saw my first large collection of globes. Being relatively new to the globe hobby I new nothing. The guy made a comment about a low-profile body and I asked the simple question of "What's a low-profile body?" Quite honestly he looked at me like I was stupid! He did then proceed to show me the difference between the high and low-profile metal bodies.

To this day I have never forgotten that experience and if I am talking to a new collector I am always willing and glad to explain even the most basic globe things. If you look at the photos of the two Thunderbird logo globes you will see that one is noticably taller and in the side view you can see that it is arched up to the center rib on the globe body. The shorter one is nearly flat from front to back when you look at the side view. The shorter one is obviously the low-profile. When you look straight on at the center of the low-profile globe you see very little of the metal body around the lense. When you look at the high-profile straight on you quite a bit of the painted body around the lense. Some companies like Sunoco and American (with the red dot logo)used mostly low-profile bodies. Cities Service used both as did most other companies.

Both high and low-pro bodies have a similar value. Some collectors prefer one over the other and many don't care either way!

In the photo here you will see two uncommon Independent Thunderbird logo globes. Virtually all Thunderbird globes are red, white, and black with these two being exceptions. IOMA (Independent Oil Men of America) is best know for their Red Hat logo globes. Standard Oil objected to the use of the Red Hat logo, they felt that it infringed on their Red Crown logo. Quite honestly I don't see the logic but the courts sided with Standard Oil and IOMA lost the right to use the Red Hat logo. In 1929 IOMA switched to exclusively using the Thunderbird logo. There are literally dozens of variations of the Thunderbird logo globes and next week we will go to our photo books and share some of the pictures we have taken over the years.







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Next up in our discussion of metal body globes is a globe that I feel is undervalued and under appreciated. Many years ago when I saw my first Texaco leaded glass globe I thought it was one of the coolest things I had ever seen. The white panels, each arm of the red star, and the top and bottom of the green "T" are each individual pieces of stained glass and are "leaded" togather into a 13 3/4" circle and mounted onto this unique body.

It is pictured next to a 15" high-profile body for contrast. As you can see the Texaco metal body is much larger, measuring 8" deep from front to back. It also stands just as tall as the 15" body even though it houses 13 3/4" diameter lenses. Texaco also used a version of this globe with 22" lenses. This globe stands well over two feet tall and is quite imposing. The photo shows one of these globes in between two smaller sized leaded glass globes. We have seen photos of these large globes being used on five gallon visible pumps, talk about a globe literally dwarfing a pump and this is it.

By nature these globes are quite fragile and it is quite rare to find one without a cracked pane or two. If there are a couple of minor cracks in a couple of the panes it does not affect the value very much.

Texaco used these globes in the late teens and early 20s. Great looking globe and it is spectacular when lit up!







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Metal body globes come in a variety of sizes. The most common size being the 15" like the one pictured with the White Star lenses. They also come in a 16 1/2" size like the Red C globe pictured here. Both 15" and 16 1/2" metal bodies come in both high and low-profile versions. The Pride globe pictured has 11 1/2" diameter lenses and it is a size that is seldom seen.

A side note here, the correct way to measure lenses regardless of the type of body they went on, is to measure them from edge to edge across the back of the lense.

That's all for now, we will be posting more photos next week, until then take a few minutes and share your pictures of metal body globes.

Thanks!

thanks for posting the pic's, i would love to have the quincy oil globe.

There are probably several dozen different Independent globes on metal with the Thunderbird logo. Here are a few that we have photograghed at shows over the years. In the next few days we will post photos of some different metal body globe styles. If you have any metal body globes in your collection take a few minutes and share them with the rest of the oldgas community. Thanks!

Lonnie Hop





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[img]http://www.cruisin66.com/globes/peterson's.jpg[/img]

Here's a picture of my Independent globe:

i have 2 metal bodiy globes,both have been jarvised,but i still like em!heres the 1st
By oldnfuelish gotaa dig to get to the other but will post it later. mick

Here are a couple of different Red Hat 15" metal body globes. Like the Thunderbird logos, many different company names can be found displaying the Red Hat logo. Thanks to Butch Greer for sharing the first photo of his globe.

Aaron Hop

Here is a photo of a very early wider, flatter body with Jewler lenses shown in comparison to a standard high profile and low profile body. In our years of collecting we have only ever come across a couple of this style body.

Aaron

Hi Guys and Gals;

I know that July is "Vacation" month for many people. I also know that there are a lot of metal body globes in collections out there. Please feel free to post ANY photos of metal body globes that you might have. In the next few days we will be posting photos of the different size bases that are found on metal body globes.

Next week is Iowa Gas and we will be taking pictures of any metal body globes that we see there and will be sharing them the following week.

That's all for now, if you have any metal body globe photos - Post them if you have them! Thanks!

Lonnie Hop

Here is a photo of a Tydol 16.5" stepped up high profile body with a 7" base from the collection of Rod Van Pelt. Thanks for sharing this photo Rod!



If any one else has photos they'd like to share they are welcome to email them to us and we'll gladly post them for you!

This first photo shows three different size bases, all of them are 15" diameter metal body globes. The globe on the left has a whopping 8 inch diameter base, the middle globe has a 7" base, and the one on the right has a 6" base like the vast majority of metal body globes.



Check out the the original Cincinnati Advertising decal on this 7" base globe. It is fairly uncommon to find metal bodies with the original decal since they did not last long when the globe was out in the elements



This Red Crown globe with the 8" base was used by Standard of Nebraska. I have only seen a few 8" base metal body globes and they all had Standard of Nebraska lenses. The base is the size of a lunch plate and must have gone on a type of pump that only Standard of Nebraska used.



I know this American globe is not overly exciting but it is interesting in that it still has the original yellow paint that American used. Why would you specify yellow metal bodies when your lenses are red, white, and blue?



That's all for now. Stay tuned next week when we have pictures of the metal body globes offered at Iowa Gas. If you have ANY metal body globes in your collection please take a few minutes and share them with the rest of the Oldgas Community. Thanks!

Here are a few photos of the metal body globes that were available at the Matthews Auction last week held in conjunction with the Iowa Gas swap meet. The two different Crown globes are both Standard Oil of Kentucky globes and are found on 16 1/2" bodies. The one picturing the crown was an early non-fired lens in remarkable condition for its age. The Ricfield and Loreco are both on 15" high profile bodies.

Aaron Hop