Primarily Petroliana Shop Talk Forums Shop Talk Petroliana Forums General Petroliana Discussion Is NOW the time to sell??

My personal opionion is that if yall things are tough now, just wait. Things are going to get alot worse before they get better. We will not see good times like our fathers have seen and our kids probably wont see goood times like their grandfathers have seen. When foreign companies are coming in and buying out our factories, realestate, collectibles, and even our toll roads...that all means this country is in alot tougher times than our elected leaders are telling us. Pretty soon we arent going to own a damn thing.

Couldn't help but think of this thread from the other day after I just came home from a farm auction with a 515 Wayne in great unrestored condition (excellent glass, original stained white hose and nozzle) and 2 nice gas signs for under $750! I have never seen things go so cheap and for that matter located so close to a major city Rockford Il. Just looked at Bloomberg .com, see that oil has topped $145 a barrel and climbing because of China, United in Chicago laying off 1,000 more people. I am not selling anything in my collection but people this is a time to watch and hold the bulk of your cards in anything you do. I never thought my 86 yr old lawyer mother deceased now would have been right when she said 3 yrs ago "watch and you will see another financial mess similiar to the Great Depression. I don't know about that but things are just not good. I am a senior administrator at a Univ of 25,000 students. We are running 20% back of last yrs enrollment for next yr. Not good. Glad I am 56 and have been in the car and gas collecting hobby since my 20s as I would not be putting out big bucks at the moment when the same articles may come up to be sold in the future for "food on the table" if you catch my drift. My own opinion, sure others think different.

hmmmmm... very interesting topic, something I've been wondering myself. Not from the viewpoint of selling my own collection, but will some of the really good stuff start coming out. I've sold a few things but the items have been mainly ones that are lacking in condition or items I just don't collect anymore and don't have the room for. With the economy the way it is I'd rather have the cash than a beat up sign, even if I'm selling it close to what I paid for it. The saying around my office is, "Cash is King", but even the dollar has gone down in value. I think of the stories I've heard about during war times when civilians are selling their gold jewelry, silverware and art to get passage out of Dodge. Be kind of hard to slip the night watchman a neon Chevrolet sign from under your jacket. I certainly hope things don't get that bad, but it's something I think about, guess it's a result of my USMC brainwashing days.

I guess to answer the question, it depends on what your objective is. If it's to make lots of money, now probably isn't the time to sell. If it's to liquidate your assets to survive lean times - maybe a good time. That's my opinion, wish I could see into the future... well, maybe it's good thing I can't.

This Saturday mornings Chicago Tribune says that NICOR Gas (which serves most of Northern and cental Illinois is asking the Il. Utility board for a raise from 65 cents a therm to $1.65 cents a therm starting this fall. A therm, the article says, is one hr of measured heating of a structure. YIKES! Between my diesel truck, my 5,000 square ft. garage where I house my oil, gas and car collection, and my home, well, guess I may down the road have to think about selling something too. Sad state of affairs. Very sad for the people that just plain won't be able to afford these rate hikes, to say the least all the layoffs nation wide. My wife and I talked this morning and I am going to try and get some program going by myself to help my employees through the winter. What a mess, just when you get to that stage of life that one can enjoy his hobbies after working hard to be successful in your endeavors.

Sorry, my 24 yr old son just corrected me. A therm is a unit of heat equal to 100,000 British thermal units. Should have remembered that from engineering school. Whatever, it is out of control and is going to be unbelievably expensive. Don't know where the Chicago Trib got their example of a therm as I reread it again. Have a good holiday weekend all!

I feel the summer months are always the slowest and so hold off on ebay sales until Sept and Oct when its much faster. Economy is definatly hurting things but there are those who can always afford to be able to buy the top and rarest items and the rarest high demand items won't be affected due to those with the deep pockets.

For me, this is flea market season. I think prices are down in general a fair amount. The foot traffic is not there at many venues. (Illinois/Wisconsin)
But, I agree that the weather in the Midwest might be as big a factor as gas prices.