There is one subject no one talks about but I'm sure a lot of us think of, GREED. This is what has driving of lot of "hobby" for years now. I can remember people bring gas pumps to my house just to get rid of them. I had them bring cans, bottles, signs,you name it all because they heard I liked to collect that "stuff" and they wanted to get rid of it. I'm sure a lot of the guys here had to same happen to them. Early on when I started with this hobby I promised myself I only collect what I could afford/wanted not to get carried away, just a nice bunch of stuff. I never registered on Ebay, never will,never bought off it. This was about 1984 I got into the hobby. I thought I was an early bird in this hobby but soon found out I was prehaps 30 yrs late. Was impossible to find nice stuff from the 40s back in this neck of the woods.Well I joined Check the Oil and that bunch of guys and got burned good by one of guru's allready estasbilished in can collecting. I didn't quit but became very wary and held the wallet a little tighter after that. My little collection grew and things were easy to get, paid $5 for a 6foot Sinclair sign, 2 for the restroom sign with it. Things were going great and then we were discovered by the antique dealers, up until then there was no petro stuff in their joints. Prices started up, they Ebay started and real greed set in. With all the new places to find this stuff and new found availability it all started the big climb up. Some wilrecall this progress, I call it greed. I have watched it all over the years like a lot of you have and this is not a hobby anymore, it's a business which has it's place now in the hobby. The signs and globes that were dirt cheap now are only for the high dollar guys and the rest settle for low end stuff and repros and we do need them. Just watch out for the high buck items boys, GREED could be connected.I'm still satisfied to pick my stuff out of the wild and don't intend to ever sell it but have a real good son who has picked up the fever and some day he'll get it all. You know if the extreme prices that have reached into our hobby were not met just maybe they would come down. Who knows? I didn't post this to start a conflict, just an old vets observation.
