Primarily Petroliana Shop Talk Forums Shop Talk Petroliana Forums General Petroliana Discussion How to preserve outdoor display

I have a small collection of Mobil gas/oil cans that I would like to display outside but how do I keep them from getting sun damaged? I have a few more small cans inside,well at least until I figure out best way to protect them. Thanks for any suggestions.

I share your concern, notice some of my cans were fading from the sunlight coming thru the sky light- best suggestion position them where there out of direct sunlight, appears even filtered sunlight fades them over time ...

IMO- keep a good coat of wax on them & keep them out of direct sunlight..

IMO there really is no way to protect lithographed cans outside. Nature of the beast is to fade and rust away. If you want to maintain them in collectible condition, keep them inside, out of direct sunlight especially. If you want to display cans of some sort, I would suggest buying some of the fantasy containers where they are painted with auto grade paints, then a decal or two applied for the branding. That way no collectible cans will be ruined.
On a side note, if that Mobilgrease were in my collection, it would not be outside, it looks pretty nice!
Darin

Thanks guys. The mobil grease was a fresh find this weekend and is what got me thinking about this issue. Guess I will just move them into my man cave.

Direct sunlight will quickly damage litho'd pieces in a matter of months and even indirect sunlight will over time. That's why accent pieces already 'damaged' are often used outside while valuable good pieces are kept indoors or at least out of direct sunlight.

I'm not sure if anyone has tried using modern UV protective waxes , but they will extend the color-life of pieces, however the sun eventually causes even those to fade if not applied on some annual basis.