Primarily Petroliana Shop Talk Forums Shop Talk Petroliana Forums General Petroliana Discussion Where do you see the hobby going in future years?

This is an interesting conversation so I figured I throw out my 2-cents as well. I’m 53 yrs old and I can remember from the time I was a young kid that the vintage signs were always cool to me along with the old corvettes, Camero’s etc. I had bought a few reproduction signs from hobby lobby in recent years but it wasn’t until last summer that I thought I might by a few real ones. This website was one of the first I ran across and I made my first post asking if anyone had a mobilgas pump plate I could buy. It didn’t take long before a long time collector replied and shortly after that I met him. He shared his massive collection with me and it just confirmed to me how cool this stuff really is. He told me to only buy quality and I’ve heard others say the same. Well I ended up buying 2 plates from him that day and i made the comment at the time that this would be like buying crack in a joking way.

Fortunately I work for an airline (not with a pilot salary though..ha) so I flew to Iowa gas from Texas shortly after that and again this year and it’s awesome and I was surprised to see some of the signs like mine selling for more than I paid. That’s great but I buy them because I love them and I don’t go crazy, but I try to buy quality and I know they will have some value down the road, I hope more but if not I’m 100% good with it either way because I love them. My friends think they look cool but they won’t spend the money and my girlfriend thinks I’m crazy. Doesn’t matter to me I love the history of these old companies and I find myself wanting to learn more and more. I enjoy it and look forward to hopefully getting out to Dixie Gas for a day next week and maybe Hershey in October. I know it’s risky with the reproductions out there but if you use the resources out there on this website and some of the FB groups and other sites and more importantly meet you guys and learn from you, hopefully I won’t make too many big mistakes. I think there will always be some value in the quality signs and the history that goes with them but keep it fun and enjoy the stories and there are still so many cool signs to see so enjoy the adventure. I now have 14 signs and probably will buy a few more. Whether you have $200 or $20,000 or $200,000 to spend, there’s a collection for you to build and enjoy so make the most of it and only time will tell if anyone else shares our passion down the road and what they might pay. It’s a blast so thank you all for your great posts on this website and elsewhere and thanks for sharing your collections and experience with the newer collectors.