My name is Mike Kepple. I am from Peoria, Illinois. My interests are hunting and fishing and I am 68 years old. I still work in the insurance business, ice cream business (5 DQ's) and farming. I was raised on a dairy farm west of Peoria. I know nothing about gasoline sign collecting. I bought a house in Arizona and am trying to duplicate the look the garage had from the former owner. He had a real neat collections of gas & oil signs. My problem is I can not tell the difference between a reproduction and an original. I found the list of the people selling fakes on OLD Gas and unfortunately I have bought some of their signs on ebay. Any help?
Mike, Welcome to Oldgas. Your best bet for future sign purchases is to check with the members here for original/reproduction verdicts prior to purchasing. Best of luck with the garage!
Welcome Mike. There are some real derelicts on Ebay these last few years. Some of them are making fake porcelain signs that are even seasoned collectors can find difficult to discern authenticity. Especially just from a picture. It can be fun to buy online but if you end finding out you bought fakes at or close to original prices, and you have a conscience-it will be hell for you when its time to move them on. I think the best place when your new to get an education is by attending quality antique advertising shows.
Again, welcome, and good luck on your quest.
Welcome.
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Kurt
Welcome to a great website. If any of your eBay purchases were recent. Return them or file a money-back guarantee with eBay if they advertised them as old, original signs.
-Steve