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In my experience it equates to this...the harder you work at looking = the more you find.......very simple..


Wanted early tin litho signage.
petro, farm, auto, etc.
Please use For Sale forums to sell

Please - NO offers to Buy or Sell in this forum category

Statements such as, "I'm thinking about selling this." are considered an offer to sell.
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Originally Posted By: minuteman
In my experience it equates to this...the harder you work at looking = the more you find.......very simple..

I could not agree more, I scavenged my area for 15 years and thought I found or heard about it all, I was bringing home 5 pumps and countless signs on a weekly basis, It all seemed to dry up and I myself slowly stopped looking as hard and the stuff seemed to be not around anymore. A couple years ago a guy stopped to look at my pumps outside and said he just started collecting and was hoping to get a collection like mine, I wished him luck thinking I already had it all, (keep in mind I live in an area with several small towns of 2500 population) Well in that couple short years, this guy has picked up more pumps (including a Bowser Double clockface and several other clockfaces), many signs and collections all in the same area I religiously combed for years. WHY, Because he was out there again day after day asking the same local people, and getting the newly discovered stuff or hearing about a friend of a friend who's brother had this or that. I just look back and smile now at the day I met him and thought, Poor guy he is not going to find anything around here.


"Remember, history that is forgotten is doomed to repeat itself!"
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I have seen some good answers to an impossible question,lol. There is no baseline to start with, it keeps changing. The first change came around 1942-45 with the scrapmetal drives. It came again in the mid 50s-late 60's when the "modernization" of the American service station hit. With the "Oil wars" of the mid 70's and gas went to over $1 a gal, pumps were switched out and/or "remodeled" again. So to me starting with a baseline of 1941 through 1980, there is approx. 35-40% left out there. Now a portion of that is in collections, dumps, salvage yards and just rusting away in the woods, pile of debris...etc. So it will be "harder", not impossible, to find older items in good shape. Sooner than later, the pumps from the "modernization" years will be "picked" clean. (to me)There will be less of them as they don't have the lines or style of the visibles and early computers. They for the most part are boxy and squat, especially those from the mid to late 60s and beyond. So it was and is easier to just "dump" them. Because of materials they aren't even worth a great deal of money as scrap. But What do I know(?), nothing I tell you, nothing. But if nothing else the "hunt" is well worth it. To see some new "country", renew old friendships or maybe even better make some new friendships that will stay with you..... So to me this hobby keeps getting bigger and bigger, but like I said, what do I know? I'm stuck out here in the PNW where the trees ..... forget that. It rains all the time all the pumps, cans, globes, anything relating to gas and oil have rusted away. No need to come out west to look for items, All gone, rusted away, forget about it.... Stay home, pick up items in say, Colorado going east. Yep, that's your best bet... Forget anything west of Colorado...


Looking for Tide Water/ Tide Water-Associated/ Tidewater items
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In my area there is still stuff to be found but you have to work hader or be at the right place at the right time. My brother was set up at a flea market selling oak furniture and had a little petro he ended up with people asking if he wanted to buy this or that and ended up with a visible and a crown globe. The pump was in a barn for years and no one but the owner knew about it. On the other side the unreal junk prices a few months back had to be the end of alot of the stuff as people were junking any and everything they could find.

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I always wanted to buy a ultra light plane so I could fly low over the farmers junk piles. Then contact the farmer. Has any one done this? I think if it was the wrong type of farmer I could have gotten shot. One of the dangers

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HSSL........ Just make sure you stay inside Spokane County and you'll probably be safe enough. whistle grin

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There's one gentleman who uses his helecopter to locate road signs and pumps! If it sounds arcane but works for you, that's all that counts.


........Dave
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Looking for old, rare, auto light bulb tins
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Huskybob
is it dangerous in the Lincoln county air space? Not just farmers but also collectors? It took me a while but I found Tracy Rock. Your not far away.
rick

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