Primarily Petroliana Shop Talk Forums Shop Talk Petroliana Forums General Petroliana Discussion Shell Motor Oil sign, Real or fake?

There is a known repop seller and his brother form Ohio. Both guys have longer hair and may have family with them. Always a good mix of fake and real. Looked at the Shell sign and a Ford sign with the reflective letters at the Auburn swap last year. I think both are fake. Could be wrong but too many red flags. I walked away.

Look for a conversation here on OG last year about shell and you'll see this type Shell discussed.

As for the sign guys you mention, I do believe I know who you are talking about and looked at the same signs. The Shell they had was undoubtedly real and they had a several early versions of Ford signs as the fellow has an extensive original collection. He bought one of my Veribrite made one's to add to his collection as he hadn't seen it before.

Did they have repops? Sure. But they aren't snobs to the buying public who can only spend a couple hundred at shows and offer the cheap repops to pay for show costs. I know many dealer/collectors who will sell repops to help defray costs. Talk to the guy and he can help you identify the repops and when they were made.

difference of opinion. I think the Shell and Ford signs were fake. I wouldn't touch them with a 10 ft pole. I would need to see one in an old photo (Still hard to tell) before I would even loosely consider lowering my opinion on these.

I agree with Greg! I held the signs at Auburn!
They werent right (in my opinion)
The crudeness of the lettering is a dead give away, BUT hard to see from pics...

IMO Very Correct for a Depression Era sign! The sandy finish is called Smalts and was a common way of painting signs in the 20's and 30's.

Gotta disagree. All smalt signs I've seen (I currently have 2 on my wall and picking up a third in Columbia) are made with the reflective sand as a background with the letters or design being painted. The Shell and Ford are just the opposite. The quality of the smalt application to the letters of those signs was thin compared to all the other ones I've seen. Now I don't profess to know it all but these are major red flags. Anyone own a smalt sign other than Shell or Ford that didn't come from Ohio? Solid evidence is the only thing that will change my opinion. Here's an example.

I have seen these smalt signs done both ways as referred to above, background and letters both with rough finish. Sign looks legit to me. The only real way to tell is to have it in hand. Mcguffeyd1 has had it in hand and doesnt feel comfortable with it. With all this said, In an ebay auction, best thing to do is to walk away.

Paul, you say undoubtedly real, well maybe to you. Me, I have my doubts. Yes, there absolutely is an original clam w/red reflective paint. These particular ones, I am not so sure of. I've held one of these signs from the guys with 90% fake stuff in their pile. I wanted to buy it-for I think, 400.00 but couldnt bring myself to do it because it didnt seem quite right. I thought about it long and hard @ Mich. gas two years in a row. Believe me, I have no qualms about spending 400.00 for a sign I like- if I feel its genuine. I've been buying signs for quite a few years now, but would feel foolish to call myself an "Expert" or a guy thats"Seen it all". I also have to say that I've had my fair share of getting stung, as well as kicked myself a number of times for passing on a good deal. I want to say it did have a makers mark stamped on it. It looked like you could've wiped it off with a little spit on your finger tip.
I dont see a manufacturers mark on the one on ebay.
My first reaction was I wasnt going to let go of it. My wife who didnt get the same emotional jolt from it shook her head a little and made me pause and think. I'm glad I did. Even if it was an old sign, it looked kinda amateurish, to me anyways.
Now, I'm not trying to start a controversy here or call anyone out but I had to think another red flag to me is: How do a couple guys who have almost all fake stuff, happen to hook up with the controversial Shell "AIR" signs off the roof (Which I still am not convinced they are fake) and this controversial Shell lollipop sign.
Why didnt you buy it? That sign, if right is worth more than what they were trying to get for it, No?
On the other hand, many signs were made in Ohio- could these have been some type of reject? All this being said- I have no regrets not owning it and would have those"doubts" every time I looked at it.

P.S.- I feel this sign will carry that bit of doubt with it into the future, now that Vickers sign of Gregg's- thats an investment I feel would be better to add that 400.00 dollars to in order to aquire.

This sign again. There have been several posts about this sign in the past with some detailed pictures. Unfortunately I have had one knowledgeable friend get stuck thinking he got something good. Hard lessons. Learn and know who you are dealing with.

The fact the guy had the Ford signs with the same reflective sand letters is another red flag. Both would have to be rare and yet he has them with all the other fake items. Most likely the one on ebay was purchased from these sellers given the location. Does anyone have a picture or own what you think is a real shell sign with sand letters not reflective paint letters but sand or smalt as both the of the signs I question. I just spoke with a friend with a very large collection. He said all his smalt signs(there were several from Chevy to Wadhams) were background only. He also had a few signs where the letters were reflective but not smalt or sand. So I still feel the Shell on ebay is bogus but would love to see what an apparent real one looks like.

I like the look of the sign and I collect Shell. If the sign was larger I would be bidding. In my opinion the sign is real.

I can say this a personal experience. I have been at these brothers "shop" in lima and they have stacks of reflective glass ford and shell signs. Also 400 plus mason jars of freedom, hudson and shell bottles. They do mix in real stuff but my money on those signs are they are more than likely fake or they are the luckest brothers to ever find that many of the same sign in the same condition

Yes i have had it in hand. I have never seen a reflective sand sign, so my knowledge on them is limited. Plus i dont collect Shell, so i will not be bidding. This is not an item i am going to report as fake because i have no evidence. Some very knowledgeable shell collectors on here think it is legit. I am 50/50 now and just curious as to what it will go for.

THAT SUCKER IS HEAVY. Heaviest sign of that size i have handled.

An earlier post about these signs. Somewhere there is another discussion. Have not found it yet. In this discussion I was skeptical since then I became convinced. Not real in my mind.

http://www.oldgas.com/forum/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Main=61830&Number=387461#Post387461

60Wayne- the last comment on the link you provided was by you, and it is another link to the thread you are talking about. If that makes sense.