Primarily Petroliana Shop Talk Forums Shop Talk Petroliana Forums General Petroliana Discussion 7 1/4” Round Sinclair Plate

Does anyone know what these little 7 1/4” plates were used for? A member in another group was told they are “blanking plates” and he says he has the same kind from several other gas brands, but he doesn’t know what they were originally used for either. The hole placement seems very specific. Thanks.

Too big for block off plates at 7+ inches. I collect Sinclair and have never seen anything like this. What do the backs look like?

Here’s the back

The hole pattern is 4 7/8”.

A member in another group identified them as a plate from a delivery tanker door.

Fake signs IMO.

They are legit. We can’t figure out their original purpose though.

I've been in this hobby for many years. In my opinion, these are aftermarket. Paul www.severngaspumps.com

I'll join in and say my first thought when I saw them was they were a reproduction item of some sort. I just don't see a real use purpose for them. I certainly can't see a 7" round sign as a delivery tanker door plate.

Shell used a 6" porcelain on reps vehicles at one time.

seen one of these 15 yrs. ago with this logo & didn't think it was legit

"if legit" the sign would fall between '52 & '58 when this logo was used .. ...

A member on another group responded to a request for info I posted on any site, regarding these. He posted photos of other identical ones (exact same diameter and hole placement) from
Sohio Texaco, Standard, and Ashland. All had the same era logos from early 60’s. His account of how and when he obtained his is not in dispute. I have no reason to believe that these, like his are reproduction. These are not porcelain. They are quite thin. No good reason to reproduce something like this. They are small, have a relatively modern and boring logo, and serve no purpose to be reproduced. If they are reproduction, then I would expect to find at least one other example of these. I would not rule out them being “aftermarket” as someone else mentioned. That is, they could have been made by some company for the gas industry and sold them for various brands during the era of those logos. For what purpose is yet to be seen. I agree that I personally don’t think they are tanker door plates as someone had suggested. I can Google plenty of pics of tanker trucks and nothing close to this, plus it would seem like anything on a tanker from that era would have a decal or something, but not a little screw on plate.

Sir, In all due respect these signs are not "production" signs ordered by Sinclair and produced for Sinclair (or Texaco, Sohio, Standard, Ashland). I don't really understand all the different words you are trying to use (reproduced, aftermarket, etc.), but my previous statement is my opinion. I have been collecting 35 years and a lot of people will produce a lot or few signs/globes to make several hundred dollars. The "purpose" is to sell them for a little money and make some money, period. My opinion, they have no value except to decorate something.

I have never seen these in any old Sinclair photos or at any swap meet. You would think if they were real they would show up in some original photos. If anyone has an old photo of one of these signs in it please share as I would like to see it!

To help clarify the terminology, I would define “reproduction” as a replica of something or a similar copy. There are “fantasy” pieces that were never originally made in any form, but are created for decorative purposes. I would define “aftermarket” as something that is made by a third party vendor to serve some functional purpose. Typically a part. I’m not saying that these were made by any oil company. All I can do is compile evidence to come up with a reasonable explanation as to what these are. I don’t know what they are. The best source of information I received so far was from the gentleman who has the similar ones who said he got them quite awhile ago from a guy who’s father was a Gilbarco tech who served the southeast area. He described them as blanking plates. All I’m suggesting is could these be some type of “aftermarket part” that was not made by Sinclair, Ashland, whatever that a pump tech would use to blank out something on a pump or other piece of equipment related to fuel or oil?

I’m not trying to be confrontational in any way. I just don’t see the money making potential in someone trying to reproduce this for profit. I paid next to nothing for these. If someone has been collecting for over 30 years, you have probably seen most of the junk out there. You can also probably find other examples of the junk with a quick internet search. If you can find another example of these that someone is making money on, please share. It would really help clarify what these are for me. If someone went through the effort to make this one pair, it was a moneymaking failure on their part.