Primarily Petroliana Shop Talk Forums Shop Talk Petroliana Forums Showcase and Stories, Petroliana Company of the Month for April: Johnson Oil Refining Company

I went to an auction today that had five original Johnson lenses (plus a broken one) and the original shipping crate. These lenses are like the ones on Jeff and Neil's first globe pictured above. These lenses are worth about $175 each on the low end and maybe, MAYBE 225 on the high end. High bidder had choice of 2, 4 or 5 lenses. The high bidder also got the crate. I dropped out at 175. Two more bidders were gone at 200 and 225. The last two bidders duked it out all the way to $375. The winning bidder (a guy that auctioned his gas and oil collection 2 years ago) took 4 lenses at that price! The 5th lens sold next. I went to 225.... not good enough. The same two bidders took it to 275. The broken lens sold for ten bucks.

Alright guys, I am now officially organized. I got a bunch of pictures to scatter out through the month. I'll try to pace myself. First one is a unique single sided Porcelain No Smoking sign. Next one is a painted tin Brilliant Penn sign that, best we can tell went on top of a oil can display rack and the third one is a huge 10ft x 2ft painted tin "Brilliant Bronze" sign in a wooden frame.



 


[This message has been edited by Lastgas15 (edited 04-05-2004).]

[This message has been edited by Lastgas15 (edited 04-05-2004).]

I don't have very many Johnson items. Here are the few I do have 30" Johnson ethyl, 15" Johnson Time Tells, Johnson flange sign
13.5" Johnson Time Tells



Sorry the other pictures were coming up too big. You can see the other signs and globe at http://www.globesandsigns.com/
Just click on the Misc.
John





[This message has been edited by www.globesandsigns.com (edited 04-05-2004).]

The pictures above are of our tin die cut NOS Johnson Tombstone sign annd the Winged 70 sign. The wingspan, if you will, on the "Winged 70" sign is about 48". Both are mint. The other 3 are pump plates. The last one is the only reproduction. It is dated, but has a interesting story. A guy went to reproduce them and wanted them just like the original one posted above. Turned out colors were reversed. He wasn't happy.
John, you have some nice quality stuff. I actually have pictures of your flange sign and globe. I would kill for either one of those. We have done some business in the past before. Thanks for posting. Let's see your 30" sign. I don't have a good photo of one of those to post.

Thanks, Jeff

John, I love the orange ripples. They are killer! We need to get one of our lense sets in a ripple. We don't have either size of the "time tells" with hour glass logos. The above globes all reside above my living room. The first one is a 13.5 orange ethyl burst capco that matches the A38 ad glass. The second one is a Winged 70 13.5 on a original orange capco. The third is a 15" ethyl burst on orange metal high profile. The orange paint that is left is original and you can still see the sticker on the bottom of the body. I like the petina. The fourth one is a Brilliant Bronze on a Balcrank body. The lenses have notches at 12,3,4,8, and 9 o'clock. Pretty rare. The fifth and sixth are both self explanitory. Both are 13.5 on wide milk glass bodies. The last one is a before and after of a super rare (only one we know about) 15" lens. We had it restored and haven't regretted it for one minute. Unfortunately we only have one complete lens and pieces to another. The body to it has a brass copyright tag on top from 1919. That and the color of the logo makes it one of the earliest Johnson globes we know of.

Thanks, Jeff

What an incrediable collection Jeff amd Neil. I love that Johnson stuff, unfortuanatly I have not been able to aquire anything but a map. Keep those wonderful pics coming.

AWESOME..I am LOVING IT

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Hubba the GAS GEEK , OIL FREAK of Shoreline WA

Very nice job Neil and Jeff. Love the colors and even though I don't have any Johnson stuff to post I am enjoying the company. Keep the pictures coming.
Craig

I am posting these RARE quarts for Jeff and I will let him tell us about them. These are really hard to find.....
[img]http://im1.shutterfly.com/procserv/47b4da27b3127ccebc74ad0bd6450000004610[/img]
[img]http://im1.shutterfly.com/procserv/47b4da27b3127ccebc74add5d69b0000003610[/img]
[img]http://im1.shutterfly.com/procserv/47b4da27b3127ccebc74adddd6930000003610[/img]
[img]http://im1.shutterfly.com/procserv/47b4da27b3127ccebc74adb1d6ff0000003610[/img]
[img]http://im1.shutterfly.com/procserv/47b4da27b3127ccebc74adcdd6830000003610[/img]

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Scott in Kansas City
quarts@mindspring.com

Two neat fired on bottles....
[img]http://im1.shutterfly.com/procserv/47b4da27b3127ccebc74adb857c60000003610[/img]

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Scott in Kansas City
quarts@mindspring.com

Thanks Scott for posting our cans and I really appreciate the kind words about our collection. It is fun showing some of this stuff off. I have a good bit more to come. For now, the first picture shows our NOS 5 quart, NOS 1 quart and mint bank. Unfortunately, the bank is the only one not full. I thought they made a cool picture together. Green "Breeze" quart, and orange "Breeze" quart are also full and perfect. Gold "Breeze" quart completes the set. Finally, we have a "Brilliant Bronze" can. There are 2 variations of this one with "HD" and "MHD" in the middle. Does anyone know what that stands for?? High Detergent, Heavy Duty, MMM.......???? Only quart can not pictured is a red and black "Brilliant Penn". We haven't found one for sale, YET!
Finally, we have 2 nice examples of the quart jars that are more common. Tomorrow, we'll post some square cans, and big 5 gallon tins and grease pails.

Thanks,
Jeff

[This message has been edited by JORECO (edited 04-06-2004).]

I'm going to let Jeff fill you in on the information of the following posts. I was telling Jeff I never ever thought I would say WOW about a 5 gallon can but I was wrong. Cool stuff guys. A++++++
[img]http://im1.shutterfly.com/procserv/47b4da26b3127ccebc67287c6fbc0000003610[/img]
[img]http://im1.shutterfly.com/procserv/47b4da26b3127ccebc672b80aee90000004610[/img]
[img]http://im1.shutterfly.com/procserv/47b4da26b3127ccebc672835eec50000003610[/img]
[img]http://im1.shutterfly.com/procserv/47b4da26b3127ccebc67281beeeb0000003610[/img]

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Scott in Kansas City
quarts@mindspring.com