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pony1966 #155216 Thu Oct 08 2009 12:28 PM
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Future Collectibility:

I have always tried to predict what will be the next big collectible. Right after Cindy and I got into this hobby, we decided to really look around and try to find things at yard sales and auctions that we could sell to finance both ourselves and our petro hobby.
Around 1990 I started collecting character glasses, petro glasses, any state lottery scratch off tickets, lunch boxes and handy oilers. All of these were just getting started as collectibles.
Character glasses came and went quickly, I was lucky to break even when we had a large two-day auction. Same with the lunch boxes, ebay killed that hobby, they were once hard to find, ebay brough out more than the hobby could handle. Petro glasses, well they are still out in the garage, have about 500 of them, still don't know what to do with them.
Now with the state scratch off lottery tickets I really though I had something there. They were more colorful than baseball cards and they were around for a relitive short time. After accumulating over 50,000 of them I tried to sell them on ebay for $1.00, just pay the shipping. It took about three weeks of filling the trash cans with them go get rid of them.
I did do one thing right. When I started going to petro shows I spotted the handy-oilers. They were small, didn't take up much room, and presented themselved nicely. They were usually in a box on the tables, and I would ask "What do you want for the whole box?"
I just took them home, hoping we would move to another house where I could display them, in the meantime they were packed in boxes in the garage.
After about 12 years of collecting them I decided I would sell them. I sorted them out, found I had over 600 different cans, and about 300 duplicates. Had a sale in my room at Iowa Gas and netted over $7,000 in two nights and still took most of the cans home with me. They are now gone, probably did over $10,000 for something I paid less than $1000 for, so I did predict something correctly.
Look around you, who knows what the next great collectible will be, it might not be in the petro hobby, but it might be something you could deal in to finance that next globe purchase.

Jack Sim


Author, 1st & 2nd editions of Gas Pump ID book, 3rd edition is now available at www.gaspumpbible.com
Air Meter ID book also available
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Statements such as, "I'm thinking about selling this." are considered an offer to sell.
Jack Sim #155219 Thu Oct 08 2009 01:56 PM
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In reading your initial question you ask about brands and categories.

In regards to brands, not too sure you're going to see much change in the pecking order.

Now in regard to categories, this is MY opinion, I think the stainless steel "T" pumps are going to do nothing but increase in value. They can be bought very reasonably right now and when the next generation of collectors start looking at pumps they are going to want something they can relate to.

I think plastic internally lit signs that most collectors walk past right now could be something that takes off in the future.

Personally I collect what I like, regardless of where the trends might go. Right now I've been buying more garage related signs instead of oil company signs.

But as others have stated, buy quality when you can.

Ohio Oil #155221 Thu Oct 08 2009 02:11 PM
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thanks for the response... those are the kinds of thoughts i was asking about initially. any others?

mike

pony1966 #155296 Fri Oct 09 2009 07:47 AM
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Road maps--if you want to have cheap fun, go for the common brands like Texaco and Standard, or AAA maps. If you want maps that should hold their values and possibly appreciate, go for early issues of regional brands (Pure, D-X/Diamond) or anything from oddball brands like Wadhams, Gibble, Wisco 99, or Pate.

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I agree with Ohio Oil, especially on the plastic. At Hershey this year I noticed more plastic lenses and signs (even on non-petro related) than in the past. Internally lit, smaller units have real potential because they could be done well indoors and some of them were already pricey. There won't be the diversity in different brands to collect, but nice, clean operating examples will be the ticket. I still say big lenses will have their place as well, just may not achieve the value of smaller units. Companies have worked hard at trying to debrand stations and destroy these signs so availability may come into play if they get some momentum.


........Dave
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Looking for old, rare, auto light bulb tins
pony1966 #155310 Fri Oct 09 2009 08:58 AM
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I agree with Ohio Oil on plastic light up and garage related signs. I have found that both appeal to the car guys and I have never seen one of them stop with just one pump when exposed to all the other stuff that is available.

Just a glance at the current months PCM will show that those guys will really pay! Trend? Don't know. But I do think that is a largely underserved market to consider. I do when I'm laying out a garage display. Just my thoughts.

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