The prices were strong and the crowd was good, considering there was a blizzard outside.
Alberta has not had a recession and people seem to be buying the smaller pumps for their car collections. The local collectors were shaking their heads at the prices.
Pictures from my phone.

More pictures

Signs

Wow! I need to ship my collection to you and let you have an auction!

Many uneducated buyers out there...one episode of American Pokers and some people consider themselves experts! Local auction around here people were paying 3x retail price for poor condition signs and globes. If the pokers said lubesters were the hot thing people would believe them and I bet the prices would sky rocket. Many people believe what they see and hear on tv.

Well someone needs to call mike and tell em to pay 1500 for a big lubester!

Has nothing to do with educated or uneducated. It's a free market driven by demand and supply. The man with the deepest pockets wins. Who cares what you pay....if you are having fun. They earned their money and how they spend it is their choice.
No need to be critical of how they spend their money. I think they do more for this hobby then "so called educated collectors" who for their own selfish reasons don't want the prices to rise. I'm a collector and every time I am made aware of strong prices; I am thankful. I don't mind paying strong prices for pieces I like.

I'm with you Dave....I just don't get all the complaining about the stuff we collect being sold at prices that are increasing. Why would anyone not want the value of their collection to increase? Most of us don't buy this stuff as an investment, but every last item in every collection gets sold eventually....either by us or our heirs somewhere down the line. Maybe someone out there can explain why steady or falling prices are good, or why the interest in collecting petroliana generated by "American Pickers" is bad for the hobby, cause I just don't get it.

Richard

If you think those prices are high,a friend of mine went to the Milhous auction this weekend and some of the prices he was telling me where through the roof.

Trouble is, the only way we can get that BIG money for our collections are to consign them to an auction or Die and let your family do it.
The same people that pay $450 at auctions for a 1970's Quaker State sign or similar will not pay you $100. at your home or any given show/swap meet. I think that is the point most make on here, it is the uneducated that are paying big bucks for common/poor condition signs and passing on the quality stuff.

If you have two people at an auction that want an item of course it will bring more than at a swap meet. Swap meets to me mean bargains. Auctions are where serious buyers go to buy something they think they need. I think its great that people are willing to pay for this stuff. Just my opinion.

Every time I go to an Auction, I end up paying more than the personal limits I had set for myself during the preview. We have all been there and have gotten caught up in the moment. That's what makes auctions fun.
When you are selling out of your collection "it is difficult to get a buyer "caught up in the moment" it is difficult to create that excitement and urgency to pull the trigger at home. People react differently when faced by those pressures at an auction. I would imagine that Ego's also play a role. Some people have enough money where they refuse to be outbid by a local competitor/fellow collector in a public setting. Most people are building collections on a budget while raising families and working 8-5 blue collar jobs. For others it's all about showmanship and an unlimited budget. These are the people that don't have the time or the desire to be looking through local ad's and making small purchases. They would rather drop a stack of cash at an Auction House and impress everyone, they don't care about what they pay for an item.
I have dealt privately with these "Auction House high rollers" one on one and trust me they are totally different when you are trying to sell to them one on one. They don't throw out their money as freely. In my opinion Ego's are a big part of these prices.
I am also in agreement that swap meets = deals, Specialized Auctions = higher prices. An example of this would be Barrett Jackson....privately you couldn't get the money that some of those cars get.