Primarily Petroliana Shop Talk Forums Shop Talk Petroliana Forums Showcase and Stories, Petroliana Let's see your best/rare oilers

Let's see some pics of some oilers you don't see very often. What ya got?

Here's one of mine, a very rare 3oz Marathon oiler.

This one was just on Ebay... It only got bids from me & one other person. The other person got it!

A neat early CS yellow oiler that I haven't seen that often.

Semi HTF Mobil Penetrating Oil oval lead top can

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Here are a few I have.....

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boy,!!!! very cool oilers
wish I had the Associated one..
Alan

NICE oilers guys! Love the Dura! Ive been looking for one for awhile...

JEEP JUICE!

Well That has got to qualify as rare DB. Like the canine theme. How old is it? I see Jeep came out in 1938 so it is of decent vintage.

Johnson Oil ……Not too rare.

I NEED to get my self an oiler I've been missing out.

Dave

Nice Bonded Dave , hard one to find that nice. Ron Lease-Collector. ;;;;;;;;

Love the Bonded one as well.

There are a lot of different handy oilers out there. My brother has over 1100 if I recall. Most of his collection was shown in PCM a few months ago. They were made of metal, glass and plastic. Most of the metal ones were round, oval or a rectangle in shape. They show up in 2, 3 and 4 ouce sizes. Most of the major oil companies had them back in the day. Some times they were given out as a gift by the local distributor around Christmas time in a cardboard box with a picture of Santa Clause on the box. As a general rule, the lead tops are older than the plastic top ones. They make an interesting collectable as there are a lot of different ones out there, they do not take up a lot of space and there are a lot that can be bought for under $10. The rare and uncommon ones can go for over $1000. As with anything collectable, there are fake oilers out there. Some have a new vinyl or paper label on them (There are originals with paper labels) and some have been restored. Also you see some that have been clear coated to make them shine. I saw pictures of some fakes that were about a 4 ounce size and the label on the can said 1 quart. Oilers are always seen at the shows ranging in price from a buck or so up to big $$.

The Dura can is a better oiler, my brother had one for sale at the last Peotone show. There is another version of the Bonded can, it says Gasateria on the bottom of the can if I recall. The Johnson can does show up but they are normally priced over $100.

Also, some "handy oilers" do not have oil in them. The same style can was also used for lighter fluid, ink and other fluids. There are at least two good books on oilers, Got a Drop of Oil? and Got a Drop of Oil part two. A lot of nice cans in both books. I collect the Sinclair oilers to go with my collection, others collect all brands. Now days you can still buy a new "handy oiler" can of Zippo lighter fluid and I think some gun oil is still sold in a small plastic oiler. I think most of the true handy oil cans have been replaced with a can of WD-40.
Lets see some more!

...now that is a good one...I'm sure DB knows already - but that's the 'Jeep' from the Popeye comic strip, and (along with 'GP' from 'General Purpose') the source of the name for the vehicle...

Rare, don't know ? Cool, yep !

here is a scarce red crown oiler I think it was used for fuel to prime cars but not sure.

Not the rarest but from what I understand, not the easiest to find either.

So many here are so cool!!

A few of my Bardahl cans

I have a few oilers...

Here is a "Christmas Box" from Texaco:



Texaco Oilers:





Oilers from various Oil Company's:

Oilers from Whiz Auto Products:



Speciality Oilers:





(I won this one, but haven't received it yet)

And lastly some of my Veedol and Flying A Oilers:

my only kind of rare one.

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^^^^^NICE^^^^^

that's the "jeep" from Popeye isnt it? "the magical creature that change things and such" as popeye put it? thats oiler is a real trip!

I regret parting with this one.

A couple of Swedish oilers. The Speedoil has a little cup on top.
//Claes

Few harder ones to find....mm

Here is one that doesn't come up hardly at all. The Standard Vacuum is a htf version.

I have a grand total of three handy oilers in my collection. I was never really that taken with them and I got these in a group of cans a long time ago. They may be the most common out there or the rarest, I have no idea. Since we were on the subject I thought I'd get educated and let someone critique them.

Sweet oilers so far, Very cool stuff.

Being that Popeye has been around since 1929, it doesn't surprise me.
What did surprise me is Popeye being that Old! That's Older than Bob, Jack & Maybe Butch!

Some of my better oilers: oval Shells, very early North Star 'Oil-Wel', Buffalo and Rega sewing machine oilers. I am still looking for a Quaker State 'Oil-Wel' that matches my North Star. Cheers, Don

Some of the better Imperial Oil oilers. Cheers, Don.

Don your displays are always in amazingly great shape. REGA disappeared around 1917 correct? Making those cans near to 100 years old. The Scotch Gall Cure can(s) is an interesting story in the definition of "Rare". I had one collector tell me his Scotch Gall Cure was the only one he's every seen and doubts there anymore out there. Well in the space of 3 weeks I saw 3 more-2 were yours of course. Its a neat can, I believe the other side says "for whatever ails beast and man". How old and rare is the Buffalo sewing Machine Oiler?

Fred, I believe British American (B.A.) bought Rega in 1920. So some of the cans are 100 years old. What I like about some of them is that they say on the side 'Not a Member of the Trust' which refers to the Standard Oil trust which was broken up in 1911. Funny that the Rockefellers were even hated up here. However, since they owned Imperial Oil maybe that was a little company getting a jab at the big oil monopoly. The Buffalo would be pre 1930 since they changed their name about then to Prairie Cities from Prairie City. Let me know if you want try some of Gall Cure, lol. Cheers, Don.

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I mainly look for US oilers, but if foreign ones turn up I'll add them to the collection.

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Here are some of mine that I thought were harder to find. I may have doubled up from other post.

Very nice!!!

WOW!!!!!!!!!!! AMAZING OILERS!!!

A lot of great oilers!!
But Tankar, absolutely love, love, love both the Phillips 66 and the Gulfoil!!! Wowza!!!

I hadn't contributed to this thread when it started and I think it needs a few Cities Service oilers! I don't have many, but here they are!

Here are my favorite oilers from our collection.
Keith

Early Gulf oiler with paper label.

Great oilers, guys!

Here are 3 from me. Bardahl Home & Office, Zephyr Utility and Buick heat Trap Lubricant.

Oilers

Found this one years ago at a Petro Canada Station I worked at. Station used to be a Gulf & BA before that, not sure how this one ended up there. Not sure if this is a rare oiler, guess it's a transitional one from the McColl-Frontenac Oil Company over to Texaco in Canada?

Couple of mine. I really like the Standard

my two favorites

Here is one that I recently came across. From what I can find it was a promotional item given to dealers between 1917 - 1919. It has National Motor Oil on the front and White Rose Gasoline on the back. Measures about 10" high and 1.5" diameter. Unfortunately the paint is not perfect.

I collect Mobil items, Steve

Couple of BA oilers I just picked up, One in standard BA colours of Green, Red & white, the other is in the Gulf Oil blue, orange & white transitional colours before BA was phased out. Both full & unopened.

Some of my older cans.

Love that Farm-Oyl oiler

here's a few more.

Recently from a fellow Oldgasser. Thanks Tim. Cant seem to get it right side up...

Here’s one of my rarer ones.

Mobil

shell oiler shaped like a gas pump, made in germany, text in dutch

New one on me. Very cool

Couple new ones

Here is mine

Here's some of mine.

Train Oilers .

A few more.

Does any one know anything about this OILER 4-1643 FLEX SPOUT 1 PINT NAPA BALKAMP OIL CAN the writing is still legible I just don't know anything about it

I used to own this. I sold it.

Christmas giveaway

Lighter fluid oiler

Few more

Here's my favorite 3

Here’s my rarest oiler, never seen another

Some of the nicest clean oilers I have seen. Hope to see someday in the wild for sure