Primarily Petroliana Shop Talk Forums Shop Talk Petroliana Forums General Petroliana Discussion quaker state sign value help

Wondered if I can get some help as to whether this sign is real and what the value might be approximated at. Copyrighted 1937. "Baltimore enamel...New york??" or something like that wording in bottom right. "Property of quaker state refining company" in lower left 2 sided tombstone shape sign. One grommet missing. Heavy sign. Neighbor's brother has this for sale and just curious if it is worth buying. Thanks for the help in advance

Looks real to me, but I'm not a "sign guy", per se. I've seen them on ebay sell from $50-$125* without a frame.

(* I don't watch signs all that much, so my pricing maybe way off)

IMO price from estimate above is right on

I've seen the painted ones bring that much and this is a very old porcelain sign with heavy shelving! I can't say as to a close value but I think it should be worth $250+. Its not perfect but its pretty darn nice!
Biggest thing is whether YOU like it or not! If you like it a lot and its reasonably priced, then buy it. Heck theres no postage involved if its in the neighborhood and thats worth a lot anymore!
If you decide not to buy it then send me an email and I'll try to buy it. I really like it! Good luck---KEVIN

I would think it would be in the 200-250 range. I sold NOS tin Quaker State signs from the 80swith the stands on ebay for $100-$150.

I DEF HAVE TO AGREE WITH KEVIN AND ALEX ON THE PORC VERSION.

I HAVE SIGNS THAT ALSO HAVE THE BALTIMORE ENAMEL, NY ON THEM.

Well,i do like it even though I like mobiloil stuff a bit more. Anyway, he is asking $175. I am gathering from your help, that is a pretty darn good price. I think I might bite on this one. So, for my own education, do all of these old signs have a copyright date on them somewhere? And, if it has writing on it as explained in my post, would that too be an indicator of it being genuine, or can't one go by that each time they look at a sign? Also, are the older ones steel with porcelain and thus why they are so heavy and is that too an indicator of a genuine sign? Sorry for all of the questions, but i really would like to know how to identify something as a fake or not. Thanks again for your input. I do appreciate it greatly!

That sign must weigh a ton looking at the size of the chain holding it up!
Mike

Not all signs are copyright or dated. But that is a good indication that is real. A lot of old signs that were meant to be out in the element like this one that were used in stands and displayed on the sidewalk were heavy porcelain. Also alot tin signs were old too. It go's both ways. I'm sure there are other guys that can chime on this better than me.

That price is OK but not great. If you like Mobil stuff better why not wait until you find a nice Mobil sign?

Probably the most common sign out there, You will find 5-6 at every show. $175. would be top dollar

Quaker State & Pennzoil are the easiest signs to find. I'd look for the older one 1st.

this one looks like the early version which is much heavier than the 50's version.........i would agree with lastgas15 & kz100....this sign will probably never go up in value however if all you want it for is display,thats fine.....i would also wait & buy something in better condition...this sign is very common & can be found in excellent condition however you'll pay more, but in the long run for common signs, its all about the condition if you ever sell it...

Well, i did a search on ebay and found a bunch of these tombstone signs, thus, i didnt bite on it. I would rather have something less common and that darn red pegasus does it way better for me anyway! Thanks for the info on the date and weights. Sadly, my search on ebay seemed to reveal that the pegasus stuff is going to cost me more than $175 huh?

This is the older version that's worth a bit more.

Check out Rex's auction results from a few years back. Lots of Mobil stuff.


http://www.aumannauctions.org/cgi-bin/mnarclist.cgi?aumann/20060127/category/ALL

Wow! Were those the final sales prices on the right? If so, there were tons of things that I believed to be reasonable and I would love to have. How much would prices have climbed since those numbers in 2006, or can some of that stuff be had for that pricing in today's bad economy? And, how often do they have those auction's and would they be advertised in that section of the forum on "oldgas.com" when they occur?

Dan Matthews has several petroliana auctions a year. He's a great guy to deal with. Here's a link to his website
http://www.matthewsauctions.com/

You can also check Dan's archived auctions on proxibid to get an idea of current prices.

Thanks Bob for confirming what I thought was the older QS sign. I knew the sign Darrel posted was older than what mrcavalcade posted, but not the older one.

If you want to buy a Mobil Pegasus Horse, and it says T-53 on the bottom, BEWARE, They are mostly all re-pros

If you can get that sign for $200 or under you did good