Nice items Kevin!
To add on a bit to Noah's post of the 1934 White Star Mobil map, I had taken some photos for KYGULF a while back of my map collection, so since I had them ready I figured I would add them to the post now. All these maps are different in some way, either by size, date, or design. One of the most desirable Mobil related maps is the 1930 Vacuum Oil Co. graphic with the car, station, pumps, and attendant. All I have seen are for Pennsylvania, but I'm sure other states have to exist!



The next grouping are earlier maps, dating from 1933 to 1938. Some of the most collectible Mobil maps are those from the Wadhams division of Socony-Vacuum, as well as the earlier General Petroleum maps. In my opinion, some of the best Mobil items graphically were produced by the General Petroleum division, which encompassed the West Coast states. From maps, posters, to magazine and newspaper advertisements, General produced beautiful items in the pre-WW2 era.



The following grouping dates from 1938 to 1966. By 1946, (the predominately red background Michigan map) you will notice that the maps start following similar designs. By this point, Socony-Vacuum had instituted branding standards for all subsidiary companies, so companies such as Wadhams and General that had produced their own maps as a division of S-V had to conform to the same standards and no longer produced more "independent" marketing. You will still find maps during the 1940s and early 1950s that mention different divisions in the lower area, but the designs of the maps will all be the same. By 1956 all maps say "Socony Mobil Oil Company, Inc." as the company name had changed from Socony-Vacuum to Socony Mobil Oil Company in 1955. Starting about this time, Mobil was starting to phase out separating the Magnolia and General Petroleum subsidiaries which were the only two still operating from the earlier aquisition days. Both names would be phased out in 1960.



Shown in this last photo are some misc. maps, including Marine maps and other oddities. The rarest map in this photo is the Campbell Oil Company map of Chattanooga, TN. It's the only one I've ever seen. They were a distributor who used the Mobilgas branding very prominently on this local map, which I'm sure was to their advantage!
I hope I wasn't too wordy above, as I really enjoy giving the history on the items I own, which is important. Hopefully along the way we'll all learn something about Mobil we didn't know before! If you have any other maps not shown, go ahead and post them for others to see!
Darin


Darin Sheffer
Always looking for Mobil and Marathon items I don't already have!