Miller & Miller's Online Auctions, Sept. 7-8, Featured Petroliana, Advertising, Soda, General Store

By Author: Ethan Miller
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A rare Canadian Red Indian Motor Oil single-sided tin sign from the 1920s soared to $64,900 and an American Campbell’s Tomato Soup convex porcelain single-sided sign, also from the 1920s, finished at $24,780 in two online-only auctions hosted by Miller & Miller Auctions, Ltd. The two auctions combined for a robust $1,132,368.

All prices quoted are in Canadian dollars and include an 18 percent buyer’s premium.

The scarce Red Indian Motor Oil single sided tin sign was the top lot in a Petroliana & Advertising auction held on September 7th. The sign featured the earlier and more detailed “Indian Head” logo and the slogan – “Best Motor Insurance” – is seen only in very early Red Indian advertising. The sign, 23 ¼ inches by 17 ¼ inches, easily beat its $12,000 high estimate.

The die-cut Campbell’s Tomato Soup single-sided convex porcelain sign, embossed, was the top achiever in a September 8th Soda & General Store Advertising auction held on September 8th. The iconic American sign, marked Campbell Soup Company (Camden. N.J.), was 22 ½ inches by 12 ¾ inches and boasted excellent ...
... color and gloss. It sailed past its high estimate of $9,000.

The September 7th Petroliana & Advertising auction featured 309 lots of petroliana (gas station collectibles) and advertising and ended the day grossing $683,308. The September 8th Soda & General Store Advertising auction contains 404 lots of advertising signs, soda advertising, tobacciana and general store items and grossed $449,080. Both sales were hugely successful.

“Fifty years of selective collecting paid off in spades from Ken McGee,” said Ethan Miller of Miller & Miller Auctions, Ltd., in reference to the petroliana and advertising collection of Ken and Sylvia McGee of Goderich, Ontario. “Ken’s decades-old purchases of pump plates and signs on the fields at Hershey brought him exponential returns.”

Mr. Miller said that in both sessions, condition and rarity dictated price. “Rare items in top condition soared to oblivion,” he said. “This sale is proof that the collector market for choice advertising and petroliana is alive and well, but the mad money that was being spent on lower grade content during COVID is history.”

Following are additional highlights from the two auctions, in which a total of 913 online bidders placed a combined total of 18,499 bids. Internet bidding was facilitated by LiveAuctioneers.com and the Miller & Miller Auctions website. Of the 713 total lots up for bid, nearly all were sold, and more than half the top lots on both days exceeded estimates.

Staying with Day 1, a sleek, silver 1964 Airstream Overlander Land Yacht 26-foot trailer that included the original serial-matched owner’s manual and guarantee certificate indicating delivery to its first owner, in Southfield, Michigan, found a new home for $29,500. The torpedo-shaped Airstream, an iconic American trailer that’s been turning heads since 1936, was built in Ohio.

Two Canadian White Rose Gasoline signs combined to bring $56,640. A 1940s double-sided porcelain sign, 24 inches in diameter, with bracket, in untouched and original condition, sold for $29,500; while a 1940s three-piece single-sided porcelain center sign and banners climbed to $27,140. White Rose Gasoline signs are some of Canada’s most recognizable petroliana signs.

Dealer signs for three iconic American auto makers all performed well. They were as follows:

- A 1940s 7-foot Dodge DeSoto & Trucks single-sided porcelain bullnose sign, 44 ½ inches by 83 ¾ inches, graded well at 9.0, with excellent color and gloss ($21,830).

- A 1940s Oldsmobile “GM Hydramatic Drive” neon dealer sign fitted to a rear-mounted wood and sheet metal frame that stands the sign about four inches off a wall ($17,700).

- A Canadian 1930s Ford V8 (“Genuine Parts”) die-cut double-sided porcelain sign, 35 ¼ inches by 26 inches, in very good condition with excellent color and gloss ($16,520).

On to Day 2, where the runner-up to the Campbell’s Tomato Soup sign was exceedingly rare Canadian 1890s aqua Standing Beaver midget pint fruit jar, thought to be the only pint known, possibly the first Beaver jar ever made, and reportedly made at one of the Nova Scotia glass factories. The jar featured a left-facing beaver standing on its hind quarters. It made $15,340.

A hard-to-find Canadian 1930s Five Roses Flour (“The World’s Best”) porcelain sign, 42 inches by 26 inches, one of the great Canadian general store signs, boasting outstanding graphics and produced by the Lake of the Woods Milling Co. in Keewatin, Canada, achieved $12,980. The central field with the image was excellent and, despite a few flaws, the sign presented very well.

A 1930s Canadian Orange Crush (“Come Again, Thank You”) single-side porcelain palm push, the orange porcelain textured like the surface of an orange peel, a unique manufacturing process, a superb example in excellent condition, rose to $9,440. Also, a 1920s Oliver Diabolo No. 10 Cream Separator cast iron and nickel plate salesman’s sample, marked “Canadian Oliver Chilled Plow Works Ltd. Winnipeg, Regina, Saskatoon, Calgary, Edmonton”, original paint, hit $8,850.

A Canadian circa 1910 M. L. Dolan 5-cent cigar vending machine trade stimulator, made of cast iron in Richmond, Quebec, one where the machine releases one cigar every turn and two cigars once every five turns, with all original beveled panels in place, fetched $8,850; while a 1954 American Coca-Cola (“Pick Up 12”) single-sided tin pilaster sign, a two-piece ensemble with a convex button sign at the top, 54 inches by 16 inches, with reproduction bracket, reached $7,670.

To watch a brief YouTube video of some of the auctions’ highlights, click this link:

https://youtu.be/I1dQmx06PyQ

Miller & Miller Auctions, Ltd. has a pair of back-to-back online-only auctions lined up for next month: a Canadiana auction, featuring the Hamilton and Rutter collections, scheduled for Saturday, October 12th; and a Canadian Folk Art auction planned for Sunday, October 13th.

To learn more about Miller & Miller Auctions, Ltd. and the firm’s upcoming auctions, visit www.millerandmillerauctions.com.