Texaco counter-top display rack hits $7,425 at Matthews Auctions A rare Texaco Home Lubricant counter-top display rack made of painted metal, rated 9+ on a scale of 1-10 for overall condition, sold for $7,425 at an auction held June 25 by Matthews, Auctions, LLC.
News-Antique.com - Jul 12,2011 - (DUBLIN, Ohio) – An extremely rare Texaco Home Lubricant counter-top display rack made of painted metal, rated 9+ on a scale of 1-10 for overall condition, sold for $7,425 at an auction held June 25 by Matthews, Auctions, LLC, based in Nokomis, Ill. The auction was held on the second day of the annual Check the Oil Show in Dublin, just outside of Columbus, Ohio.
The Texaco display rack was the top lot of the approximately 420 items of petroliana and automobilia that crossed the block that day. The sign, measuring 12 inches by 13 ½ inches by 5 inches, was “the best of example of this piece I have ever sold at auction,” said Dan Matthews of Matthews Auctions, LLC, adding, “Condition is what drove the price up, for this and other lots.”
Over 200 people packed the Embassy Suites Hotel in Dublin, where the auction was held, to bid on porcelain, tin and cardboard signs, globes, great display pieces and other examples of gas station and automotive collectibles, all rising stars in the collecting world. Telephone and absentee bidding was very brisk, in fact accounting for a good percentage of the top lots sold.
“Many of the top earners were cardboard displays and other display pieces, not signs, and that runs counter to what we’ve seen in previous sales,” Mr. Matthews observed. “Display pieces are becoming more and more sought after by collectors and are an up-and-coming category. Of course, condition is what matters most. Items rated 8.5 or 9 and above all brought high dollars.”
Online bidding was facilitated by Proxibid.com and LiveAuctioneers.com. Following are additional highlights from the auction. All prices quoted include a 10 percent buyer’s premium.
The second top lot was a Ford Genuine Parts single-sided tin counter-top (or hanging display) neon sign, circa late 1920s, rated 8.5 with good color and original neon tubing, switch and transformer. It knocked down at $6,050. In third place was a tin flange sign reading “Stop Here for Silver Edge Raybestos Brake Service” boasting great graphics. It commanded $4,675.
A Johnson Sea Horse Outboard Motors single-sided tin self-framed sign (“Bailey Service, Inc.”), with sea horse logo, 32 inches by 56 inches, rated 8.9 with great color and shine, brought $3,850; and a Stanley Garage Door Holders single-sided tin wood-back sign (“Hold Your Garage Doors Open!”), with great graphics, rated 8, 26 inches by 34 inches, made $3,520.
Two lots coasted to identical hammer prices of $3,300. One was a single-sided porcelain oval sign having “Power With Race Horse & Jockey” graphics (and meant to have neon around the perimeter), rated 9 with great gloss and color. The other was a set of 15-inch lenses in a metal globe body for Associated Green Gold Gasoline, with original body and the display lens, rated 9.
A single-sided tin embossed sign for Kelly-Springfield Automobile Tires / Consolidated Rubber Tire, 14 inches by 20 inches, rated 8.75 with good color and shine (marked H.D. Beach Co., Coshocton, Ohio), fetched $3,190; and
