Petroliana
Mike
There is a really neat area of collecting that I personally would like better to be able to afford. It is called Petroliana. As the name suggests, sort of, it has to do with collecting things related to petroleum products.
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 OEM Gas Pump Globe Lens sinclair H C gasoline  US $72.11
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 OEM Gas Pump Globe Lens sinclair DINO gasoline US $22.05
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 OEM Gas Pump Globe Lens sinclair DINO SUPREME gasoline US $52.55
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 GLOBE RING gas pump oil US $12.00
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I went to what was listed as a yard sale last year in a town not too far away from me and was just blown away by the petroliana this guy had collected. There were old porcelain advertising signs, hundreds of old oil cans and other small knick knacks that came from service stations and even an old antique gas pump that he said he had torn apart and re-conditioned on his own. His two uncles had own service stations that went out of business year before and he managed to put together what amounted to a small museum in his garage with what he salvaged along with some items he said he had continued to pick up on his own after he started to get really into the restoration part of the project.
Most of the stuff he was selling was not in this part of his house. It just happened to be there and it was what captured my attention at that point. I did ask if he planned on selling any of it, and he said that he wasn't really interested because he didn't want to part with any of it.
When I got home, I started doing a little bit of research on the Internet and realized that the man was sitting thousands and possibly hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of collectibles. He probably knows that already, but he really seems to enjoy owning the stuff.
One of my favorite parts of the whole collection was the gas pump globes. Those are big glass balls that used used to sit on top of gas pumps. I believe most of them lit up and did the job of advertising the gasoline brand quite nicely. They are very sharp and, in a collection, just look absolutely stunning in their restored condition.
I really don't have a central theme to any part of my house that I am allowed to decorate. If I ever do get around to re-doing my game room however, I think I will almost definitely make a place for at least two or three of those old gas pump globes.
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