Finally had a chance to finish cleaning out my garage this weekend. What’s the point of finding and collecting all this neat stuff if I can’t display it? I collected allot of items over the winter and I was running out of space. I ended up donating allot of items, selling some and relocating others to the attic.
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I headed out to rural area near Harvard IL for my most recent pick. I met a real nice guy named Tom that had a barn packed full of old oil cans and other cool stuff. He works for a large farming outfit and often has to clean out old barns. He comes across quite a few interesting finds and has squirreled away a massive collection in his barn.
I managed to buy quite a few cans from him but I barely made a dent in what he has in his barn. I picked up a couple nice five gallon cans with great graphics. Not to mention a very cool 1930's Harley Davidson oil can that I had to twist his arm for! It took me good hour of scrubbing these cans with hot water and vinegar to get all the grime off of them. In the past year or so I started collecting oil cans. They are extremely collectible and have a pretty decent entry price point for just about any collector. They come in a wide variety of shapes and sizes as well as the material they are made from. Typically the better the advertising on the front of the can the higher its value. Also, a major factor is condition. Things that affect value include; dents, does it still have oil, if so is it leaking oil, are the graphics clearly legible. Soldered Seam Metal Quart - Soldered seam cans are differentiated by their gray stripe on the back or side of the can. As pictured, bare metal is visible as is the solder. This can was primarily used from the introduction of the "standard" quart size can until the early 1940's. Crimped Seam Metal Quart - The crimped seam eliminated the need and expense of soldering the seam of the can. Instead a crimped seam held the can together from top to bottom. Crimped seems replaced the soldered seam metal Paper / Cardboard Quarts - Composite cardboard or "paper" quarts are constructed of heavy cardboard. They started to appears in the 1940's but were not adopted by most companies until the late 1950's and were used through the late 1980's. These are great for entry level collectors because they can typically be purchased at a much lower price point that metal cans. On the downside they typically do not hold up well over time. If full, they often leak. 5 Gallon Round Oil Can - These cans are my personal favorite and perhaps the best for displaying. They were made incredibly tough and tend to be found in tact. The major thing to watch for are the graphics. Many times these cans were re-purposed for holding other liquid and will have writing or carving into the graphics. There are numerous other can sizes and shapes of oil cans that I have not touched on. To learn more visit www.oilcans.net
Antique Barber Chairs are very collectible and I have been looking for one for a while now. I personally love the Koken Chairs myself. Here is a quick info-graphic on three most popular brands.
Graphic courtesy of antiquebarberchairs.net I just acquired this authentic City of Chicago Stop Sign. It is the first item purchased from an incoming lead due to this blog. It is as authentic as it gets. The front of the sign is marked "City of Chicago 2000". The back has decals and graffiti that have been painted over numerous times. The base appears to be much older and is embossed with "City of Chicago". Modern stop signs are not that hard to come by with a little searching. They typically range from $25-$50 depending on the size and condition. Older Stop Signs from the sixties and earlier draw a premium. They are made with heavier gauge metal that is embossed (See the smaller stop sign directly below). Also commanding a premium are signs like that that are marked with a major city like Chicago. I came across this awesome chart of hand tools that I will probably end up ordering for myself. The chart is made and sold by a company called Pop Chart Lab and they offer similar wall charts for everything from Beer to Video Games.
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