Advertising, petroliana, Coca-Cola headline Oct. 24 sale
More than 500 lots of vintage advertising, petroliana, Coca-Cola, and general store collectibles amassed over four decades will come to auction Oct. 24 through Tom’s Auctions & Appraisals.
CHESTERFIELD, Va. – A single-owner lifetime collection of mostly country store, soda, gas and oil collectibles, gathered over the course of 40-plus years, will be sold at auction on Saturday, Oct. 24, at 9810 Family Lane in Chesterfield, Virginia, located just south and west of Richmond.
The auction begins at 10 a.m. Eastern, and a 13 percent buyer’s premium will be applied to all winning bids. Tom’s Auctions & Appraisals, based in Suffolk, Virginia, will conduct the old-fashioned “live-cry” auction. In addition to in-person bidding, absentee and phone bids will also be accepted. More than 500 lots will be presented for sale.
The auction offers thermometers; an eclectic selection of advertising signs; cigarette-related items; railroad collectibles; a few firearms; and (not from the same collection) six pieces of stoneware by Virginia makers J. P. Schermerhorn and H. Lowndes, some signed; local Virginian memorabilia; country store showcases; and estate collectibles. Soda collectibles will be dominated by Coca-Cola, although there are many pieces by other drink-makers (like a circa 1950s Pepsi-Cola enamel-on-tin bottle cap sign).
One item certain to draw attention is a 1930s-era mechanical coin-operated Coca-Cola ice box, cooled with ice (not electricity), made by Industrial Carton Coolers (Lincoln, Neb.). The eight bottle model is clean and in original working condition. Other Coca-Cola items include two large porcelain button signs, both 36 inches in diameter; a Vendo 10-cent drink box (“Drink Coca-Cola in Bottles”); and an arresting metal and wood sign stating “Drink Coca Cola Ice Cold” with a red, white and silver round disc, and a bottle of Coke with an arrow, among other items.
Among the petroliana offerings is a circa 1930s Phillips 66 Ethel Fuel globe; a Mobil Paint light-up clock and a 1950s Sinclair gas globe. Vintage advertising signs include an early porcelain Ford sign and a cast-aluminum Ford dealership sign. Other signs expected to draw attention include a pair of Piedmont Tobacco chairs with porcelain signs and a seldom-seen Zellers Baby Food Products painted metal sign.
Previews will be held on Saturday, Oct. 24 (the date of sale) from 8-10 a.m. Off -site bidders register by Oct. 23. To register, call 757-539-2498. For more details, visit www.tomsauction.com.
