Miller & Miller will Hold An Online-Only Petroliana, Advertising Signs & Memorabilia Auction, Dec. 4

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New Hamburg, Ontario -- Miller & Miller Auctions, Ltd. will usher out 2021 with an online-only Petroliana, Advertising Signs & Memorabilia auction on Saturday, December 4th, beginning at 9 am Eastern time. The sale will include seldom-seen Canadian soda signs from the 40-year collection of James Burridge and the advertising collection of the late Dave Toccalino. 

The sale also boasts a carefully curated offering of jukeboxes, gasoline pumps, toys and original memorabilia from the 1890s-1970s. Overall, 530 lots will come up for bid, in categories that include advertising signs, advertising tins, general store, tobacco, clocks, coin-op, petroliana (gas station collectibles), automobilia (car collectibles), breweriana (beer memorabilia) and more. 

“In the early 1980s, Jim Burridge built a collection of the rarest Orange Crush, Coca-Cola and other soda advertising signs,” said Ethan Miller of Miller & Miller Auctions, Ltd. “His entire collection is offered here and the condition is off the charts. Also, petroliana collectors will vie for a pair of single-owner Red Indian gasoline signs and the cleanest collection of White Rose and Enarco oil cans we’ve ever offered. It’s a great lineup of good, fresh, honest advertising.” 

An expected top lot is the rare, 1930s Canadian Eco Model 160 clockface gas pump with original reverse painted glass dials and the correct nozzle. It’s marked “Service Station Equipment Co. Ltd. Toronto Winnipeg Made in the U.S.A.”. The rare Canadian clockface pump, which has had an older, professional restoration to the Texaco colors, carries an estimate of $20,000-$25,000. 

All prices quoted in this report are in Canadian dollars. 

Vintage Canadian service station signs will be led by a circular, 1946 McColl-Frontenac double-sided porcelain sign, six feet in diameter, marked “P&M-46” on the bottom (estimate: $12,000-$15,000); and a 1930s Red Indian single-sided porcelain sign, also circular, five feet in diameter, marked “The W. F. Vilas Co. Limited, Cowansville, P.W.” (estimate: $7,000-$9,000). Both signs are from Harron’s General Store in Elsinore, Ontario. Their slogan was, “Call Elsinore, 424”. 

Also up for bid will be a circular, 1957 Supertest double-sided porcelain sign, among Canada’s most iconic service station signs, five feet in diameter, marked “P&M Orillia 57”, with an overall condition grade of 8.25 (estimate: $7,000-$9,000); and a professionally restored 1950s Canadian ESSO double gasoline pump, professionally restored to Imperial ESSO, with original porcelain faces and a reproduction globe, tagged “Gilbarco Sales”, graded 8.25 (estimate: $5,000-$7,000). 

Slot machines, jukeboxes and phonographs will feature the following American-made examples: 

- A 1947 Mills “Bart” Black Beauty model 25-cent slot machine fitted to a later hand-carved, painted life-size prospector after Frank Polk, working (estimate: $4,000-$6,000).

- A 1956 Seeburg (Chicago) VL200 Select-O-Matic jukebox, referred to as “VL” or “The Cadillac of Jukeboxes”, operates via coin or a credit button (estimate: $4,000-$6,000).

- A 1920s Edison Opera Cylinder phonograph, considered by collectors the finest of the Edison cylinder phonographs, with mahogany case and horn (estimate: $4,000-$6,000). 

Soda memorabilia is also hugely popular with collectors. The auction will include the following: 

- A 1930s Canadian Orange Crush single-sided tin sign, 54 inches tall by 18 inches wide, graded 8.75, marked “St. Thomas Metal Signs, Ltd., Ontario” (estimate: $4,000-$6,000).

- A 1930s Canadian Coca-Cola single-sided tin sign, also 54 inches tall by 18 inches wide, marked “St. Thomas Metal Signs, Ltd., Ontario”, graded 9.25 (estimate: $4,000-$6,000).

- A 1930s Canadian Orange Crush single-sided tin sign, 54 inches tall by 18 inches wide, graded 8.5, marked “St. Thomas Metal Signs, Ltd., Ontario” (estimate: $4,000-$5,000). 

Finally, for categories, these barber shop items are sure to be a big hit for collectors of the genre: 

- A 1920s American Koken porcelain barber chair with nickel-plated trim, professionally restored including brand new top grain upholstery and plating (estimate: $3,000-$5,000).

- A 1930s American Emil J. Paidar (Chicago) child’s barber chair, porcelain with a painted white horse, restored, with new upholstery and horse’s head (estimate: $3,000-$4,000).

- A 1940s American Emil J. Paidar (Chicago) porcelain and cast-iron barber pole, with a lighted rotating striped cylinder, encased in glass, 83 inches (estimate: $3,000-$4,000). 

Automotive offerings will be led by a 1940s American Desoto Plymouth Service dealership sign, double-sided porcelain, graded 9.25, circular, 40 ¼ inches in diameter (estimate; $4,000-$6,000). 

This will be an online-only auction, with no in-person event to attend, but bidders can tune in to the live webcast on December 4th at www.MillerandMillerAuctions.com to watch the lots close in real time. Internet bidding will be provided by the Miller & Miller website, as well as the popular platform LiveAuctioneers.com. Telephone and absentee bids will also be accepted.

To learn more about Miller & Miller Auctions, Ltd. and the online-only December 4 auction, visit www.millerandmillerauctions.com.