A pair of Canadian White Rose Gasoline service station signs from the 1940s sold for a combined $63,130, and a red 1951 Ford Custom convertible car sped off for $17,700 in an online-only Petroliana & Advertising auction held on March 11th by Miller & Miller Auctions, Ltd., based in New Hamburg. Prices quoted are in Canadian dollars.
The top lot of the auction was a round White Rose Gasoline double-sided porcelain sign, six feet in diameter and marked “P&M Orillia” lower edge. It blasted through its $10,000-$13,000 estimate to finish at $44,250. The other White Rose sign – a three-piece single-sided porcelain banner sign – the more difficult-to-find scaled up version of the set, with the round center sign 48 inches in diameter (typically 36 inches) and each of the banners 119 ½ inches long, hit $18,880.
The 1951 Ford Custom convertible, professionally repainted in Carnival Red, retained its original 239 cubic inch flathead V8 engine with two-barrel carburetor and a three-speed manual transmission. The car had just 82,870 original miles and was a mostly original low-mileage survivor with a straight-fitting body. It was built in Windsor, Ontario, Canada and spent years in Edmonton, in a salt-free environment. Remarkably, it fell short of its $20,000-$25,000 estimate.
Just over 300 lots came up for bid in an auction that grossed $419,225 and featured categories that included automobiles, petroliana (gas station collectibles), breweriana (beer collectibles), soda advertising, bicycles and advertising signs. A total of 433 registered bidders combined for 6,726 bids. Online bidding was via LiveAuctioneers.com and MillerandMillerAuctions.com.
To learn more about Miller & Miller Auctions, Ltd. and their calendar of upcoming events, visit www.millerandmillerauctions.com
