Rare gas pumps, early agricultural advertising, Canadian automotive signs and hard-to-find tobacco tins will headline Miller & Miller Auctions Ltd.’s September 6 Petroliana, Soda & General Store Advertising sale, offering collectors a broad cross-section of North American commercial advertising history across 393 lots.
Miller & Miller Auctions Ltd. is bringing 393 lots of vintage advertising, petroliana, soda memorabilia, tobacco tins and general store collectibles to its September 6 auction, with the two-session event spanning everything from a restored 1930s gas pump to early 20th-century Canadian tobacco packaging.
The sale illustrates a niche but active segment of the collectibles market in which advertising artifacts function as more than decorative memorabilia. Porcelain service-station signs, branded gas pumps, lithographed tins and point-of-sale displays document how companies once competed for consumer attention before modern digital advertising transformed the relationship between brands and audiences.
The first session begins September 6 at 9:00 a.m. EDT and includes 256 lots with a live webcast. A second session starts at 6:00 p.m. EDT with 137 lots closing sequentially online without a live webcast. Bidders can participate through Miller & Miller Auctions and LiveAuctioneers, while phone bidding is available during the morning session.
1930s Erie Cash Recorder pump leads petroliana offering
The expected centerpiece of the morning session is Lot 170, a professionally restored Erie Cash Recorder Model 53 gas pump finished in Polly Gas.
Manufactured in the United States around 1934–1935, the pump has been converted into a double-sided example while retaining its original castings. Its globe is particularly notable because the design was created specifically for the cash recorder model, making surviving examples—and even reproductions of the distinctive globe—uncommon.
Standing nearly 95 inches tall, the restored pump has been presented with strong colour and gloss. The original pump and clock mechanisms are not included, although the reproduction globe and lenses remain.
The estimate is CA$9,000–$12,000.
For petroliana collectors, pieces such as this sit at the intersection of industrial design, transportation history and advertising. Gas pumps were once functional infrastructure, but branded examples increasingly serve as visual records of how oil companies and independent stations established identity along the emerging automobile highway.
Early agricultural advertising reflects another era of marketing
Lot 80 shifts the focus from petroleum to American agricultural machinery.
The pre-1902 McCormick Harvesting Machinery chromolithograph presents industrial mechanization as a symbol of national progress. At its center is “The Ship of Progress,” surrounded by scenes showing horse-drawn agricultural equipment operating across the countryside.
The poster was designed as a promotional display for sales locations, with space at the bottom where individual stores could add their names. It carries the mark of Ketterlinus in Philadelphia, New York and Chicago.
Measuring 40 by 30 inches in sight size, the large-format piece retains strong colour despite age-related toning, staining, creasing and edge wear. Its estimate is CA$6,500–$9,000.
For collectors, the poster represents an early example of advertising that connected a commercial product with a much larger narrative—in this case, the idea that mechanized farming represented technological and economic advancement.
That strategy remains familiar in modern advertising, although today’s campaigns are more likely to associate products with concepts such as sustainability, productivity, convenience or innovation.
Canadian Ford sign highlights scarcity of regional advertising
Canadian advertising memorabilia makes up another important part of the sale.
Lot 102 is a Canadian Ford Genuine Parts double-sided porcelain sign dating to approximately 1920–1930. Measuring 18 by 27.75 inches, the sign retains very good colour and gloss and carries an 8.5/8.25 grade from the auction listing.
Its significance extends beyond the Ford brand. Canadian porcelain advertising signs from this period are considerably less common than comparable American examples, making regional provenance an important factor for collectors.
Authenticated by The Authentication Company under TAC #501820, the sign is estimated at CA$3,500–$5,000.
A Canadian Texaco service-station sign also appears in the petroliana lineup. Lot 60 is a six-foot, double-sided porcelain sign dating from approximately 1946–1959. Marked “P&M Orillia,” it retains very good colour and gloss and carries grades of 9.0/8.75.
The sign is estimated at CA$3,000–$3,500 and authenticated under TAC #402508.
Tobacco tins show the value of packaging as advertising
The auction extends beyond signs and gas pumps into Canadian tobacciana, where relatively small objects can command collector attention because of their rarity and graphic design.
Lot 218 is a 1920 Torpedo Short Cut Tobacco pocket tin produced by Rock City Tobacco Co. Limited of Quebec. The flip-lid tin features the rare destroyer-ship variation of the Torpedo design, with nautical imagery and a partial tax stamp.
The piece is estimated at CA$3,500–$5,000.
Lot 219 offers another Canadian rarity: a Taxi Crimp Cut Tobacco pocket tin from approximately 1910–1920. Produced by Imperial Tobacco Company of Canada, the lithographed flip-lid tin depicts two well-dressed men beside a taxicab while a chauffeur waits behind the wheel.
The design appears on both sides of the tin and is regarded by tobacciana collectors as an especially striking example of Canadian tobacco packaging. It carries an estimate of CA$3,000–$4,000.
These objects demonstrate why advertising collectibles are not necessarily limited to large-format signage. Packaging itself was a primary advertising surface, with companies using colour, illustration, typography and aspirational imagery to differentiate products in increasingly competitive consumer markets.
Coca-Cola memorabilia adds wartime and postwar advertising history
Coca-Cola is represented across both auction sessions.
Lot 86 is a five-piece “Women in Uniform” military advertising set dating from 1942–1945. The cardboard point-of-sale displays depict women serving in the Army Nurse Corps, Women’s Army Corps, U.S. Marine Corps Women’s Reserve, Navy Nurse Corps and WAVES.
Each figure is shown in official service attire holding a Coca-Cola bottle, placing the campaign within the broader context of wartime advertising and changing representations of women in American public life.
Professionally framed and matted, the complete set measures 23.25 by 48.5 inches and carries an estimate of CA$3,000–$3,500.
The evening session includes Lot 288, a Coca-Cola Silhouette Girl door pull sign from 1943–1946. The two-piece tin piece features the “Silhouette Girl,” a Coca-Cola advertising image introduced in 1939.
The 12-by-35-inch sign is estimated at CA$1,400–$1,600 and authenticated by The Authentication Company.
Another piece, Lot 259, is a Canadian Canada Dry “Take Home a Carton” door sign dating from 1940–1948. The die-cut tin incorporates a Canadian map into its bottle imagery and reflects a design that Canada Dry phased out by 1948.
Estimated at CA$900–$1,200, the sign offers a smaller but distinctive example of Canadian beverage advertising.
Market Landscape
The market for vintage advertising collectibles sits at the intersection of Americana, industrial history, graphic design and brand heritage. Unlike contemporary digital advertising, where campaigns can disappear from screens once budgets end, physical advertising artifacts can survive as tangible records of how companies built recognition.
Petroliana is particularly tied to the history of automotive mobility. Gas pumps and porcelain station signs preserve the visual identities of fuel brands during the expansion of automobile ownership and roadside commerce.
Canadian material adds another layer of scarcity. Regional manufacturing, distribution and dealer networks meant that some signs and packaging were produced in smaller quantities than their U.S. equivalents.
Condition, rarity, authenticity, provenance and visual appeal remain central considerations for collectors. The September sale also demonstrates how categories can overlap: a gas pump is simultaneously industrial equipment and advertising, while a tobacco tin is both packaging and miniature commercial artwork.
As brands increasingly invest in digital archives and heritage marketing, these physical artifacts can also serve as reference points for understanding the evolution of branding—from storefront signage and product tins to today’s programmatic advertising, social media campaigns and digital brand experiences.
Top Insights
- Miller & Miller’s September auction features 393 lots spanning petroliana, soda advertising, tobacco tins, agricultural posters and general store memorabilia.
- A restored 1930s Erie Cash Recorder gas pump is expected to lead the sale with a CA$9,000–$12,000 estimate.
- Rare Canadian Ford and Texaco porcelain signs highlight the scarcity and collector appeal of regional North American advertising artifacts.
- Early McCormick agricultural advertising demonstrates how brands historically used technological progress and visual storytelling to sell industrial products.
- Coca-Cola wartime displays and vintage Canadian tobacco tins show how packaging and point-of-sale materials functioned as powerful advertising media.
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