Gary J Sibio
Sovereign Hi-Lo Motor Oil Can (2018-04-05 14-10-56a)
The can was in the window display at the Edgewater Antique Mall at 6314 North Broadway Avenue, Chicago, Illinois (Edgewater). There were a few other antique automotive product cans. They were being used as vases to hold artificial flowers.
I couldn’t find much about the company except that they were in business as early as 1900 (I saw a photo of a stock certificate issued by the company on that date) and lasted, at least, until the Second World War (a photo of a different style can dating to 1944). My guess, and I’m certainly no expert, it that this dates to the 1930s. I saw one on Ebay when I was researching it and the seller was asking $95.00 for it so it must be a big deal to collectors.
The photo was taken using a Nikon Coolpix P7700 camera and used ACDSee Ultimate 2018 to edit it. The stems from the artificial flowers they were holding in the display were visible in the original image so I erased the stems and cropped the image a bit. I adjusted the white balance and the lighting and boosted the contrast slightly.
Photo © 2018 Gary J. Sibio. All rights reserved.
Thank you very much. I appreciate it.
I watch American Pickers a lot and I have learned about a lot of things worth money I didn’t know before. Oil cans being one of those.
I love that show. It’s amazing all the interesting stuff they find. When I was trying to figure out how old this can was, I found the exact same can on Ebay. They were asking $95.
That is a great find. Amazing what antiques are hiding in the old barns, worth tons of money.
I like that they are used and not discarded. The crown in the middle is great. Gary has any photo you make is subject to revision.
It probably sat in someone’s garage for years. I find that almost every photo needs some editing. About 85% of the time he edits are done to make the image look more like what it looked like in real life. Whatever changes I make, however, I always mention so people know what I did.