The Indy Antique Advertising Show

September 26th, 2014

Battery-operated Fred Flintstone on Dino by Marx, with the original box, $650 from Darryl McKinney of Monroe, Ohio, who promotes the Cincinnati Antique Toy and Advertising Show.

Mechanical store display, “Look for Mazda GE on the Bulb,” depicting a woman whose arm moved to point at a light that turned on and off, $1200 from Dave Greene of Cincinnati, Ohio.

Single-sided Butchers Arms sign, porcelain over steel, $1450 from David Hanni of This Old Advertising, Medina, Ohio.

Store counter with single-board top, about 7' long x 28" deep, $2500 from Jack Dixey of Canfield, Ohio.

A set of six 1940s KitchenAid coffee grinders, one in each of the colors then available, with six original catch glasses, $1250 from Terry and Peggy Wright of Child’s Play Antiques, Marietta, Georgia.

Terry Hankins of Fountaintown, Indiana, priced these Buddy “L” pressed-steel toys, most from the 1920s, from $900 to $3600. The fire truck on the left was $3100.

Fully operational salesman’s sample barber chair by Theo. A. Kochs Company, 1920s, about 14" high, $27,000 from Tom Tolworthy of Cortlandt Manor, New York.

Indianapolis, Indiana

The numbers tell a story.

For the fall Indy Antique Advertising Show, held September 26 and 27, 2014, on the Indiana State Fairgrounds in Indianapolis, the event boasted 105 dealers. “I have records that go back fifteen years. There’s no fall show that is bigger,” said Donna Weir of
B & D Promotions, which owns the venture.

In 2010, when she and her husband, Bruce, took over the Ad Show (as it’s most commonly called), they had 57 dealers set up that September. The count this time around was impressive—an increase of 48 dealers in 48 months. The math isn’t hard to figure.

The growth comes down to a common-sense approach. The Weirs travel extensively and talk to dealers, seeking those who would be a good fit for the show. “We spend a lot of time on the road,” said Donna Weir. “I think the snowball is growing.”

In addition, word of mouth among active Ad Show dealers has brought other merchants to the floor. Fifteen of the dealers in September were new to the event.

Enthusiasm can also be gauged by the response of showgoers, especially those willing to pay a premium to attend the first day. Tickets for the Friday session were $25 in advance, $40 at the door. More than 200 Friday tickets were sold in the weeks preceding the event. “That number is up, Weir noted. The line on opening day stretched down the side of the building and across an alley. Saturday’s crowd is always larger, because of the lower admission fee of $8.

Although a variety of material can be found, from toys to political memorabilia to vintage photographs, at the heart of it all is the stuff for which the event is named. “The Indy Ad Show is known for advertising still,” said Weir.

It’s a market that primarily attracts established collectors with disposable income, especially considering the strong prices for many categories, including automobilia and petroliana. A collector still can find a common oil can for $25, but a zero or two (or three) can easily be added to that figure when rarer cans, gas globes, store displays, or dealer signs are under consideration.

Shaun Higgins of Berkley, Massachusetts, offered a single-sided, embossed Flying A sign, 58" wide, new old stock, priced at $5500. “Petroliana and automotive are very hot right now, absolutely,” he said. “The best pieces are seeing ten- to fifteen-percent growth per year and have for about twenty years.”

Mid-four-figure prices could be found across the floor, including with a double-sided, three-dimensional porcelain over steel “Garage Body Shop” arrow sign priced at $6500 by William Rawski of Zap Antiques and Props, Chicago, Illinois. Greg Greenberg of Instant Memories, Indianapolis, Indiana, offered a double-sided porcelain over steel Economy Auto sign at $8750; it depicted Mac Economy, a Scot in a plaid hat, kilt, and socks, sitting atop an automobile and holding a sign lettered “Over 2000 Items for the Car.”

Rising prices were a concern for at least one dealer at the show. “Country store and advertising is what I specialize in, but it’s an aging group,” Dennis Healzer of Shawnee, Kansas, said of his buyers. “It’s got so high, we’ve priced ourselves out of the market with the young people.”

Not that everything was beyond the reach of beginning and intermediate collectors. For $40 one could pick up a Rocky Ford cigar box, the label showing an Indian scanning the horizon from a hilltop, offered by Tom and Bette Sherman of Tin Can Alley, Cincinnati, Ohio. An unusual Reddy Kilowatt pedestal bedside clock, made of plastic and probably from the 1970s, the face lettered “Compliments of Philadelphia Light and Electric,” was $175 from Doug and Sandra Moore of ’Tiques & Toys, Noblesville, Indiana.

Regardless of cost or category, condition remains paramount. A single-sided porcelain over steel Butchers Arms sign, picturing a man in a straw hat and striped apron, a meat cleaver in his raised hand, was priced at $1450 by David Hanni of This Old Advertising, Medina, Ohio. “The key is, it seems to be, the cleaner the sign,” he said. “They cost more, but that’s what people are looking for—like the Butchers Arms sign, something that’s different.”

That was the case across the floor, from a lithographed paper Gold Dust Washing Powder sign in pristine condition, priced at $8500 by William Morford of Cazenovia, New York, to a fully operational salesman’s sample Theo. A. Kochs Company barber chair from the 1920s, about 14" high, offered at $27,000 by Tom Tolworthy of Cortlandt Manor, New York.

The Indy Antique Advertising Show returns to central Indiana on March 20 and 21. For information, call (217) 821-1294 or visit the Web site (www.indyadshow.com).

Frey Scientific anatomical figure, probably 1970s, $1400 from Larry Blake of The Signs of Time, Findlay, Ohio. “It’s the only black one I’ve ever seen,” he said.

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