A love of old cars often walks hand in hand with an appreciation of motoring ephemera, at least in the Classic & Sports Car office. Whether it’s David Evans’ superb collection of die-cast models or James Elliott’s porcelain signs, we’ve all got plenty of automobilia kicking around our workshops. Which is why we were all excited to see that the incredible collection of Kim and Mary Kokles – a massive selection of more than 500 porcelain signs, oil cans and globes – is to be sold off at Mecum’s forthcoming Kissimmee, Florida sale.
For Kim, his lifelong passion for collecting oil-related artefacts started when he was just a boy, when he discovered the past-time of ‘bottle digging’ – excavating dump sites dating back to the 1890s – while visiting relatives in Louisiana. “That was a whole new thing to me,” said Kim, who was galvanised upon discovering a bottle of snake oil on one of his many trips. “I was exposed to snake oil salesmen through TV westerns in the 1950s, but to be holding a bottle with the marking upon it was holding a piece of history. We also dug up porcelain signs.”
The Kokles' have decided to downsize and refocus their collection, and will be selling more than 500 items between 15-24 January.
Here are a few of our favourites:
