I recently bought a gas cap at a yard sale that says Atlas on it. It was at a very old estate sale. Is this from an atlas car, truck, scooter? Bought it on a whim thinking it might be worth more than I paid for it. Thanks for the advice.
More likely it was sold by a gas station under the “Atlas” brand. I sold them at the Sohio station I worked at. Not likely worth much.
Yup! Atlas was the “house brand” for tires, belts, and things like radiator caps and gas caps sold at Esso, Sohio, and other gas stations in the '50s and '60s. Most likely the cap is worth…about $1.00
Without a gas tank to put it on, it might be worth less than you paid for it, but I wouldn’t fault you for rolling the dice. Hopefully you paid very little. Is there something about the design you particularly like, some Art Deco touch perhaps?
If you like it, don’t worry if others do, or it has no resale value. If you like it, display it some place good. And hang on to it, strictly for your own enjoyment.
On the other hand, if you only bought it, hoping to make a profit, and don’t really like it, and it’s not worth anything, toss it out.
Many investment experts recommend only getting involved in investments of any kind that you know something about, or are attracted to. This would include collectibles.
For most of my life, I bought old novels, I am talking 1900 - 1920. Twenty-five cents or fifty cents here and there, garage sales; Goodwill; Salvation Army thrift shops, until I got perhaps hundreds of them. I bought them because I like that genre of popular novels, as hokey as they are.
When I retired, I moved to Texas, and spend most of my time in Mexico. So, I put them on permanent loan to my daughter, who also learned to enjoy those hokey novels.
After her husband built a bookcase strong enough to hold them all, she became curious and investigated their value. She ended up putting a $5,000 rider for them on her household insurance. I did not buy them to make money. I bought them because I know them and like them. That’s how you should approach collectibles.
Now, I have most of them via Gutenberg Project, downloaded in my computer, and can still read them whenever I want. And, she is proud of those books, expects someday loan will change to ownership.