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Showing posts with the label flying horse power

Learning the Dating Game or How to Date an Old Oil Can.

When I first started researching the cans in this collection I didn't have the first idea of how to go about it.  I spent weeks doing nothing but searching and reading, trying to absorb as much as possible from generous experts that have shared what they know.  It didn't help that one of the first cans I was trying to date was an obscure tall, square, one gallon Maytag multi-motor oil can with a very rare label and handle. I looked in all the obvious places, eBay, other auction sites, petroliana collectors forums, Google images, but I kept coming up with nothing that matched. I would see the same logo colors on other types of cans or I would see similar types of cans but the colors and logos didn't match. This was actually one of the ways I learned that logos can be a big help in dating a can if you can find data on company history and when they were in use. With the Maytag can it was a combination of color, logo style, can style and wire handle that finally led me to...