About Nathan's Petro
Welcome to NathansPetro.com, a site dedicated to enthusiastic collectors of gas station memorabilia and American advertising history.
As the site develops, I'll bring more resources to you, the collector, to help preserve America's history through advertising collectibles. After all, collectors are merely curators of their own collections until it passes onto future generations.
Enjoy the site,
Nathan
About Nathan
Nathan Lippe has been a collector of American Advertising and gas station memorabilia since 1994. He has been featured in numerous trade publications and has been called the "foremost can collector of our time."
How It All Started
I'm pretty sure I was born with the collector's gene. At the age of 4 I began to collect postage stamps, rising to the position of Vice-President of the Dubuque Stamp Club by the age of 14.
It was in 1994 that my soon to be passion for American Advertising and Gas Station Collectibles would begin. That year my Uncle Charlie suddenly passed away while building his dream lakeside retreat in Indiana. While my relatives shared their favorite stories about Uncle Charlie, the began discussing the big auction that he was preparing for. Unknown to me, he had been a collector of advertising signs and railroad memorabilia for many years. Prior to his passing, he was preparing to auction off his collection due to the limited display space at his new home. I couldn't believe in all of my visits to his house, I never made it into the basement!
I was determined to make it to his auction. A few weeks later, my Dad and I drove from Iowa to Fort Wayne, Indiana where the auction was being held to watch as his collection found new homes. I got pretty excited about some of the signs I saw and decided to bid on a few. I ended up with a 1936 RC Cola Sign, and a 1950's Double Cola sign.
When we arrived back in Iowa, I quickly hung the signs on my bedroom wall, they looked so cool! I decided I needed more. It wasn't much longer and I bought a Texaco Fire Chief gas pump plate, and it was neat! Right then and there I decided to collect gas station memorabilia.
Thirteen years later, I'm still collecting and am more passionate about the hobby then I ever have been!
Read More
Nathan was featured in 2004 in "Check the Oil!" magazine in a article written by the late Earl Ma. Click here to read the article about Nathan
