Antique gas pumps go to new owners

More than 600 people gathered at the Sanders County Fairgrounds Saturday to take a look at thousands of items that were part of an estate and collectibles auction put on by Kevin Hill Auction Service.

Of those, 389 people from throughout Montana, Idaho and Washington registered for the bidding, which went from 10 a.m. until 7:30 p.m. in and around the fair's Agriculture Building. The items ranged from small nuts and bolts to a 1987 Ford Colyer Oil Company truck that went for $2,500. The auction was comprised of one estate sale and 14 different consigners with a good variety of goods. Dave Colyer, owner of the Plains Sinclair Station, had about 50 items in the auction, including a large sign that had 1990s gas prices.

Auctioneer Kevin Hill of Trout Creek and Corvallis has had bigger estate auctions, but he said it was a good turnout with around 1,500 item lots sold. He didn't know exactly how many pieces he had in the sale and he didn't provide the total amount raised. "We believe it was a successful auction, the customers hung with us until the very end," said Hill, who had a crew of nine people helping, including his wife, Patricia, and parents, Gary and Sharon Hill of Ravalli. He said much of the success goes to his crew. In addition, volunteers from Mountain Meadow Youth Ranch in Trout Creek helped throughout the day. Hill shared the auctioneer limelight with Joe Mast of Stevensville.

It wasn't Hill's biggest auction, but, like most sales, it had some unique items, including a line of gas pumps that ranged from the 1970s dating back to the 1920s. A heavily rusted one that reached around nine feet tall was thought to be from around 1918, according to the Columbia Falls man who won the bid at $1,400. He said he would have gone as high as $2,000. "It's almost unheard of to have this many gas pumps," said Hill, who has been a professional auctioneer since 1983.

There were 22 gas pumps lined up for the auction, including 15 owned by Plains resident Wade Rehbein, a collector of gas-related memorabilia who still owns other antique gas pumps. Two of Rehbein's pumps fetched the highest winning bids with two of the oldest in the groups, a Flying A Gas Station pump, which sold for $3,800, and a Shell gas pump, which went for $2,600. The pumps collectively sold for $17,175. A beat up Tokheim gas pump went for $25. Hill couldn't even get $10 apiece for four that were newer pumps, but that were in bad shape.

Hill said they've had curious items at previous auctions, and he's had gas related items, but it's unusual to have as much gas station memorabilia in a general consignment auction. They usually have only four or five items of that nature. However, Hill said they are big sellers because they are becoming harder to find.

Hill conducts several auctions a year throughout Montana. In Saturday's auction, many bidders were doing so online from New Jersey, Pennsylvania, North and South Dakota, California and Oregon. Some of the gas pumps were bought by online bidders.

"This is my passion; I love it," said Hill, who shares residency between Corvallis and Trout Creek. Hill said most of his auctions are much larger than Saturday's. He has a big auction scheduled for Thompson Falls on June 18 and another in Victor on June 4. On occasion, Pat said her husband has had to research objects, especially antiques, in an effort to make sure a client was getting the best price.

It took about a week for Hill's crew to get the items logged and set up for the sale, receiving the final batch on Friday afternoon. Items were loaded onto eight bins that were rolled to the entrance of the Agriculture Building one at a time for sale. The goods were sold individually or by batches. Items in the bins that didn't sell were simply stowed back in the building for owner retrieval. There were only about 20 items that didn't sell, said Hill.

The auctioneer noted there were numerous unusual items, like a 1932 Western Electric telephone and a wheel bearings packer from the 1950s, which caught the eye of Rehbein. Joe Shepherd of Plains nabbed a railroad lantern he said was from the 1880s. Ryan Frields of Trout Creek bought a commercial hot dog vendor stylized like an old west stagecoach for $210. A woman from Idaho purchased a second one, which wasn't in good working order. She plans to turn it into a planter.

Yet there were countless everyday items, like books, magazines and toys that people might find in a second hand store. There were five tables of gun ammunition in the sale. He also had several cars, trucks and farm equipment, including a 1940s era disk plow. Nancy Beech of Plains went back and forth with Allen Ramer of Thompson Falls on the plow, but Beech got it for $60.  

Guns were one of the biggest draws of the day. Butch Watson of Noxon had 58 shotguns, rifles and handguns, and one pellet gun that fetched $75. The 73-year-old Watson said he's been collecting guns for 61 years and was thinning out his collection. Among his guns at the auction was a Winchester Model 1890 22 caliber pump, which Watson believes was made in 1908. The gun sold for $1,000. His highest sale was $4,400 for a Winchester 410 shotgun made in 1959.