Speaker 1: Hey, guys, I'm gonna be talking to Jordan Richmond today
from Richmond Auctions. I'm actually selling a sign with him,
and it's the first sign I've ever sold at an auction,
so I'm pretty excited about this one. We're gonna hear
a little bit about him, how he got into the
collectible hobby and then how he started his auction house.
Speaker 2: Check it out. Oh all right, let's get into it. Jordan.
How's it going, man, Well.
Speaker 3: We're doing great, getting ready for this big sale we
have in a few weeks.
Speaker 2: Yeah.
Speaker 1: So it's crazy because we met how many years ago now.
Speaker 2: Quite some time ago, ten years, ten years ago.
Speaker 1: Now, you didn't have an auction company back then, did you.
Speaker 3: No, I've always been This auction company was a business
born out of passion. Really, you know, I've been like you.
I've always collected. I've always had memorabilia, and after getting
out of that nutrition business, I had kind of took
a few years to figure out what I wanted to
do and wanted to be in this space, and so
we started the auction company. But originally when I met you,
I was just like you, just a collector chasing this stuff,
having fun.
Speaker 2: Let me ask you a question because it's weird.
Speaker 1: I didn't start collecting until I was well, I'm fifty one,
pretty much my late forties, and you know, I grew
up in the steel business, and then later obviously had
an opportunity to design stuff like this, so my.
Speaker 2: I had like this great creative ability.
Speaker 1: But when I looked at these old things that we
collect now and love, they were just junk to me.
Forever they it was lost on me. I didn't Some
people have parents who are, you know, hobbyists, and they
collect different things and that rubs off on the kids
and they get an education and then they go on
to like collecting. But I never had any of that.
No one ever encouraged me to do any of that.
I started by buying some cars, and like thirties cars,
not like muscle cars or what people would expect, mostly
art deco stuff that spoke to me from a design
standpoint esthetically, you know. And then after collecting way too
many cars for too long and having you know, ten, fifteen,
twenty cars in a collection, I kind of shrunk that down.
And then I got into signs, and I realized that
the signs they scratched the same itch as the cars,
only you know, you don't have to worry about changing
the battery or running out of gas or you know,
all the things I loved about the cars, driving and
experiencing history. I started to get out of the signs.
So how did you start the collecting bug?
Speaker 3: I would say, very similar to you. I didn't have
family members in it. My parents actually thought I was
crazy when I started buying this stuff. But it started
and same thing. It was kind of lost on me.
I never even thought about vintage signs or memorabilia or anything.
But it started right after I got married. My wife
and I our favorite drink was Coca Cola, and just
you know, we were watching I think actually American or
something like that and saw an old soda machine and
thought that'd be kind of cool to have in the house,
you know, And so we went on a search and
found one, and it didn't take long. And I thought,
I wonder if they, you know, there's old soda machines.
I wonder if there's old Coca Cola signs. And then
I started looking and found one and we put it
up in the in the house. And that's that's exactly
how it started. It was complete, just you know a
passion for Coca cola, and then it snowballed into what
it is today.
Speaker 2: Yeah, that's insane how it grows like that. It's so funny.
Speaker 1: How So, when I first started collecting cars, I was
really focused on Hudson's for whatever reason, they're the kind
of an orphan brand, or they're very art decos and
hard to find, certain cars from the thirties in the
Hudson brand, and so I just I hunted Hudson's like
a maniac. I was so hyper focused on one brand.
And then over time, like you with the coke, it
started to diversify. You get a better education from dealing
with others. I learned a lot from a lot of
older guys in this hobby you know where, and they
had a lot more wisdom than me. I'd always double
triple check because I'm also making investments that I want
to make sure are good. And then over time you
just start to begin to know what's good and have
a nose for it. And that's the thing I think
some people collect and some people have a nose for it,
have an instinct towards how to take a risk on
the right pieces, And that's what I like to do.
I mean, I'll buy stuff in between, but I like
to try and get because I'm more of a collector.
Even though we're selling this sign at your auction, which
is the first time I've ever sold a sign at
any auction, So I'm pretty excited about it because it's
one of the best signs I've ever found by far,
and I pride myself in kind of one offish rare,
you know, good, good looking, high graphic type stuff, you know. So,
but this thing to me, okay, not to you might
as well talk about it now. This thing to me,
this Lion sign is I mean, it's among the best
stuff I've ever even had a chance to set my
eyes on, uh never, never mind be able to put
it out there for sale, and well, this is going
to be a pretty high profile auction for you.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I don't know if you actually put it out
there for sale or if I just bugged you to death.
I'm not sure what it is. No.
Speaker 1: I think your words were don't make me bag or
something like that, you know.
Speaker 3: What I'm saying. Yeah, I was really curious on this, Gilmore,
you know, speaking about speculation, how you found it, what
you did to get into this guy's place, what he did,
how he found it, and then what you know, gave
you the confidence on a sign that's never been seen
before to buy it and you know, and take the
risk on it. So really interested to hear your side.
Speaker 2: Well, you know, I'll be honest with you.
Speaker 1: This is one of those where sometimes you got to like,
you know, on your elbows and knees, you know, grind
through the mucket mire to find some like.
Speaker 2: Rusty piece of gold.
Speaker 1: This was a text message from a good friend of
mine who said, hey, are you interested in these signs?
And I saw it and I just said yes. I
was like, I couldn't say yes fast enough. Then the
next question is how much right? And and it's crazy
too because so uh he put me in touch directly
with the guy. Because these old school guys, man, they
just hand you off. You know, they're they're from like
everyone else wants a little piece of it all, but
they just hand you right off.
Speaker 2: And uh.
Speaker 1: And I was very grateful to this guy who's been
a great mentor of mine.
Speaker 2: And you know, at the end of the day, I
call the guy.
Speaker 1: Sure enough, he's got the signs and it's upstate New
York in the middle of nowhere, and he's like on
this main little road, right, And so the first time
I go up there, I go to see the sign
and it's in the back of a pickup truck with
a tarp over it, and it's pouring rain when I
get there, and I already know how rare this sign is,
because because I've been doing it long enough, and I'm
always looking for the more unusual things. And let's face it,
I don't think other than like an Indian head, right,
and I don't even think that counts. I don't think
there's anything cooler than a lion. Period in the world
of animals. There's no other Nothing beats the lion, okay.
And the graphics on this particular sign are so detailed, right,
because that's what you're looking for.
Speaker 2: You're looking for that realistic.
Speaker 1: The more realistic and the more to scale that lion
is the better. And I've never you know, through the years,
I feel like a lot of brands have used the lion.
I've never seen a lion look this good at ever.
And Gilmore has used the lion. They got that one
that's called the bear lion, and then you know, just
the lion face out of all their logos. This is
the smoking hot one in my opinion, because you got
his full face and you could see his rear section.
His tongue is almost pointed. I mean, he just he
has everything. His eyes look good. Everything about this sign
jumped out at me when I first saw it, and
I started to panic, to be honest with you, because
I'm like, how fast can I get this?
Speaker 3: You know?
Speaker 1: Anyways, I get up there, it's pouring rain. The signs
in the back of the truck. He brings me inside
and I have that dominic that I have the wooden
sign as well, And so I go in there and
I see that and we start talking. And this guy's
been around forever. He's really a toy guy, but he
just knows a little bit about everything.
Speaker 2: And he's it's like.
Speaker 1: It like hermited up in the mountains in the middle
of nowhere. He had a stream running through his backyard.
It was very upstate New York, you know, And and
we just started the conversation, and you know, we just
got to know each other a little bit. Guys like that,
they want to know that you know what you're doing
there a little bit, you know, And so we just
started talking about the same kind of things what we
love about the hobby, and he was ready to sell it.
He wasn't looking. He said, look, you bring it. I'm
just I'm selling this. You bring it to the finish line,
whatever that is for you. He was very okay with
whatever I wanted to do with it, and so the
you know, we talked. Man, I'll never forget too, dude,
because we came to an agreement. He said one thing,
I said another boom. We went back and forth and
then we shook hands. Right, So I took the one
sign with me, but I had to come back for
the other sign, right, So dude, I skipped out his
door to my car to go open it up and
get everything ready because like I literally I literally floated
to my car. I was so excited that I shook
this guy's hand on these signs because they're just I
know what they are. I know what this sign is.
This sign is not like anything you'll ever have a
chance to own. Potentially. Now there's great signs out there
your auction. I saw your catalog. I'm glad to be
on the cover. You have some great stuff. But you know,
as far as rarity, I think you could argue it
might be the only one on the planet. If there's
another one, then no one's ever seen it before, right, Yeah.
Speaker 3: And if there is another one, I would imagine after
this one sells, you might see a one pop up
if there is one that s another one. I've never
even seen this sign. I've never even seen pictures of
this sign. And since you found it, and you know,
we're gracious enough to consign it with us, we scouring
the internet to try to find an old photo and
I can't even find a photo of it. So it's
a rare sign. You know. It says record breaker at
the bottom, Yeah, which is what they they're kind of
their slogan when they were racing out on the salt flats.
You know, their their high octane fuel set a bunch
of records, and so that's where they put record breaker.
That's what that is for. So it was for it
was during that era that they were racing on the
salt flats. It's Gilmore. It's got the full lion, to
your point, not just the face. It's got the whole
body and the lion looking at you. I mean, it's
got everything, and then rarity as well. It's it's absolutely,
it's insane.
Speaker 1: So yeah, so I guess, like when I started doing
the research into it, why don't we see more Gilmore stuff?
Because if you see the pictures, like I know this
sign came from Oregon, I know that much about it.
So it came from Oregon. That's very ambiguous. But that's
all I know is so it's a West Coast brand, right,
and they were in a certain area of the West Coast,
but at one point time, they were like everywhere, and
they were like they did advertising like nobody does advertise
a lot.
Speaker 3: But you know, still they weren't a brand like a
Texaco or something. It was a local brand. Arthur I
think his name was Arthur Gilmour struck oil on his
dairy farm. I mean it was an accident, you know,
in like nineteen o three, and they found in Gilmore
oil in like nineteen oh five. So still it was
a regional brand. It was a well known brand on
the West Coast, but it wasn't like it was national.
How the sign ended up in upstate New York, which
is about his polar opposite of where, you know, where
the company was founded, I have no idea. I'd love
to see the story or hear the story that.
Speaker 1: I've been trying to get a hold of the guy
I bought it from, and he's hard to get a
hold of sometimes, but he told me he'd write out
the backstory. So there's a backstory here. I just haven't
been able to track it down. Once I get it,
I think will be good.
Speaker 2: Yeah, you know.
Speaker 1: They also so the lion is so cool because this
red lion was a real lion that was a real
lion on there. It wasn't something someone created. It was
a marketing campaign where they had the pilot and they
had the Gilmour plane and they had this lion that
went along with the pilot. And they actually broke records
from with the plane with the lion in it when
he was a cub from California to New York and
they broke some kind of record back then, and that
was their whole deal. Man. So, and then when the
lion got too big, the lion would meet the plane
at different places where they were doing promotionals at airports
and he would pull in and there's a picture of
him in the lion in the cage truck, which is
all gilmoured out. And then the pilot would land and
they would do all these press promos and so the
fact that this was a real living advertisement at one time,
to me is it makes it even more exciting. And
I know that Gilmore got bought in nineteen forty I
believe by Mobile.
Speaker 2: Is that right by.
Speaker 3: Mobile could be Yeah, one of the one of the
one of.
Speaker 1: The big brands bought them, and I think that's when
all the advertising.
Speaker 3: Went nineteen forty three by Mobile.
Speaker 1: Yeah, okay, so and that's when I think Mobile was like,
think about it. Mobile's got some good graphics, but nothing
like they. I don't think they wanted to compete.
Speaker 2: With what they bought. They had.
Speaker 1: They were turning everything into their brand, right, So I
think they were real serious about getting rid of these
signs because they were so graphically impactful. I mean, they
were just smoking everything out there, in my opinion, even
when you look back, I mean.
Speaker 2: What was really out there that looked like that?
Speaker 1: And they had all variations of their lions just the
face and they were they really had a lot of
cool graphics with that, you know.
Speaker 3: Yeah, and what what what makes yours so unique is
that it's painted metal, Yeah, and a porcelain sign even
if it was discarded would hold up to the elements,
you know, over these hundred years, right, A painted metal
sign wouldn't. So you know how that sign may that
over one hundred years or one hundred years and still
is intact and looks beautiful and has an amazing look.
I don't know's it's even more impressive of a story
to think that sign is painted and it's still alive
in this in you know, twenty twenty six. It's it's incredible.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I agree, I agree, you know, And and you
know what's great about it. It has just the right amount
of patina. It's not too much, it's not it's right
in that framework. Obviously, mint is the best. But sometimes
when a sign tells the story of being well taken
care of for that long period of time and it
still has its integrity, I like that. Man. It's just
it's warm, you know, and it's honest, and I think
that's what people are looking for. So I'll be honest
with you, man, I'm really hoping to do good with
this sign in your auction. I got my fingers crossed,
and I really feel like I see what else you
have in there. You have some spectacular porcelain stuff, and
you know porcelain, everybody is Porcelain's like the stuff that
just brings crazy, crazy money a lot of times.
Speaker 2: But in some.
Speaker 1: Ways, to your point, I think this is a more
interesting and more well rarer sign for the most part, right,
not only because it survived, but because no one's seen
one to date, not another example. And like you said,
you can find black and white photos of every type
of Gilmore sign you can imagine, and there was a
lot back in the day, but not this one, right, Nope.
Speaker 3: No, one hundred percent. We've been looking for quite a while.
We found some very similar you know, with that same lion,
but not the said record breaker as well. So it's
it's still a puzzle piece that we're working on. I
hope to dig one up before the auction, But regardless,
it's an amazing sign and to your point, probably you know,
I off the top. I don't know if I have
another one of one in the auction. This one definitely is.
So it's one of the most rare signs in the
auction for sure. Absolutely. Yeah.
Speaker 1: Cool, Well, I'm looking forward to it. Sorry, make it
out there in person. I'd love to see you walk
through if you want to. Send me like a walkthrough video.
I'll tie it into this and I'd like to even
see my sign in there somewhere.
Speaker 2: I thought maybe, well.
Speaker 3: It's front and center. Yeah, so when you walk through
the doors, and I'll start maybe at the front of
the building and walk through when you again, it's the
first sign you see.
Speaker 2: So let me ask you a question.
Speaker 1: When can people come to your place and start viewing
the signs? When does that open to the public? I means, well,
first of all, Richmond Auctions, you go there, that's what
Richmond Auctions dot Com.
Speaker 3: That's it.
Speaker 2: That's it.
Speaker 3: So we're in Greenville, South Carolina. You can come preview
by appointment anytime, but it's by appointment only. Preview to
the public is the day before the auction starts, so
it'd be January twenty eighth. The auction is the twenty
ninth through the thirty first, But if anyone's local or
wants to make the ride up or down, just get
ahead of us twenty four hours in advance. If not,
the twenty eighth open from nine to five.
Speaker 1: Okay, cool, Well, I'm seeing if I can make it
out there myself, because I'd like to see that baby roll.
Speaker 3: Here.
Speaker 1: I know, I know, I know, I think I should
be and I think it'll be good.
Speaker 2: I'm looking forward to it.
Speaker 1: So what's different about this auction from your other auctions,
anything at all? You were mentioning something to me about
this being unique.
Speaker 3: Well, it's our grand opening and our new building, this
facility we have been renovating for about a year, and
because of that, I wanted to have the best auction
we've ever had to kind of break the break the
ice here, and so along with yours, we've got probably
a dozen other one of two's one of three signs
known to exist. It's by far our best auction in
terms of rarity and condition. You'll see in the walkthrough.
It's it's incredible. There's over two hundred Neon signs in
this auction. There's about fourteen hundred signs in total across
the three days. But it's it's one that I think
is going to go along with the slogan of your sign,
and I think it's going to be a record breaking
auction for sure.
Speaker 2: I like it. I like that.
Speaker 1: Okay, well, cool man, listen, I appreciate your time.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I'm looking forward to this.
Speaker 1: I think I might sell a few more signs with
you depend on how well this goes, and I expect
it to go really well. I've had a lot of
people reach out to me and say, hey, I saw
your sign, you know, and it looks good on the
Salt Flats and I, you know, apparently the catalog has
like a pretty good layout to it. But I think
it's going to be good, and I'll keep pushing people
in your direction. And this is kind of fun. I
usually don't like selling signs, but this is kind.
Speaker 3: Of well to sell on. It makes it easier, so.
Speaker 1: It does well, you know, you know, I got plenty more. Yeah, Well, so.
Speaker 3: I'm gonna I'm gonna do a walk through video for
you and we'll be in touch.
Speaker 2: Sounds good, jordanpreciate it.
Speaker 3: Thanks, Paul, have a good one, hard buddy, you too, Alright. Bye,