Making the rounds while persistence pays off
Prized petroliana collection comes to market
Collector Steve Rounds poses with the White Rose Service Station En-Ar-Co “Slate Boy” sign from his collection, offered in the March 7 sale at Miller & Miller.
Steve Rounds has been self-employed his entire life. He was a farmer, now he sells firewood and is the co-owner of the business Hillbilly Beans. Those jobs also inadvertently led to some surprising finds along the way while his friendly persistence helped build an impressive collection of petroliana.
Forty of his best pieces are now slated for auction at Miller & Miller’s March 7th, 2026 sale, Petroliana, Aviation & Advertising.
“I’ve always just bought things because I like them. I’ve never considered myself an expert,” says the 63-year-old who lives in Lakeside, just west of Stratford, Ontario.
Sometimes, he would simply “stumble across something interesting” while delivering wood. He would make an offer and occasionally be able to buy it on the spot, but most often he’d have to persist and keep asking. “Sometimes three, four, five years later they call you and they’re ready to sell. Most of these people are not on the internet. And to them, you’re a real person and you’ll pay cash.” In fact, Steve himself has never bought a thing through the internet, something he’s quick to point out.
Highlights from the Steve Round Collection coming to Miller & Miller on March 7. Click each item to view in the online catalogue.
In one instance, he spotted a superb advertising sign (he prefers not to say which one) and kept asking the owner for a price, over and over again. The man said he’d never sell, but eventually offered to trade it for 70 cords of firewood. Steve countered with 60 cords, but the man refused. Steve left, but later gave in and the deal was made. “I figured I could replace the wood, but I could never replace the sign,” he said.
There were instances when he’d ask to buy something literally dozens of times. He was relentless when it came to trying to buy a rare visible gas pump made by Philip Gies Foundry of Kitchener, Ontario. Fed up, the owner finally barked, “you’ve asked a hundred times. How many times are you going to ask me?” Steve answered, “as many times as it takes”. And that was the winning ask. The man sold him the pump for $8,000.
In 1990, he started the Hillbilly Beans business with his wife Dianne, which sells among other things a soup mixture of 21 varieties of beans, peas, and lentils. This venture has also taken him into some remote corners where exciting discoveries were to be had. “Over the years I found myself in some pretty interesting places with that business and I’d see an old sign or something else I’d offer to buy. Then they’d know someone who had something similar to sell, so one thing led to another.”
A few of the auction highlights include a 1933 Mobilgas White Star Gasoline Service Station Sign (lot 1095, estimate CA$4,000-$5,000). The sign is rare because it was made during the brief transition after Mobilgas acquired White Star Gasoline. Big players like Mobilgas soon dominated the industry.
Lot 1095: Mobilgas White Star Gasoline Service Station Sign
An example of how the sign would have originally been displayed.
There’s also a Blue Sunoco Gasoline Pump Sign (lot 1002, estimate CA$1,200-$1,500), a brand launched by the Sun Oil Company in 1927. It was called ‘blue’ because the company added a blue dye to its premium gas, which allowed motorists to identify it through the clear glass cylinders of gas pumps.
Lot 1201 is a single-sided porcelain 1930s Goodyear Tires “Selected Dealer” sign, featuring the patented Goodyear ‘diamond tread pattern’ border. (Steve bought this sign from a friend who had purchased it from the late Jim Miller, an esteemed dealer and the father of Miller & Miller Auctions co-owners, Ethan and Justin.) It’s estimated at CA$4,000-$6,000.
A large 1920s White Rose Service Station En-Ar-Co ‘Slate Boy’ sign (lot 1153, estimated at CA$8,00-$12,000) is a throwback to the days of some risky slogans. ‘Slate Boy’ with his outstretched arms holding a chalkboard could be updated with amusing messages provided to service stations by The National Oil Company – epigrams like “more accidents are caused by tight nuts than loose ones” and “a prominent woman’s club: the rolling pin”.
Lot 1153: White Rose Service Station En-Ar-Co "Slate Boy" Sign
Steve, who’s been collecting since he was 16, was inspired by his grandfather, the late Otto Rounds. He is now selling some of his best pieces because they’re so much more valuable than they once were. He’s concerned about theft and is mindful of the potential for another heartbreaking loss since a fire in 2010 that destroyed many of his treasured pieces.
A portion of Steve’s general store advertising was sold at Miller & Miller’s advertising auction in December. He was hesitant to let it go at the time. “I figured I would have a lot of trouble selling, but it wasn’t so bad. The values are scary now.”
His wife Dianne, who soon retires from her banking job, has not always been keen on his collecting, he admits. “She is more of a saver and would have preferred the money went into bank stock or something, but after the last auction she’s been kind of quiet.”
Steve is quick to emphasize he’s no expert, that he goes by interest and instinct. The first antique he ever bought was a butcher block when he was 16. He paid $200 for it – “I think it was all the money I had to my name”. But he loved it and still does. Despite its weight, every time he’s moved he’s taken it with him and that’s more times than he can count. The heart of a collector has its own rules and persistence is its secret weapon.
By Diane Sewell
Diane Sewell has been a writer for more than 25 years, producing feature stories for some of the country’s top newspapers and consumer magazines, as well as client newsletters and commissioned books.
SALE INFORMATION:
Petroliana, Aviation & Advertising
Featuring the Steve Rounds Collection
March 7, 2026. 9am EST
A Miller & Miller Online Webcast Auction
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