Price Numerals from Gas Station
notes: label: Description
content: Until the 1970s, motorists were accustomed to gasoline prices under 40 cents per gallon. The gasoline shortages of 1973-1974 and 1979 curtailed supplies in many areas and sent prices sharply higher. Protests erupted as fill-ups became a major challenge, and sticker shock at the pump reflected new economic pressures on consumers, truckers, and retailers. At decade’s end, the real and psychological hardships associated with breaking the dollar barrier, and the timing of the second gasoline shortage in the warm weather months, were enough to reduce shopping trips and vacation trips, if only temporarily. In the 1980s gasoline was plentiful, but dollar-plus prices remained the norm. These numerals, showing $1.01 9/10 per gallon, were placed on a price sign at Closter Exxon in Closter, New Jersey. In the mid-2000s, gasoline prices exceeded $2.00 per gallon, and Glenn Bourke, the owner of Closter Exxon, stored these numerals in the gas station attic. They were donated to the National Museum of American History in 2013.
label: Location
content: Currently not on view
setName: label: See more items in
content: Work and Industry: Transportation, Road
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content: American Enterprise
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content: Transportation
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content: Road Transportation
creditLine: label: Credit Line
content: Gift of Closter Exxon through Glenn Bourke, Jr.
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of American History
identifier: label: ID Number
content: 2013.0034.07
label: catalog number
content: 2013.0034.07
label: accession number
content: 2013.0034
objectType: label: Object Name
content: numerals
physicalDescription: label: Physical Description
content: plastic (overall material)
label: Physical Description
content: blue (overall color)
label: Physical Description
content: white (overall color)
label: Measurements
content: number "1.": 10 in x 8 1/2 in x 1/8 in; 25.4 cm x 21.59 cm x .3175 cm
label: Measurements
content: number "0": 10 in x 8 1/2 in x 1/8 in; 25.4 cm x 21.59 cm x .3175 cm
label: Measurements
content: number "1": 10 in x 8 1/2 in x 1/8 in; 25.4 cm x 21.59 cm x .3175 cm
label: Measurements
content: number "9/10": 10 in x 6 in x 1/8 in; 25.4 cm x 15.24 cm x .3175 cm