Collecting Cans of Vintage Spray Paint
While vintage spray paint cans are constantly bought and sold by collectors across the internet, it’s rare to see a collection of 342 cans of vintage Rust-Oleum go on the auction block. We talked with Ebay seller, Slyle133 about collecting spray paint cans from decades before premium brands were born.
Why collect cans of spray paint?
Ever since I was young, I have had been bit by the “collecting bug.” I went from saving old magazines to collecting baseball cards, then to records and eventually spray paint. It was a natural progression of things which reflected what I was getting into at the time. Even now I find myself starting various odd collections. It’s not always what you collect, but the general hunt for things to collect. We tend to call it “diggin’.”
How’d you get started collecting cans of spray paint?
For me it goes back to a time when the fancy European paint was not yet available in the States. In the 70’s and 80’s, Krylon had discontinued colors such as Icy Grape, Hot Raspberry, and Jungle Green. At that time, the early 90’s, muted pastels were the popular decorator colors which paint companies favored. In order to obtain specific colors in a wider range, one would traditionally have to travel beyond your local Sears, K-Mart, Bradlees, etc. I found myself focusing on local independent stores seeking Krylon’s discontinued colors and also found various “odd” (meaning smaller companies) brands. I started finding colors and brands not available at mainstream chain stores.
How long have you been at it?
Around 13 years.
Do you have a favorite brand or color?
Outside of Krylon and Rust-oleum, I am a fan of Derusto (particularly Seafoam Green) but I don’t really have one favorite but several. I also like New York Bronze Company (aka Nybco), who made the Wet Look and Big Bantam lines, Illbronze, makers of Wet Paint and a really nice Epoxy line, Red Devil, and of course Plasti-cote with their old “picture cans” and incredibly thick Polyurethane line. The one color I seem to find myself always going after is Avocado. I have about 60 different brands in that color and I am always looking for more.
What’s the one can that’s been eluding you?
Krylon Jungle Green eluded me for the longest. When I first started “diggin,” I passed on a spot with a ton of old Krylon, thinking that I would come back when I had a way of obtaining it all. About a month later the town was hit with a devastating flood and everything was lost. I had acquired partially-full scrap cans of Jungle Green and cans from trades, but just could not find that color on a store shelf. I think on a road trip last year was the first time since then that I finally came up on a grip of them in a little old hardware store. Now the two colors that have been eluding me are Krylon Pennant Blue and Krylon Peacock Blue from the late 60’s, along with a Krylon Clear “notchtop” if it was ever made.
Is this your entire collection? Are you keeping any particular cans around?
I am still keeping a small collection of my favorite brands and colors. Needing the room, I am deciding to part with the Rust-oleum cans first and if all goes well, I have many more Krylon cans I would like to get rid of.
How big is your current collection of cans?
Current collection is probably somewhere in the neighborhood of 3000.
Check out the huge collection of vintage Rust-Oleum cans up for sale then go buy some train cars to hit.
Actually the list of paint for auction is not impressive at all. Its mostly primary colors with a few burner colors added in. Where are the Fed Purples, Sandalwood Tan’s, Coral Pink’s…only 2 Cascade Greens in the lot? Who the fuck cares about primer paint & bbq paint even if Scotty is on the can. This collection for sale gets the Wick , wick ,wack.
By someone who cares on April 5th, 2007 at 4:51 pmA collector collects all, and going out to find this shit is harder than you think. For this price, you don’t get much rarer stuff because Sandalwood, Coral, and Fed colors are worth much more and are much rarer. This is a collection for people who really collect, not to be used (which is why blacks and primers count too), and it’s still a bargain. It’s 2007 sucker, go find this stuff, and then we’ll see who’s really wick, wick, wack.
By learn knowledge on April 5th, 2007 at 9:02 pmyou gotta be crazy, this shouldnt have left ebay world.
By noone on April 6th, 2007 at 12:14 amSlyle133 is the shit good guy hella cool and is sitting on mad cans…
By fr8slayer on April 6th, 2007 at 6:42 pm@learnknowledge. I was cleaning stores out of old Rust cans on the East Coast way before any this whole nonsense of collecting paint for the sake of collecting paint
By someone who cares on April 6th, 2007 at 7:42 pmProbably the reason why there are hardly any burner colors in this collection…cause all them delightfighful Cascades, Fed Purps, Sandalwoods were mine before you had a chance and they were racked too. I didnt need to go bargain hunting. Im just amused by this auction and how ridiculous it is.
The difference between my paint collecting habits & yours is my paint was used on steel and not as a mantle piece for toys who have wet dreams of wishing they were there. What does staring a bunch of cans on a shelf do for you? Does it make you feel part of something you werent?
@learnknowledge. I was cleaning stores out of old Rusto cans on the East Coast way before any this whole nonsense of collecting paint for the sake of collecting paint
By someone who cares on April 6th, 2007 at 7:42 pmProbably the reason why there are hardly any burner colors in this collection…cause all them delightfighful Cascades, Fed Purps, Sandalwoods were mine before you had a chance and they were racked too. I didnt need to go bargain hunting. Im just amused by this auction and how ridiculous it is.
The difference between my paint collecting habits & yours is my paint was used on steel and not as a mantle piece for toys who have wet dreams of wishing they were there. What does staring a bunch of cans on a shelf do for you? Does it make you feel part of something you werent?
nice, but what happened to painting?
By omarnyc on April 7th, 2007 at 11:15 amnow people collect paint? lame!
nice to keep some old rare EMPTIES on the mantle, otherwise i dont get it.
Your lame cause you can’t understand the beauty and rarity of these…
By COLLECTOR on April 9th, 2007 at 4:12 pmactually i was being sarcastic.
dont get all kathy sierra on me
By omarnyc on April 10th, 2007 at 6:14 amI do understand the beauty of it. Do you need to see a photo album of my flicks to prove it?
By someone who cares on April 10th, 2007 at 2:35 pmI see the auction got lots of bids. hahahhahahaaa. Now can you leave the rare paint on the shelf for real writers to rack and use? You money grubbing fucking graff wannabes.
By someone who cares on April 13th, 2007 at 4:46 pmwhats the big fuss people collect i dont see the problem maybe you do feel part of something you wernt whats wrong with that like people who collect footbal shirts who dont play or records and dont sing or play an instrument or baseball cards and only have an intrest in the sport or art and cant paint or or or or see where im coming from theres nothing wrong with it did painting trains make you feel part of the subway network its just things people do and yes it does make some people feel closer and others its just another thing to be running round hunting for just like it seems plainly obvious that you have a sertain amount of jelousy involved even if you have had your burner colours and your racked fed purps and jungle greens that you used on steel like this paint was made for that use anyway what if the guy actually had a genuine intrest in hardware products and was collecting them for that reason and yes a look at your contribution to the graff seen would be a good idea lets see all this steel you done burners on post up your web site link so we can all approve your holy words on this subject
By la di da big deal on April 17th, 2007 at 4:57 pmSorry you missed the point but judging by the way you write your IQ level is probably very small. So you think Im jealous. Jealous of what? I’m in disbelief especially in this day and age of a multitude of good colors that someone would try and sell a bunk collection of old paint.
$1000 + for what…empty and 1/2 cans of burner colors and full cans of BBQ primer.
As for me son(an Im probablyold enough to be your father) I dont need to prove who I am , what I do or what I have done. I can guarantee if you no anything about graff you’ve heard of me and have seen my work. What I speak here isnt about me however this is about people who try to profiteer off graffiti , people who aren’t real writers, people who make collecting paint some sort of trophy to hang on a mantle. This auction was a bunch of hyped bullshit. Maybe now that no one gave a fuck enough to even bid at $3 a can you might go back to collecting baseball cards.
By someone who cares on April 18th, 2007 at 12:42 amedit correction
By someone who cares on April 18th, 2007 at 12:44 amspace between probably & old
no=know
Someone who cares,
Why are you jocking this dude’s auction so hard? Chill out or go wack off.
Post up who you are too or quit acting like someone important.
As for me, I’m the fucking Pope, but I can’t tell you which one because it’s not important, blaah blah blah.
By Jack on April 18th, 2007 at 12:50 amGood well your the Pope and Im God. It’s a pleasure to meet you. Yes really it is. Yeah Im really jocking the BBQ primer and empty cans of Colonial Ivory too. Chill out? You forgot to say dude after that…and wack off? Well thats not neccesary as I have a hot girl writing an e-mail to her friend about three feet from me. I’m actually not in the mood for pussy right now. Maybe it’s an age thing. I might have to start looking into viagra.
By someone who cares on April 18th, 2007 at 1:06 amNow that we are past this part do you have anything worth debating with me or do you just feel like talking for the sake of talking.
I want to debate the fact that you call this dude out profiteering off graffiti, when he did nothing to indicate that. The only reference to graff until you came along bitching, was the final comment in the interview, which is obviously in jest and unrelated to the dude with the auction.
By Jack on April 18th, 2007 at 1:12 amYou don’t know who he is or what he might have painted with those cans.
By Jack on April 18th, 2007 at 1:15 amand your girlfriend isn’t writing an email, she’s checking the personals for a new man.
By Jack on April 18th, 2007 at 1:19 amNow what makes you think I don’t know who this guy is? In fact you don’t know who I am so stick your assumptions up your filthy whore’s ass. Now before retorting with more nonsense look at my very first comment above. It was not personal. My first comment said this collection catches the wick ,wick wack because the price and what was on offer. Then a few wannabe graff writers like yourself felt like throwing their two cents in and here we are having some sort of battle. Well not really a battle cause I won before you even chimed in. This wouldnt be the first time I had to battle a group of toys. They always get exterminated.
As for the girl, did I say girlfriend? No I did’nt. She is currently reading a book and I m currently in between work while rwiting my comments. Now isnt it past your bedtime? Children should be seen an not heard.
By someone who cares on April 18th, 2007 at 2:58 amFine, where is there any indication this dude is profiteering on graffiti? That’s my question.
By Jack on April 18th, 2007 at 9:37 amHaving an auction on Ebay which consists of many empty cans of paint , plus primary colors for the amount of money being asked sounds like profiteering to me. Who the fucks buys empty cans of paint? Obviously no one judging by the auction. Their are links to his auction posted on major graffiti sites like 12oz prophet, so he is obviously going after the graffiti writer market. Who else buys old spray paint? Oh wait collecting old paint is now the new rage with comic book & baseball car collectors.
By someone who cares on April 18th, 2007 at 11:19 amAlso setting an auction with a starting price of $1000 clearly shows you are trying to profit off what you are selling. People who auction of belongings to make space will normally start an auction with no starting price. That is the profiteering part right their. Do I need to keep spelling out for you?
By someone who cares on April 18th, 2007 at 11:25 amby the way your not old enough to be my father and its THERE not THIER and i choose not to punctuate my comments and it isnt due to my low iq level and still if if and but but you can live ya life off them but still we probabbly wouldnt have heard of you cos well all i can see is text on a web page i havnt heard of you and dont you own any trophies yourself at all think about that also it may just be my positioning on the globe but i have never heard of a BUNK collection however i have heard of a BULK collection but maybe im wrong
By LA DI DA BIG DEAL on April 18th, 2007 at 7:00 pmoh and from what i remember the auction didnt sell so how did he profit
By LA DI DA BIG DEAL on April 18th, 2007 at 7:02 pmWhat language are you speaking. “if if but but”. Are you Sylvester the Cat? Do you have a speech impediment? No seriously do you? I’m not even going to try an decipher the gibberish of your second to last mail. In fact Im not going to answer your last mail either. None of my posts are written in code. If you read through them you can piece together the answer of your last one. I really dont have time to debate with idiots. Next!
By someone who cares on April 18th, 2007 at 9:04 pmI think you do have plenty of time to debate this shit. You come arguing day after day.
Yer a has been and a toy.
By jack on April 18th, 2007 at 11:53 pmJack be nimble, Jack be quick , Jack jump off a legends dick. Has been , Toy? Seriously you can do better then that. How old are you? Let me guess. 15?
By someone who cares on April 19th, 2007 at 8:09 amyou are a bollock
By LA DI DA BIG DEAL on April 19th, 2007 at 5:10 pmNo more like the dogs bollocks.
By someone who cares on April 19th, 2007 at 6:30 pmI LIKE THE PUBLICITY RAISES THE PRICES !
By Castro on May 1st, 2007 at 11:11 pmMan are you nuts? Sabotaz 80 is shit paint! yeah it’s thick pigment but it peels within hours of being applied, it cracks. It prolly even has lead in it. Molotow and Spanish Montana kick it’s arse into the next century. Are you bias cos they are paying for advertizing or what? I bought and used $5000 worth of these cans and they are fucking shit!
peace
Oh yeah. I got mad dose of OCD and I love getting my graffiti fix, So if you got magazines or anything you want to sell buy or trade send me a fckin email thom@emailme.com.au MongoTheMonster on ebay You know it.
By Thom on October 30th, 2007 at 11:33 amman, fuck all yall bitchin toys, first of all do any of you paint trains then or now, yes sir, and secondly if you cats wanna hear the ultimate in paint stories, we had wharehouse back in 85 that stocked wetpaint, superspray enamel and every other ill bronze paint (inc) wrickle finish stocked to the roof, this place had a massive roller door open every day exp sat sun, and was unmaned, on the weekends we,d just rip the tin back from the alleyway, to this day no one nos what the fuck all that paint was doing there, cos as soon as wed rack it it was stocked to the roof once again, and we talkin, chinese red ,powerfull pink, sunnyday yellows, with six in a box , think about it, and got many whole cars/ panels to back it up. taxi 156
By mr takse on November 22nd, 2007 at 5:07 ammr takse,,i know who u are,,and i need to tell the world ,,u are a shit talking bitch,,u were to cowardly to ever run up in the najee warehouse by night or in plain daylight,,the suplies there were never restocked,,once that shit was gone it was gone for good,,the one thing i will say is that you fell so short on your description of the colours that were there,,it was dozens of buetifull hues,,enough to spurn a whole city of up and coming writers into action,,its never been the same sinca and may never have bee at all if it wasnt for this mysterious suply of primo cans,,peace out to the heads that no the real deal,,not u ,you slimey fag,,i spit on your grave bitch
By dark,n,grim on January 12th, 2008 at 7:40 amdoes any of this banter really matter like your all curing cancer
By arse lickers on March 1st, 2008 at 7:41 am