A Canadian 1940s McColl-Frontenac service station sign, six feet in diameter, soared to $22,420; a Ballys Gilligans Island pinball machine from 1991 went for $10,030; and a Japanese 1950s Linemar Good Humor Ice Cream delivery toy truck hit $3,245 in three days of online auctions held May 10, 11, and 12 by Miller & Miller Auctions Ltd. All prices quoted in this report are in Canadian dollars. The auctions included a Toys and Historic Ephemera Auction featuring part two of the late Howie Meyer Legacy collection held on the first day, a Toys, Advertising and Coin-Op auction held on the second day, and a Petroliana and Advertising Auction featuring the late Syl Rumas collection held on the third day. The three sales combined totaled a gross of $947,157. Toys sold in our inaugural online-only sale for the late Howie Meyer Collection performed well, said Ethan Miller of Miller & Miller Auctions Ltd. Some rare boxed examples crushed the high estimates, especially anything Disney.In the collector market, the upper five percent of any category is where to invest, but, first, make sure you like it. Top items did well this weekend. Miller went on to say, We can still feel the afterglow from the Rumas Collection sold on Sunday. Choice porcelain dealer signs soared through the roof. However, I do sense a slight regression in the advertising market compared to the fever during the pandemic. Great things are performing, but the importance of condition, size, and medium seems to have grown somewhat. Petroliana lots on day three posted some of the highest overall prices. The session was a three-part event that featured the petroliana collection of the late Syl Rumas (signs, Canadian gas pumps, cans, ephemera and more), plus petroliana selections from the collection of the late Ken Hatt of Inverness, British Columbia (signs, Red Indian ephemera, Red Head tins). The McColl-Frontenac double-sided porcelain sign easily bested its $6,000-$9,000 estimate to be the days top achiever, while a Canadian 1940s White Rose single-sided porcelain service station sign, 36 inches in diameter and marked P&M 47 to the lower edge, topped an identical estimate by changing hands for $20,060. Both were expected to do well, and each exceeded expectations. Rounding out the action, a Canadian 1940s Supertest Gasoline double-sided service station sign, five feet in diameter with the original aluminum frame and hardware, finished at $18,800 against a pre-sale estimate of $8,000-$12,000, while a Canadian 1940s White Rose Gasoline double-sided porcelain Slate Boy service station sign, four feet in diameter with excellent color and gloss on both sides, brought $17,700 against an estimate of $9,000-$12,000. Here are some additional highlights from all three sales, in which a total of 907 online bidders placed a combined total of 18,920 bids. Internet bidding was facilitated by LiveAuctioneers.com and the Miller & Miller Auctions website. Of the 1,139 total lots up for bid, nearly all of them were sold and better than 50 percent of all lots surpassed estimates. On day twos Toys, Advertising and Coin-Op auction, the Bally Gilligans Island pinball machine made in the U.S. in 1991, fully restored, a fun, family-friendly game that played the theme song from the TV show, was the top earner. Runner-up to that was an American 1950s 16 hp Mercury Mark 20 racing boat motor with Quickie Prop lower unit, the holy grail for collectors, with a low serial number, which topped its $5,000 high estimate by realizing $8,850. An early and exquisite John H.R. Molson and Brothers single-sided porcelain Montreal India Pale Ale corner sign (Canadian, 20th century), with IPA scripted beneath the profusely illustrated logo, went for $8,850. Also, an American 1957 Seeburg model KD-200 jukebox with veneer case and chrome trim, a sought-after machine known for the iconic 1950s tail light grille and rotating selector drum, completely serviced, made $8,260. The day one Toys and Historic Ephemera Auction contained 340 lots of toys and militaria, with Howie Meyer the undisputed headliner. His many and varied interests included pressed steel and tinplate toys, comic characters, ice cream, construction, space, Western and Americana, World War and anti-Axis propaganda posters and ephemera, figural sewing tapes and other oddities. The Linemar Good Humor ice cream delivery toy truck was modeled after a Ford F-250. It was marked on the box and rear underside of the toy. Linemar was the trade name Marx used for toys manufactured in Japan and sold by Marx. Achieving an identical selling price of $3,245 was a complete, new-in-box (NIB) toy tow truck from Smith-Miller (Smitty Toys), made in the U.S, in the 1980s and number 19 of 125 made. The high-quality trucks were crafted by Fred Thompson. A group of Marx ELM (Excellent Louis Marx) Disney character cars made in Hong Kong and the U.S, in the 1950s and 60s, including Disneykins Alice in Wonderland, a Mickey and Minnie Rumba Rhythm toy, two Magic Marxie cars, three Donald Duck cars, three Goofy cars and others, fetched $2,360. Also, a Marx ELM group of Popeye character cars, made in Hong Kong in the 1950s, with the toys and boxes all in excellent condition, also commanded $2,360. For further information, email info@millerandmillerauctions.com or visit www.millerandmillerauctions.com.