The Wilson Post
LEBANON WEATHER

Signs, pirate statues and LHS cafeteria trays




Recently retired Cracker Barrel Restaurant décor and warehouse manager Larry Singleton is selling about 350 mostly vintage items from his private stash of antiques and collectibles via an online auction. Here he holds a brass and bronze deep-sea diving helmet, while at right is a repro Texaco Gasoline pump. Picasa

Recently retired Cracker Barrel Restaurant décor and warehouse manager Larry Singleton is selling about 350 mostly vintage items from his private stash of antiques and collectibles via an online auction. Here he holds a brass and bronze deep-sea diving helmet, while at right is a repro Texaco Gasoline pump. Picasa

There’s no telling how many hundreds of thousands of antiques retired Cracker Barrel Old Country Store décor buyer Larry Singleton purchased over the past 40 years, but it was enough to fill up many, if not most, of the 664 Cracker Barrel restaurants in 45 states and then some. 

While he was supplying Cracker Barrel stores and its Lebanon warehouse with all sorts of interesting items and curiosity pieces, he was also accumulating a vast collection of signs, memorabilia and antiques of his own. 

Now, he’s ready to let part of his stash go. Through Mike Walker Auctions, Singleton has placed about 350 items for sale via an online auction that started April 23 and concludes at 6 p.m. May 14.

Up for bid are advertising pieces, new old stock, one-of-a-kind metal art pieces, nautical antiques, animal mounts, furniture, vintage toys, repurposed art pieces, peddle cars, life-size metal trees, sharks, pirates, old photographs, oil cans, swords, bottles, old razors and several pieces from Lebanon yesteryear.

What made him decide the time was ripe to sell?

“I’m trying to figure out what the next step is down here,” said Singleton, referring to his gigantic man cave that was once the office and garage of Consolidated Oil, where his late brother-in-law Dan Evins operated a Shell Gasoline distributorship before there was a Cracker Barrel. 

“I need to make some room down here and figure out what the next venture is. I’ve got plenty to get rid of, a building full. I’m kind of excited to see how it will do online. We’re putting some old signs in it and good antiques, plus some stuff me and my buddies have made.

(Among other things, Singleton creates oversized guitars from old barn tin.)

“We made stuff out of sheet metal that was décor for Dick’s Last Resort (a restaurant chain) that was the absolute opposite of Cracker Barrel, real eclectic,” said the 1976 Lebanon High School grad, whose mom and dad were the first Cracker Barrel pickers, finding items to decorate the original restaurant that opened in September 1969 in Leeville. In the beginning, the store also sold antiques.  

Singleton washed dishes, bussed tables and pumped gasoline at that first restaurant as a teenager. His parents also ran Spider Web Antiques; thus, they drove all over the U.S. buying antiques. 

“But after ’79, when my Mom got sick, I started going on trips with Dad. He was obliged to show me where all these places were, all the big flea markets all over the country,” recalled Singleton about how he got into the business.

Photos of each item for sale can be viewed on the auction website. There are some 50 to 60 signs that include Coca-Cola, Kern’s Bread, Pepsi, Nichol Cola, Rodkey Flour, Quaker State Oil and Chamberlin Ice Cream pieces. 

One of the more unique objects is a brass and bronze deep-sea diver’s helmet. About the nautical object he found in Maine, Singleton said, “I hate to let the helmet go. I ain’t never had but one. It’s not as hard of letting go of the Rodkey signs when I’ve got 50 of ’em.”

Another item he said he would miss is a trapper sled that would have been used up North by a fur trapper while checking his lines. 

As for local artifacts included in the auction is a yard-long picture of the Castle Heights Military Academy class of 1947, a photo of the Cumberland University senior law class of 1921 and several Lebanon High School cafeteria trays from the 1970s and ’80s.

“If this auction goes over good, I may do another one,” concluded Singleton, who likely has enough tucked away to do that several times over. 

AMERICANA AUCTION

Retired Cracker Barrel super picker Larry Singleton is selling part of his huge collection of antiques, memorabilia and odds and ends in an online auction. The auction ends at 6 p.m. on Thursday, May 14. Go to mikewalkerauctions.com.

Recently retired Cracker Barrel Restaurant décor and warehouse manager Larry Singleton is selling about 350 mostly vintage items from his private stash of antiques and collectibles via an online auction. Here he holds a brass and bronze deep-sea diving helmet, while at right is a repro Texaco Gasoline pump. Picasa

Recently retired Cracker Barrel Restaurant décor and warehouse manager Larry Singleton is selling about 350 mostly vintage items from his private stash of antiques and collectibles via an online auction. Here he holds a brass and bronze deep-sea diving helmet, while at right is a repro Texaco Gasoline pump. Picasa

This mint 1957 dot-embossed Pepsi-Cola sign held by Larry Singleton likely was meant to be tacked to the side of a country store back in the day. Picasa

This mint 1957 dot-embossed Pepsi-Cola sign held by Larry Singleton likely was meant to be tacked to the side of a country store back in the day. Picasa

Cheeseburger piggy bankPicasa

Cheeseburger piggy bankPicasa

Mint Sakrete concrete and mortar mix advertising piecePicasa

Mint Sakrete concrete and mortar mix advertising piecePicasa

Goodyear blimp balloonPicasa

Goodyear blimp balloonPicasa

A metal Christmas star fabricated from Tennessee Sheriff’s Association license platesPicasa

A metal Christmas star fabricated from Tennessee Sheriff’s Association license platesPicasa

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