This Price Motorine oil pourer is a fine example of early 20th-century British garage equipment, showcasing the distinctive red and blue branding of the Price’s Motorine Oil brand. With its classic conical shape and utilitarian design, it reflects the era when such tin pourers were an everyday essential in service stations and workshops across the country.

Product Details

• Brand: Price’s Motorine Oil

• Product: Oil pourer

• Type: Tin pourer for engine lubrication

• Period: Circa 1930s–1940s

• Material: Tin with painted branding

• Colour: Red body with blue and white circular logo

• Manufacturer: Price’s Patent Candle Company Ltd., Battersea, London

• Condition: Good original condition for age with areas of surface wear, minor rust, and patina consistent with long-term use; colours remain visible and logo largely intact

Historical Background

Price’s Motorine Oil was produced by the renowned Price’s Patent Candle Company, a British firm with origins dating back to 1830. Originally famous for manufacturing candles and lubricants for lighting, the company evolved with the times and began producing oils and greases as the age of motoring dawned.

By the early 1900s, Price’s expanded its product line to include Motorine, a brand specifically created for the growing automobile market. Motorine oils were developed to meet the lubrication demands of the new generation of internal combustion engines, which required cleaner, more refined oils than traditional industrial lubricants.

The name “Motorine” became well-known among early motorists for its reliability and quality, and the brand was commonly sold through garages, engineering suppliers, and motoring clubs across Britain. The company’s background in refining fats and oils gave it a distinct advantage in developing high-quality lubricants at a time when motor engineering was rapidly advancing.

During the interwar years, Price’s Motorine products competed with larger names like Castrol and Shell, and their distinctive red and blue branding became a familiar sight in British garages.

Design and Features

The pourer is made from tin and designed in the traditional early 20th-century garage style, with a broad base for stability, a sturdy handle, and an elongated spout for precise pouring. The branding on the body features the Price Motorine logo — a circular blue field with cream lettering surrounded by a red border.

Pourers like this one were used daily by mechanics for refilling oil directly into engines, long before disposable cans and plastic bottles became standard. Their design allowed for clean, controlled pouring while minimising spillage, and they were often refilled from larger bulk oil drums kept in garages.

The simple yet bold design of this example reflects the functional aesthetic of the 1930s and 1940s — durable, visible, and made to last.

Collectibility

Today, Price Motorine items are highly collectible among enthusiasts of vintage petroliana and British motoring memorabilia. The company’s long industrial history and early involvement in automotive lubrication make its advertising and workshop artefacts particularly desirable.

Oil pourers such as this are valued not only for their aesthetic appeal but also for the insight they provide into the daily workings of early garages. Each piece carries the marks and wear of decades of use, telling the story of Britain’s evolving motoring landscape.

The combination of original paint, legible branding, and authentic patina makes this a charming and historically significant example for display.

Summary

• Original Price Motorine Oil pourer

• Produced circa 1930s–1940s

• Tin construction with red and blue painted branding

• Features classic early garage pourer design

• Good condition with attractive aged patina

• Highly collectible item representing the early days of British motoring maintenance

This Price Motorine oil pourer captures the spirit of Britain’s pioneering motoring era when every mechanic relied on simple, well-made tools and trusted brands like Price’s to keep engines running smoothly.