Few can say their job reflects their passion. Jordan Richmond is one of those people.
Together with co-owner Mike McCandless, the self-proclaimed collector officially launched Greenville-based Richmond Auctions in 2021. Four years later, the business has drawn more than $100 million in revenue.
After moving to Greenville to play basketball for North Greenville University in 2003, Richmond stayed in the area.
“I really love the area and jumped right into my professional life out of school, got married, started a business specializing in weight loss and sports nutrition, and built up my own line of products,” Richmond said.
After selling the business in 2015 and doing some consulting for a few years, Richmond said he got bored.
“I wanted to pursue my new passion in life, which has always been collecting.”
It started with an old dime-fed Coke dispenser, then came an old Coca-Cola sign, Richmond said.
“Collecting is a disease — the thrill of the chase — so for an adrenaline junkie like me, it was it,” he said.
In time, he amassed 500 signs, 30 gas pumps and about 20 vintage soda machines. Encouraged by his wife to turn his passion into a viable enterprise, Richmond and his business partner started with a single auction in 2020 and have quickly expanded.
Vintage signs are his favorite.
“They hearken to a simpler time,” Richmond said. “Back when business and marketing was done through signage, not like the digital marketing of today.”
Vintage signs at Richmond Auctions
Today, the Richmond Auctions location at 526 Congaree Road — which can be visited by appointment only — holds more than 1,500 signs. The company supports 40 employees. Richmond Auctions also offers collectible firearms and is venturing into auto auctions and gold nuggets.
In October, Richmond Auctions auctioned Zaxby’s co-founder Tony Townley’s collection of about 105 cars and 400 neon signs.
“The collection is insane,” Richmond said. “It’s probably the best collection of cars to ever hit the market at one time.”
As for gold nuggets, Richmond delineates between collecting gold coins and collecting nuggets, which he says make up less than 1% of the world’s gold supply.
“It’s the combination of scarcity, collectability and story that creates value,” he said.
Those values hold true for most of the items offered by Richmond. A sign with a history put the auction house in the record books.
“I hold the world record for a price on a vintage Musgo gasoline sign,” Richmond said. “It sold for $1.5 million.”
Until then, no one had paid more than about $300,000 for a vintage sign. Richmond said the difference was the story behind it.
“Because of the Great Depression, Musgo went bankrupt before opening any fueling stations,” Richmond said. “A local plumber bought the Musgo building and everything in it, including all the signs and globes. Well, through the years, the plumber used the signs to cover septic tanks, which of course eventually destroyed them. But the owner of Musgo held on to one of the signs — stored in his attic. Five years ago, the man’s great-granddaughter reached out about it. The sign had been untouched since 1929.”
It’s why Richmond Auctions takes great care to ensure only the finest items make it into their collections.
“We’re very particular about what we sell,” he said. “Our brand stands for integrity, so our auctions are packed with nothing but the best.”
