JOHN MIHOVETZ

Beginning in 2008, my venture into the old began with photography. As part of a college project, I spent countless hours in the USC photography archives searching throughout original photographs of the streets of Los Angeles from 1910 into the 1940’s. I was fascinated by the unique advertising throughout Los Angeles displayed on buildings, billboards, service stations & corner stores.

As a kid, some of my better memories were walking flea markets and car part swaps with my dad where my early interests began, collecting quart cans and unique pieces I could buy. After my deep dive into the original photography of early Los Angeles, that’s when the real search began.

Around 2010 I started a workshop in my dad's attic. It was free and up there was where I began to learn about other areas of old, finding folk art, ephemera, coin operated & hand painted. After a few months boxes filled the attic and began to run down the stairs.

My first workspace & showroom was on Second Street in downtown Pomona, California. During this period, I spent a lot of time in the desert towns of California, digging through abandoned gas stations, junk yards, and visiting local collectors. I'm very thankful for all of the opportunities that were in my path at this time in my life, as well as all the people I met.

During this time I was spending so much time on the road I decided to head east and packed up and moved to Nashville, Tennessee. I was also working with various auction houses and private dealers learning the process of authentication as well as grading of various pieces of advertising in Tin, Porcelain, Cardboard & Paper as well as Advertising Globes & Neon.

In 2016 I took on a full time position with Morphy Auctions, specializing in authenticating, grading and describing advertising sold through the auction house throughout various categories.

In 2023 I co-founded Authentication & Grading Services (A.G.S) with my partner Dan Morris who specializes in Coca Cola advertising. Our company focuses on the service of Authentication & Grading of advertising for various auction houses as well as private collectors.