American Pickers

[Dave Lehnert]

Anyone see American pickers last night? They were searching an old barn and up in the rafters Mike looked in a box. Frank yelled up to Mike "See anything" Mike replies "Nothing but a bunch of old wood planes" and moved on

[Gary Benson]

I caught that too. Thought, "might want to take a closer look?" They have old ww tools in the background all the time, but never seem interested. They claim to buy anything they can make a buck on, but they must not understand the old tool market.

[george wilson]

Those guys have never bought any tools that I can recall. I also KNOW the prices they and their contacts quote are often WAY too high. This guy had a 1964 Gretsch Anniversary model guitar,pretty beat up. Said $2300.00!!! That would be way too much to pay for a mint one. I collect guitars,especially Gretsch.

[John A. Scott]

I saw that too and about fell off the couch! Where was that filmed?

[Jim Koepke]

When I was buying molding planes in antique stores I would seldom pay more than $10.

Even if they could pick the old planes up for a few bucks each, how much work would it be to get them to a buyer. Maybe they do not have a regular buyer for WW tools.

Every time they shell out money for something they are taking a chance.

jtk

[Joshua Byrd]

Add me to the list of people who REALLY wanted to see the planes. I was drilling some holes in my balusters for rail bolts when I heard that. Almost dropped the MF No. 12 that I was using on my foot!

[David Weaver]

They don't actually run a profitable shop anyway, I'd guess (at least on its own without TV dollars) - and that's just a guess.

I recall reading a while ago that they had the idea to set up a shop to pitch it as a possible TV show (not to run a profitable shop on its own).

Most of the antique pickers I know like to get things for two or three bucks, and sell them for $100, not get them for $65 and sell them for $100.

[Brad Gobble]

agreed they are pretend businessmen ... you can't run a biz on their half-assed haggle and sell methods. Rarely do they get a 50% margin.

We enjoy the show just to see what is out there, but it is half cool and half sad that all fo the stuff these two dorks DON'T buy is still rotting in some old guy's shed.

There is another show where the guy finds old, banged up stuff and refurbishes it ... he knows how to run a biz.

[Joshua Byrd]

There are a lot of people on the interwebz who were very harsh on those guys about the prices they paid for items, claiming they were scamming people and practically stealing their stuff. I'm pretty sure that the producers of the show severely limit the showing of items that they got deals on to avoid inflaming all of the retards out there.

[Jessica Pierce-LaRose]

Is this the show where they often just roll up to a house that looks like it has a lot of stuff and just start trying to get the person who lives there to sell them their stuff? It always seemed a little weird. All I can think of is I know a lot of folks in the backwoods here in the northeast who wouldn't be as easy going about out of towners wanting to look through their garage!

[Tony Shea]

I always comment to my girlfriend how they just aren't interested in old collectable tools. But understand that this is somewhat of a tough market to make much off of and really need to know alot about it. They odviously aren't tool junkies as most of us are.

And I also am not too sure about the reality of the show either. Seems to me that it does have some truth to it and think in general they could certainly make a living doing what they are doing, but just like everything else with "reality tv" there's odviously quirks in the setup. But IMO I believe that these two aren't just doing this for the TV $'s. could be wrong though. I still believe it to be one of the best shows on television along with the guy that refurbishes antique items for people or just to sell.

As for the prices they pay... how could people possibly get mad about them underpaying for items. That is America and what its' about. I just can;t fathom someone actually getting upset over this. It really is un-American to get worked up and complain about this. And most of the time these two I feel are over paying for their items when they could have picked them up much cheaper. They show a bit of honesty, which I feel is for television purposes. And I also agree that the prices they show items are worth are far too high.

[David Weaver]

Is this the show where they often just roll up to a house that looks like it has a lot of stuff and just start trying to get the person who lives there to sell them their stuff? It always seemed a little weird. All I can think of is I know a lot of folks in the backwoods here in the northeast who wouldn't be as easy going about out of towners wanting to look through their garage!

I'd assume that they are getting some local tips from brick and mortar shops or some other such thing and someone else is finding out who they can and can't visit. That's what I'd assume, at least - it would keep them alive a little better than showing up unannounced on the property of a senile person who may have been robbed a few times in their life when someone shows up unannounced.

For what they make on what they show, you couldn't run a sprinter all over the place, pay for a shop and pay to have someone in it at all times.

I still like their show, the premise of it being entertaining people with the picking and the dialogue with folks who most people would otherwise never see.

If they had true pickers (making a living based on networking with locals) on there and saw them getting stuff from widows, etc, for pennies on the dollar, it wouldn't go over so well on TV. I don't know how you'd make a living otherwise, though, unless you had credibility as an appraiser of certain things.

[george wilson]

I saw them buy a civil war belt buckle with a minie ball stuck in it. On Pawn Stars later on,some guy walks in with a civil war belt buckle with a minie ball stuck in it. It was proven to be a fake. Wonder if that was the SAME buckle?????

[Matt Day]

Was this the one where they were visiting the retired Circus place? That was shot in Florida IIRC.

They'd have to be making a lot more money than what they show to afford the gas to drive around the country in a van.

I still enjoy the show, regardless if it's not 100% authentic.

[Mark Dorman]

I'm going to stop by there shop on my way to Chicago in a few weeks. Hope to meet them or at least Daniel. I'm going to give them a hard time about the hand tool thing. Drives me crazy some of the cool stuff you see them pass by without a look. On the other hand I would pass on a lot of the stuff they pick.


Mark