American Pickers - Daryle Lambert’s Antique and Collectibles Blog - What a great show

The American Pickers are searching for another type of gold - Thanks to Flicker

If you haven't seen this show (American Pickers) on the History channel, you're in for a treat. I would recommend that all my reader tune in to this show at least once. Just two good old boys scouring the countryside looking for treasure where no one else has. It sounds like someone I know well--me. The Antique Week has been featuring letters to the editor about this show and I thought I would give you my opinion for what it is worth.

It seems that many are troubled that the boys encourage the elderly to sell their antiques, collectibles or fine art under pressure but I feel nothing could be further from the truth. In fact the people they visit should be thankful because what they find is usually in the barn, basement or garage, wasting away. Most of the items that I have seen them discover were headed to the junk heap or the water shed to prevent run out.

Here is a personal story about when I visited a home and what I found in the basement. It seems that the lady I worked with was selling some of her father’s things and, in his past, he had been an employee of the Wackers, a very prominent family in Chicago. This family had bestowed items on him for years and now he wanted to dispose of them. Well, as I entered the basement, I eyed a pile of metal lying on the floor and after closer inspection discovered it was lamp bases without their shades. I asked about them and was informed that her husband wanted to trash them but they just hadn't taken them out yet. My question to her was, “Could I buy them” and she said “Sure. What would you give?” Remember our motto Treat the customer fairly and always stick by it. "Would you take $5000" I asked, and you should have seen her eyes! In fact she couldn't even give me an answer that day. But the following day I did purchase them and when they were sold, I made a fair profit. "What were they?" you're asking, and the answer is Tiffany. Now I believe this lady should be thankful that she let me rummage around in her basement, what do you think?

The Nay Sayers will always be with us but who are they helping? Probably no one. Yes these good old boys are doing a public service and all that see their show might go looking for treasures that they didn't even realize they had. If fact, I think they should charge for their services. God Bless them.

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