Pickers

For my first blog I thought I would tell whom ever would like to read this, about my new favorite TV show.  The show is American Pickers and I am hooked on it.  If you like old anything, collecting and possibly making money this might be a show for you.  American Pickers is on Monday nights on the History Chanel at 8 o'clock.

The show is about two guys that travel the U.S. in their van looking to buy anything they can make money on.  They mostly go to peoples houses that have collected junk for many years.  They rummage through all their stuff until they find a "treasure", and then they try to buy it.  When they find a good item these guys act as though they just hit a hole in one. 

You would be surprised to see the things they buy and make money on.  Last week they bought a miniature stuffed horse for $200.  Turns out this item was from a turn of the century saddle maker that used this to show off his merchandise.  They took the horse to an antique dealer that valued it at a couple thousand dollars.  Who would have guessed that.

I have seen "pickers" before but just didn't know they had a title.  My uncle Dwight is a picker.  His barn is full of random items that he has purchased over the years at auctions.  A few items you might find in his barn are old tools, oil cans, match books, decks of playing cards, soda bottles and my personal favorite....an iron lung.

I think you can spot a picker at any auction.  You will know them because they will hang around until the end.  It is at this time they show their true talent.  They wait for the moment that the auctioneer announces "everything on the last wagon will go to a single buyer".  The picker will then pounce on the opportunity to own a weed eater that doesn't work, shovel with a broken handle, a box of magazines, a suitcase full of surprises and the list goes on, all for five dollars.  Well done, I'm sure something in that mess is worth more than five dollars!!!