American Pickers

[aelefson]

Hi-
I have been to their store in Nashville, but I was very disappointed in their offerings. They had very little actual antiques. Most of what they had was show merchandise (similar to Pawn Stars). They had one of the WWII baseball uniforms priced at 1200.00 with holes. That was the only sports item.
That leads me to my largest issue with the show. I feel they are dishonest about their expected retail price on many of these items. If you watch the baseball uniform episode, they bought the whole box for 200.00 (I think) and they said most of them were ratty. I do not remember if they said what they anticipated selling them for, but it definitely was not 1200.00 for one (in rough shape).
I have seen other items, especially folk art that would sell for much higher prices than what they quote, although that could be a factor of location (Iowa pricing versus Northeast pricing).
I have also been surprised the other way as a boy scout lot sold for much more than it would have to a scout collector in another episode. In that specific case I think they were targeting a different market and might very well get their price (they paid 700-800 for a 1937 Jamboree grouping that did not have the more valuable patches that collectors pay well for).
All that being said, I do like the show as it focuses more on antiques than most other programs.

Alan Elefson

[Bestdj777]

Originally Posted by aelefson

Hi-
I have been to their store in Nashville, but I was very disappointed in their offerings. They had very little actual antiques. Most of what they had was show merchandise (similar to Pawn Stars). They had one of the WWII baseball uniforms priced at 1200.00 with holes. That was the only sports item.
That leads me to my largest issue with the show. I feel they are dishonest about their expected retail price on many of these items. If you watch the baseball uniform episode, they bought the whole box for 200.00 (I think) and they said most of them were ratty. I do not remember if they said what they anticipated selling them for, but it definitely was not 1200.00 for one (in rough shape).
I have seen other items, especially folk art that would sell for much higher prices than what they quote, although that could be a factor of location (Iowa pricing versus Northeast pricing).
I have also been surprised the other way as a boy scout lot sold for much more than it would have to a scout collector in another episode. In that specific case I think they were targeting a different market and might very well get their price (they paid 700-800 for a 1937 Jamboree grouping that did not have the more valuable patches that collectors pay well for).
All that being said, I do like the show as it focuses more on antiques than most other programs.

Alan Elefson

It is better than the alternative though. I get so frustrated watching all of the storage unit shows where they pull out garbage and quote a price 5 times higher than it is actual worth. I feel like most of the prices on American Pickers is spot on. They might mark things up a bit in the store, but I am sure it is because they can get a bit of a premium over retail since it is coming from their particular shops.