I know that it's a "show" and that the characters are all actors, no matter how short their "contract" may be. How else could the cameraman, the sound guy and others get ahead of the "pickers" truck and photo it as it enters a property as well as that first knock on the door. The few people that tell them to leave are all written into the script and it is done the way the director want it to be.
Nonetheless, I really enjoy the Pickers, as well as Pawn Stars, Rick's Restorations and, for that matter, Storage Wars, and whatever the other one is called. We watch them, as well as Antiques Road Show quite regularly, and still enjoy them all.
We also visited the "Pickers" new store in Nashville earlier this year. The prices, as you would expect are outrageous. I recognized a few things that I saw them "pick" at various times, and those were especially priced to help pay for the costs involved with their acquisition.
So, if they have a #408E State set and pay $30,000 for it, we might have a new record price set for the item. Last week I saw an American Flyer, 1929-30 President Special set, all with boxes for the cars as well as the set box, and I believe it was appraised at $11,000. Yeah, sure. Try and get that for it.
The point is that we're watching a presentation on a subject that we all enjoy and we probably shouldn't pick it apart, too much. It's interesting, it brings attention to our hobby which isnt' a bad thing, and it's fun to watch. What else could we be asking for?
Paul Fischer
