Submitted
Frank Fritz, left, and Mike Wolfe are two local men who have landed their own History Channel show, 'American Pickers.' The show will debut Jan. 18.
You won't find Iowans Mike Wolfe and Frank Fritz picking through your trash at the curb. But don't be surprised if you find the pair standing on your doorstep, hats in hand, if the following apply to you:
A. You live in the country and collect cool, old stuff.
B. Your ramshackle outbuildings are crammed with decaying bicycles, rusty farm implements and signage from the seed store of yore.
C. You are a retired carnival worker with a flashy belt buckle.
Wolfe of LeClaire, Iowa, and Fritz of Davenport have been friends since eighth grade and in recent years have turned their love of "picking" -- hunting for antiques and other saleable nuggets from the past -- into a business called Antique Archaeology, located in LeClaire.
Now their quest for "rusty gold" has been turned into a 10-episode TV series called "American Pickers," which runs at 8 p.m. Mondays in February and March on the History Channel. (Because of the Olympics, the show won't air Feb. 15 and 22.)
"Picking is somewhat like sifting through trash," Fritz says. "It's not easy. We look through a lot of different articles that are just downright junk."
And pick they have. During filming, they've driven their white Mercedes van emblazoned with the Antique Archaeology logo to 20 states, including Vermont, New York and Florida. The show also features footage from Illinois and Iowa.
In the pilot episode, they score a Japanese sword, an animatronic Philip Morris sign, a rusted-out Vespa scooter and an antique saddle. The saddle is a real steal: They pay a couple hundred dollars for it and later learn that it could sell for five grand.
Though making money is definitely a goal for pickers, they also enjoy bringing new life to old things that have been lost or forgotten.
"We also think ourselves as . . . recyclers. We take stuff that has been hidden for 20, 30, 40, 60 years in their house or in their barn, and now someone has it in their den," says Fritz.
Along the way, they stumble across many colorful characters.
In Central Illinois, they meet a retired carnival worker named Bear. Bear wears a yellowing beard and a hammered silver belt buckle that reads "Carny Forever." He won't sell his buckle, but he does let go of a set of five aluminum Nash-inspired cars and their portable track for $1,500. After hauling it back to LeClaire (on dry-rotted tires), the pickers learn that they can sell the antique carnival ride for more than twice that amount.
Still, they insist that they're not know-it-alls when it comes to antiques. Instead, they know people -- and they know what they can sell.
"We are professionals at finding stuff more than we are at knowing about the value of 16th century china," Wolfe says. He sees himself as "the guy behind the guy" in the antiques business.
"When you go to an antique shop, you see something there ... and you think, 'Where did that come from?'" That came from a picker," Fritz says.
Both men started out as collectors. For budding collectors or pickers, they say that passion is key.
"I wouldn't start out from a business standpoint," Wolfe says. "If you are going to collect something, pick something that you care about."
They say that filming the show has been a lot like regular picking.
"It's not too much different. These people here are just like a fly on the wall,"says Fritz, referring to the crew. "We are making the contacts, doing the cold calls. We are doing pretty much what we always do."
In fact, they insisted that the show not mess with their usual M.O.
"When we came up with the idea ... we wanted to make it as real as possible,"says Wolfe.
"When we open a barn and look inside for the first time," says Fritz, "the viewers are looking inside for the first time with us."
