Picking the Brains of the American Pickers

"We're just a bunch of simple guys from Iowa," says Frank Fritz when asked to describe why he and his partner in crime Mike Wolfe work together so well. They are the American Pickers -- two guys from the Midwest who travel the backroads and deep woods of the American heartland so they can rummage through people's junk. Sometimes their shop manager Danielle Colby-Cushman sources the people with the stuff ahead of time, but most of the time they're just knocking on doors and passing out fliers and digging through barns and backyards with all manner of signs, furniture, bikes, cars and knick-knacks, in pursuit of anything they can make a buck off.

Mike owns Antique Archeology out of LeClaire, Iowa and Frank has his own business called Frank Fritz Finds. Together, they buy junk and old collectibles from people so that they both can sell them back to antique dealers, decorators, and pretty much anyone who will pay, for a profit. The show is currently airing its second season in the U.S. with an average of 4 million viewers every Monday night -- unheard of for cable -- and is about to make its freshman debut up north next Tuesday August 31, 2010 at 10 p.m. ET/PT. The format is so successful stateside that a Canadian spin-off is set to launch in the spring starring Calgary-based antique and art appraiser Sheldon Smithens and fellow picker Scott Couzens.

Mike and Frank have known each other since junior high and they know everything that can be said about the thrill of the pick, getting the right price and getting the stories behind all their finds. WalletPop thought we'd ask them what it was that made them decide to make a living digging through junk and cow patties, and what you need to do if you think your trash could be treasure.
How do you get in a business where you're climbing all over people's junk for a living?

Mike: "Basically, I started digging in the garbage when I was like six-years-old and the main thing I was looking for were old bicycles. I was looking for a bike because my parents couldn't afford one, so I realized a lot of people were throwing stuff out on the curb. Anyway, later on that took me in life to collecting antique bicycles, like balloon tire stuff. I used to run ads in small papers and put up fliers in grocery stores in small towns saying that I'm looking for that stuff and no one one would ever call me. So I thought, 'You know, I'm just going to go out and look for that stuff myself.' So, I got in my truck and I started driving gravel roads, knocking on doors and handing out fliers saying, 'Hey, do you guys have any old bicycles?' Well, back in the late '80s balloon tire bikes were insane money. I mean, there were a lot of bicycles that were bringing over $10,000 U.S. at that time. It was really the biggest craze back then and most of the stuff I was finding was going to California. It was a really good side business for me, but then during the process I met all these antique dealers and they're like, 'Hey, if you're digging in the garbage, do you ever see this? Do you ever see that?' I'm like, 'I see that stuff all the time.' They're like, 'Well, you need to buy it because we'll buy it from you.' So, that was about a little over 20 years ago and then I started selling dealers and it just kind of snowballed from there."

Frank: Ever since I was a kid I've been picking up stuff by railroad tracks. I was always collecting things. I've been collecting things my whole life. I was a fire inspector for 25 years, so I collected fire memorabilia, toys and I'm a big collector of motorcycles.

Are you the only ones doing this kind of thing?

Mike: "No, there's a lot of pickers out there. Basically, what I did was, I took 'Picker', I put it in a bottle and stuck a label on it. I pitched this show for five years and it was a long road. No, me and Frankie haven't discovered the wheel or anything. There are others who do what we do."

When you source the people on the show, do they know you're coming ahead of time, or do you just sort of show up?

Mike: "Some of them know we're coming ahead of time, like if it's a contact that Danielle had made, but if it's not, then it's what we call 'Freestyling' where we're just going out and we're traveling the back roads. The biggest thing for me, and anybody who collects stuff, is the back story of the item and I was just really fortunate that I was having all these amazing experiences because I was discovering these things. For example, an old bicycle I bought from the owner, the guy got it when he was ten and now he's 80. For me as a picker, it's my obligation to pass that on to the next person whose going to buy it -- tell that person's story."

Does it ever not work out? Do they ever say, "Who the hell are you? Get off my property?"

Mike: "We get a lot of different reactions. We've gotten thrown of properties, we've had dogs put on us and we've had guns in our face. But, to be honest with you, I've been doing this for 20 years and there's only a handful of those experiences at all."

Do you find that most people just want to talk to somebody about their stuff?

Mike: "I think so, yeah. A lot of the people consider some of the stuff we're buying junk, but also, when we walk up on someones' property and we start talking about stuff that they hold near and dear to their hearts and that they love, well of course they want to talk about it because sometimes their mom doesn't get them and their chick don't get them. But, All of the sudden, me and Frank will roll up and we're like, 'Hey, you're the greatest thing since pockets and we love what you've done. We love that you've preserved these things."

Frank: "That's the best thing. We're able to bring out the people's story of their item. When you find an item at an antique shop or something like that, it's at the end of the road and someone could tell you the story about it, but you don't know for sure if that was the story that was passed on. The show actually gets the story from the person that owns it and being that their a one time or two time owner, whatever it is, they've got a story behind it and it's all about being able to give the item its actual story."

On the show we see you guys buying the stuff from its owner and haggling over the price, but where does the item go from there?

Mike: "Well, one of the things the show doesn't get across is, we will show up on someones' property and I'll buy twenty things from them, but they'll only show three because there's only so much time in a show to show that. A lot of people tell me, 'I can't believe you're able to make a living when you're only buying those items.' Well, we can't tell the complete story because there's not enough time. To answer your question, a lot of it goes to art directors, prop houses, decorators and antique dealers. I have a long list of people that I've been buying for for a number of years and also now I have my shop too. So, it goes in my shop, it goes on my website or it goes on an online auction site like Ebay."

Frank: "Mike has a bit more of an eye than I do. I deal more in transportation, advertising and toys. Mike has a wider variety of clients than I do. He's been doing it professionally a little longer than me, so he has a little bit bigger a clientele, but that's why we work so good together because I'm able to play off some of the people he knows and every once and a while he needs to ask me a question too because obviously you can't know everything about everything."

Do yo ever go outside of the state to pick now that the show is so big, like maybe Canada?

Mike: "I have a lot of friends that are pickers in Canada and do really well at it up there. I haven't been there. I picked in Italy before once. A buddy and I from Atlanta went to Italy and we hauled back a container load of vespas ten years ago. The thing is, now it literally is a worldwide market, which is great with the internet, but what has changed is the dollar in these foreign countries. Before you use to be able to go with $1,000 U.S. in your hand and it was like having $10,000. All of that has changed and transportation costs have changed. Some friends of mine are pickers and they pull from the markets in Paris and bring back certain things. They are decorators, but the things that you buy over there are completely different than here. It's still feasible sometimes, if you're after the rare stuff that's over there, but you got to remember that Paris has tons of pickers. There are Italian pickers and French pickers too. That's what's kind of cool about what's going on in Canada right now with the Canadian Pickers."

Frank: "Hell yeah, I'd love to get out and see more of the country. I've seen a lot of America and I go fishing in Canada every year, but I'm not worldwide. I haven't been to Italy or Paris and I'd really love the opportunity to do some more traveling and see some sights that the common man doesn't really get to see that much."

Wow, really Mike? What do you know about what's going on in Canada?

Mike: "Well, what I know about what's going on in Canada is, Canada has the 'Canadian Pickers' TV series, which is being filmed right now. I don't know how many episodes History bought, but when I named the show three years ago I called it American Pickers because that's what I am. I'm an American Picker, but it's worldwide and that's how I came up with the name. The Canadian Pickers, I'm sure they're going to find some cool stuff too and the thing is with pickers -- here's the deal. If you've got ten pickers and you send them into a barn, they're all going to come out with ten different things. As a picker, you're really knowledgeable in a couple fields, but you're by no means an antiques expert, so that's what's different about this show. Before, you had to have a blue blazer on and there was bright lights on your face and you were an antique expert and that's what was on television. Where this, is really telling the story of where it comes from and then it goes to the expert, then it goes to the collector that's looking for it. Something else that's different, and it'll be interesting to see how it plays out in the Canadian market, is that between the Pawn Stars and us, this is the first time that anyone has really shown bargaining on TV. Before that there was no bargaining and a lot of people were taken aback by it to be honest with you. It'll be interesting to see how it plays into Canada when bartering starts to hit the airwaves over there and how it's perceived."

Frank: "It's just really great. I think we've sparked an interest, both 'Pawn Stars' and our show, in re-purposing things and hunting for stuff. Antiques are cool, you know? Like Mike said, 'It's not the guy with five cats and a blue blazer.'"


Definitely, since a lot of people seem to expect the retail price or what it could be worth at auction as what they're going to get. They don't take into account the buyer having to re-sell it to make a profit.

Mike: "It's just the cost of doing business."

When you go into an area for the first time, what gives you the clue as to what's going to be valuable and what's worth picking?

Mike: "Just like any picker, when I go into a situation I gravitate towards something I'm knowledgeable on, but in being a picker you also have to look for things that are unusual, different and somewhat bizarre. Something that's very unique, because you can fill your van or truck up with general item antiques any day. The market on a lot of that stuff has kind of gone down because of the internet. The prices come down when you can Google something and there's 300 of them on there. The other side of that coin is that it has made collecting a lot more accessible to a lot more people. When I walk into a barn, I have what I call my 'primary search' and that's when I'm looking for large items that I can see right away. After that, I go into a 'secondary search', which involves crawling under things, opening doors, opening troves, just digging down and trying to find something smaller.

Frank: "I'm a bundler. I try to bundle things together. If I'm trying to buy something and it's $300 U.S. and I only want to pay $200. I try to bundle something else together on it and then it becomes $200. I can usually get my price on the one item I wanted by buying some other ones.

How can people tell that their item is an antique versus just a regular piece of junk?

Mike: "What they can do is contact their local dealer. I would recommend talking to a local appraiser that's got some knowledge or do some research themselves, but on the financial end there's a lot of people I deal with who lost their money in the stock market or lost their money in real estate and now they're trying to get back to basics and their buying collectibles, or their buying something that they can get their hands on and is tangible for them that they can physically see. We're noticing a lot of that. Also, on the financial end, when the dollar started to fall off everything that I put on Ebay was being sold to the European market. Things have changed, but now I find people call me up and say, 'I want to buy a rare motorcycle, or I want to buy this, or I want to buy that,' because they look at it as an investment."

Frank: "I always tell people to collect what you like. It doesn't matter what it is, apple peelers, Mickey Mouse watches, whatever. Collect what you like, collect what you can afford and have fun with it. You can become a serious collector and do the best you can. I could buy $3,000 U.S. toys, but I get just as big a thrill out of the $300 U.S. toys. It's the same deal for me."

Are there any hot items right now that if you have them, you should probably contact an appraiser right away?

Mike: "For me it's motorcycles and bikes because that's what I'm knowledgeable about, but it can be a piece of pottery, it could be a piece of china, it could be a piece of glass, it could be a piece of furniture, it could be a piece of art. If you think you have something, it's smarter to check it out then just let it go, but it has to be something very unique and very unusual. You know the saying, 'One man's junk is another man's treasure?' Well, what I say is, one man's junk is 99% of the time, one man's junk." It's so hard to find anything of value, you have to sift through a lot of crap to find something good."

My favourite piece you guys found was the Johnny Philip Morris sign in the first episode and it motivated me to look this person up and see who he was. Are there any other side benefits to your show?

Mike: "I still have that. I can't remember how much we paid for that sign, [$750 U.S.] but I've been offered a lot of money for it like, $3,000. [On the show, the sign was valued at $2500 U.S.] Another thing that's cool about the show that I never expected is, you would not believe the amount of kid viewers we have. I'm talking young kids anywhere from five-years-old to 15. We get fan mail from all over the place. Kids dig bottles out of the woods and take a picture with themselves. As pickers, we kind of have to remember what it was like to be a kid, that sense of adventure, that curiosity and that wonderment. That's something that these kids have, so when they watch the show, they see Frank and I on this journey of trying to find something. I never in a million years that that so many kids would watch it. It blows my mind, kids everywhere love it."

Frank: Antiques are cool now, it's great to re-purpose things and I think it's great that we're getting some young people involved in it and I hope that we can spark some interest. We got a lot of Young kids that watch our show and it's great to get off the couch, get away from the Game Boy and get out there a little bit and have some fun with some old stuff. We're such a disposable society and we're not the manufacturer anymore in the world. We're the consumer "

I bet you guys owe it to your network mates 'Pawn Stars' for getting 'American Pickers' sold?

Mike: "Yeah, when Rick [Harrison] broke the ice and was able to sell his show to History Channel, the biggest thing was convincing the networks that people would watch a show about collectibles. None of them believed it, even with the ratings that Antiques Roadshow did because that was PBS. When Rick did that and then History saw us, they dove on us right away. Between us and Rick, they're getting 11 to 12 million viewers on a Monday night, which is insane for cable numbers. We had 5.2 million last Monday, our highest rating ever. A really good show that's rocking on cable will normally do half of that on a Monday. What you're going to see is a collector show tsunami coming at you. They're all searching for the next new thing, TLC and even ABC is coming out with a collector show. There are so many different facets to it. I know there's a show on A&E coming out called 'Storage Wars.' It's about these guys who buy storage units because someone didn't pay their bill and they're hoping there's something of value that's worth more than they paid. It's another side of the collector business that people don't think of because it's something they don't see."

Frank: "There were some people who we told these stories of picking and stuff and they said, 'You guys should tape yourselves,' So we started taping each other and started picking. It took five years to get the show sold and it was long and hard. Mike was the driving force behind it. Without Mike's strong personality and his strong will, this stuff would've never got on. Kudos to him, we're both a team on the show and a team with Danielle. We both have different personalities, but I think that's what makes the show work."

What's the dynamic like between you and Frank and how did your relationship start?

Mike: "I've known Frank since eighth grade and it was actually not until after high school that we both realized that we collected stuff. When you're a kid, you don't know what it's called and are a little embarrassed about it. Later on we'd go on these picking trips together to flea markets or an estate sale and we just realized we liked the same things. I own Antique Archeology solely. Frank and I go picking together and on some big purchases we will go in on them together, but he has a company called Frank Fritz Finds. We just work well together because he's interested in some different things than I am and it's always nice to have another set of eyes. When you walk into these properties, there's so much stuff that you can't take it all in, so it's nice to have another person there. The reason I hired Danielle, is I need her to do the job that I used to do, so what you see her doing with the research and stuff is what I used to do before I'd go on a trip. Collecting is a very, very passionate thing. People love it to the marrow, so when they see it happening and they can't do it that much themselves, suddenly they're going on these picks through us. Frank and I are just trying to do a show about all these people. The show's about everybody."

Frank: "We don't have a system going for picking, that's just us. If you're around us for a half-hour you can see that there's really nothing secret there. We just banter back and forth and there ain't a bunch of scripts or anything like that. They might not use all that. We might have an F--bomb here or there. We might talk about a subject that might not be politically correct, but we pretty much talk about whatever we want. Whatever we think is funny."

Are there any picks that have led to some really challenging negotiations where both parties know what's up?

Mike: "That was last Monday's show called 'Hobo Jack.' That guy was extremely knowledgeable, was really into his stuff and he wanted top dollar for it. He was a picker too and we came to terms on some great stuff, but it was a rough negotiation. That's the thing with all these people, you have to realize that if someone has a barn full of stuff, they went to estate sales, they went to auctions and they went picking themselves. We're not saying anything or doing anything they haven't heard before. I had a guy from North Carolina that came into my shop and said that this professor was using Frank and I for his negotiations class. There's also a preacher that does sermons on <i>American Pickers</i> in terms of recycling and reclaiming. The journey that God went through. It's a mind blower."

Frank: "I don't do anything in the most difficult cases. Most of the people we deal with are pickers or collectors of some type and they do know. Most of them know exactly what that stuff is worth. I'm not buying something for $20 U.S. that's worth $500 U.S. They bought it, they've been in the game for a long time and they know exactly what it is, what the price is and they are just as savvy as me and Mike are. I don't look at the blogs, but I've heard, 'You guys paid too much' and I've heard 'You guys paid too little.' I have things in my home that I don't want to sell, but if you put a crazy price on them I would sell them. We're not by any means buying things from people that don't want to sell. Actually, I think we're getting stuff back out there than in five years would deteriorate and be worth absolutely nothing."

Do you ever run into full blown hoarders and people who have psychological problems getting rid of stuff?

Mike: "A lot of people ask us that and the difference between the people we meet and a hoarder is that hoarders are embarrassed by the situation. They're embarrassed by it and they know they have a problem. Whereas, the people we see are proud people. They are collectors and they want to show off their stuff. Is he displaying it in a manner I would? No, but the man is proud, large and in charge. Even if it has bird shit all over it, he knows it's still cool. In a collector's house you're not going to find a rack of b.b.q. ribs under their bed or something that's been sitting there for 10 years. These guys aren't that far gone. We run into people who love their stuff and are the caretaker of it, but what happens is it gets out of hand and they can't build enough buildings to bring all of this stuff under one roof. What happens a lot of times, is what they try to preserve gets ruined. For example, with the Hobo Jack thing, he loved Victorian era stuff and had all this furniture, but the freaking roof was leaking, so you couldn't really use any of it."

How do people preserve their stuff properly?

Mike: "If they really love it, they got to know when to let it go. When we walk up on someone's property, it's a huge thing for a collector to all of a sudden realize, 'You know what? This is a temporary home for this stuff. I got to let it go and let this stuff live on past me and have someone bring it to market that's going to love it just as much as I did.' Still a lot of people never get there and the stuff rots into the ground."

Catch American Pickers Tuesdays at 10 p.m. on History Channel beginning August 31, 2010 in Canada.

Also,see how the American Pickers time-slot partners the Pawn Stars run their family business.