"Do you watch that show, what's it called? Antiques Roadshow?"
If you've formed a big part of your life around the collecting of and trade in antiques and collectibles as I have, then you've probably been asked this before. And if you weren't abducted by aliens and taken to another planet for the last year or so, then you've also probably been asked "hey! do you watch that show, what's it called, American Pickers?" And well, you've also probably noticed the absolute proliferation of other shows in this vein. There are too many to count, it seems.
Still, no one has yet to ask me "Do you watch Auction Kings, Pawn Stars, American Pickers, Antiques Roadshow, American Restoration, Auction Hunters, Oddities, What the Sell?, Hollywood Treasure, Hardcore Pawn or Auctioneer$?"
There maybe more eloquent ways to write this, but what the hell is going on? I used to put aside time on Mondays for AR, and then a little more time for American Pickers and Pawn Stars. But if I watched every antique or auction show on TV now, I wouldn't have time to run my auction business.
I guess it's monkey see, monkey do with television networks. But why now? Antiques Roadshow has been on in the U.S. since 1997 and in England since 1979. The rest of these shows share AR's same basic principal: the uncovering or discovery of absolutely fantastic historical treasures worth big money.
The recent slew of these shows usually take the notion one step further, with a cash transaction. But what difference does it make. That thing is worth $50,000, and you were using it as a faux coral reef in your fish tank!
Anyway, these shows are absolutely all over the place. Why? Money. More than anything it is the notion that any of us could have some treasure right under our noses. And why is this seemingly fueling a bonanza of these shows? Money is on everyone's mind today. This recession is bad. Lots of people don't have jobs, money, the training they need to find good jobs or much prospect at all of something better.
And so the idea that a winning scratched-off lottery ticket is sitting up on that shelf next to grandma's old figurines is very attractive to many, many people. October unemployment in the U.S. was at 14.8 million. That's nearly twice the population of New York City.
Antiques are cool to some people, and not cool to others, but money is very cool to a lot of people, especially those with little of it and few opportunities to get it without breaking the law. And that is why I tend to find many of these shows boring. I like money, don't get me wrong. But I love old stuff, and history and stories. That is what drives me in this business. When I find someone just as fascinated, I can usually get money, too. But it's the understanding of that fascination that I think is key to getting money for antiques and collectibles. You can't make a business selling antiques if it is only the money you love.You will be illiterate in the mental language spoken by the collector, the obsessed seeker of that special object.
Thus, many of the shows that focus very much on money have little appeal to me. I do like Antiques Roadshow for the reason that the stuff is neat, and the stories are great. I like American Pickers for these reasons, and believe it or not, Pawn Stars has substance in both areas as well.
Another favorite of mine, perhaps the favorite of mine, is Hollywood Treasure. I have sold many wonderful, exciting objects, and have witnessed many more sell. I still get very excited by this. But Hollywood Treasure has something that sets it off from the others new shows. Oh, they get big dollars, but those dollars seem to pale in comparison to the show's laser focus on the joy of the items that are sold, and on a hunt fueled by that sublime appreciation for an object and its story. This excites me most of all.
Money comes and goes. Even prized pieces in great collections come and go as whims and interests change.
But the true joy of selling antiques and collectibles rarely fades for those who loved first and prospered later in the antiques business. When captured right, it is the exploration of that spirit that I enjoy most about the best of these antiques-related reality shows.
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