This Man Drives a Hard Bargain (Season 27) | American Pickers | History

(phone rings) ROB: What up, Dani? DANIELLE: Hey, what’s going up?
How are you feeling today? ROB: What do you got for us? DANIELLE: So, I’m gonna send you guys to meet Mitch.
ROB: Yeah? DANIELLE: Mitch’s collection has gotten so out of control, that he had to start storing it in the house next door.
JERSEY JON: I like his style already, man! Yeah!
DANIELLE: This is very important.
Mitch is a retired teacher.
JERSEY JON: Oh, man. ROB: Man.
DANIELLE: So, he has spent his entire life dealing with boys like you.
ROB: Holy cow, yeah. So, he– JERSEY JON: We might be in big trouble.
DANIELLE: And it’s perfect because he was a junior high teacher, and that’s exactly your maturity level.
ROB: Alright. Send us the coordinates. Love you.
JERSEY JON: Thank you. DANIELLE: Don’t embarrass me. Please.
JERSEY JON: This is it. This is it. There’s the house.
ROB: He’s got a lot of stuff out there.
JERSEY JON: Oh yeah. All kinds. ROB: Right here.
JERSEY JON: Cool.
(honking) MITCH: Hey. JERSEY JON: Hey, how are you?
ROB: Did you talk to Danielle? JERSEY JON: Good. I’m Jon.
MITCH: Good to meet you all. JERSEY JON: Nice to meet you.
MITCH: Good to meet y’all. JERSEY JON: Danielle talk to you?
Got stuff like this going on here?
MITCH: Man, yeah. I got a few things like that.
JERSEY JON: You got any old tools?
MITCH: Well, I like all kinds of rusty stuff, cast-iron stuff.
MITCH:I collect old school stuff.
Old signs, thermometers, especially things made in the United States. I like that people during that time had good jobs, they took pride in what they made, and I’d like to see us come back to that, you know, if we can.
MITCH: Which room do you want to start in?
JERSEY JON: Wow! Man. ROB: I don’t even know where to begin.
JERSEY JON: This is wonderful. ROB: Wow.
MITCH: I really enjoyed it. I’ve had a lot of fun.
ROB: You packed this thing full. MITCH: Got a house full.
JERSEY JON: What’s with these counters?
MITCH: Well, those were in the general store in town.
The cash drawer, uh, it’s got some levers under it and you had to know…
JERSEY JON: What?! MITCH: The owner would know which ones to make the drawers come open.
JERSEY JON: Oh, that was a lock?
It was like a combination lock?
MITCH: That’s right. And it would open it up. Yeah.
JERSEY JON: So, you put your fingers in the drawer, in the holes in the drawer, and by the combinations of whatever, 1 and 2, or 3 and 5, you know, you can unlock the drawer just with the combination of fingers.
Pretty impressive, because this thing is 100 years old.
JERSEY JON: Oh wow, it opens like that!
MITCH: Yeah, here’s a rug. JERSEY JON: And here’s the lock for it.
JERSEY JON: The second thing that’s really unique about it, it’s got these clamshell tops, which you could easily access from the back of the cabinet. JERSEY JON: This is cool for the flea markets too.
JERSEY JON: How heavy is it? MITCH: It’s pretty heavy.
Made out of oak. JERSEY JON: Needs a little bit of work, you know, just to make it functional.
JERSEY JON: Any type of business that’s got merchandise to sell, they need some way to display their items attractively. And that’s exactly what this oak piece does.
JERSEY JON: Two and a quarter. MITCH: I was thinking 500.
JERSEY JON: Ah… 300 bucks.
Ah! Alright, cool.
ROB: Got to ask about the John Deere sign here.
JERSEY JON: Let’s take a look at that thing.
MITCH: Yeah, it’s a double-sided.
ROB: The word “Farm Implement” is completely gone.
So, they made a couple different versions of this.
This is a three-legged deer.
They actually made a four-legged one.
MITCH: That’s right.
ROB: The John Deere three-legged sign is one of the earliest signs. This is what we call a barn hanger. But it’s a three-legged barn hanger, so it makes it even rarer.
ROB: 800 bucks.
MITCH: Uh, I was, uh… I’m on 1,000 on it.
ROB: I’ll do 875, I don’t care what the other side looks like.
MITCH: Well, I appreciate the offer, um…
I’m gonna stick to 1,000 on it.
ROB: Let’s… Let me revisit this.
MITCH: Okay. That’s fine.
JERSEY JON: Man, you got tons of stuff in here.
MITCH: The house itself is very appealing to me. I like the old house.
JERSEY JON: This is so cool.
MITCH: I’ve had a lot of people that contacted me and said, “Can I go through?” And I love to carry them through there and show them things. JERSEY JON: You got your own museum, personal museum, almost.
MITCH: Well, it’s kind of a museum, it really is.
MITCH: They’re not necessarily interested in buying anything. They just want to go through it and look at it. In a way, it’s kind of like a museum. JERSEY JON: Mitch. MITCH: What?
JERSEY JON: This thing kind of caught my eye.
MITCH: Yeah, that was used by teachers.
JERSEY JON: It has telegraphic codes on here.
MITCH: They had a bunch of different things that the teacher used to teach kids with.
MITCH: Plus, you could flip this over and they could use this as a chalkboard.
JERSEY JON: So, this is the blackboard?
JERSEY JON: This may be something that you would homeschool your kid with, when you’re going across the country in a, you know, Conestoga wagon and you got kids, you want to educate them.
ROB: Look at the back. JERSEY JON: Oh, it’s got a map!
ROB: Map on the back. This thing has everything.
JERSEY JON: So, it was a multipurpose…
MITCH: Multipurpose. JERSEY JON: Teaching tool.
MITCH: Teaching tool, absolutely.
It’s got a lot of different things on the chart.
JERSEY JON: How to do cursive writing. How to draw a face. JERSEY JON: You can scroll through it and teach your kids from how to draw a square and a circle, and a cow.
MITCH: All purpose. ROB: All purpose.
JERSEY JON: And it goes all the way to Morse code.
ROB: Plus, the chalkboard. MITCH: Plus, the chalkboard.
JERSEY JON: Yeah. Um, 50 bucks.
MITCH: I’m thinking 100.
JERSEY JON: 75.
MITCH: I’ll go 75. JERSEY JON: You’ll do 75? Cool.
ROB: Thank you. Thank you.
JERSEY JON: What is going on with this thing, man?
MITCH: Well, this came out of that same general store here in town when I was a kid. And it was– JERSEY JON: It’s a record-keeping book.
MITCH: It was sophisticated in the fact that if you went in there and bought something on credit, they’d have a numbering system, and they’d give you a copy of what they owed, and they’d store the other one. You’d come back to make your payment, and they’d pull it out.
JERSEY JON: Like a bookkeeping, record-keeping…
MITCH: That’s right, that’s right.
Yeah, uh…
I’m not sure. I’ve never had to describe it.
JERSEY JON: The glass cleans up nice! And you can see the people, everybody who owes money.
So, is this the place you got it from?
MITCH: S. D. Laws. JERSEY JON: Yeah, it’s from this town.
Right from this town here.
MITCH: To a certain degree, the fact that I have, uh, saved some of the items that were in some of these buildings is, uh, a positive thing.
Although to see the town change so much through the years, especially the original buildings being torn down, all that is very disappointing to me and actually depressing to me.
JERSEY JON: This could be the start of a new adventure for somebody. Think about that. MITCH: Absolutely.
JERSEY JON: I could see this thing being repurposed in, like, a coffee shop, or liquor store, or a bar, whatever. A small business.
Not for another accounting system, but just as decoration. JERSEY JON: This could be a centerpiece of their whole console with the registers on it, and just make it really, really cool.
Donut shop, coffee shop. MITCH: Absolutely.
JERSEY JON: Whatever, man. MITCH: Absolutely.
JERSEY JON: It’s business furniture and we’re all still starting businesses, and that’s never going to go away.
JERSEY JON: 600 bucks.
I’ll take a chance on it. I mean, I don’t know if I’m gonna be able to sell it right away.
MITCH: I understand. Seven and a quarter.
JERSEY JON: I like this piece of furniture a lot.
MITCH: Well, it’s always impressed me. I mean…
JERSEY JON: 700 bucks. MITCH: Let’s do it.
JERSEY JON: Alright, buddy. Thank you so much.
Man, I’m going for it. MITCH: Yes sir.
ROB: Looks like just like the advertising right now.
MITCH: You got it. This is the one. Yeah.
You got all kinds of stuff.
That’s a Leroco Louisiana Oil Company.
ROB: Oh, yeah. MITCH: As opposed to Texaco.
I know you’re familiar with them.
ROB: This is a single-sided. MITCH: It’s a single-sided.
ROB: Should be 42 inch. MITCH: Right, 42.
ROB: 42. It’s actually not in bad…
You know what, it’s got good color on it.
It’s still got, you know, a couple little whammies on it, but it’s still in good shape, not actually dirty.
What do you got to have out of this one?
MITCH: Oh, I gotta hear you talking on it now.
ROB: 800. MITCH: 1,200.
That’s gonna be my bottom dollar on that.
ROB: Well, you were at 1,000 on the John Deere.
MITCH: Yeah.
ROB: 1,000 for the John Deere, what you said, and 1,000 on this. MITCH: I heard you.
And if you give me 2,200, you can take them with you. ROB: How about 21?
MITCH: I want to stick to 22.
ROB: You’re getting tough on me.
And I understand that. I get that.
There’s a lot more here to be seen.
MITCH: Yeah, I’ve got, I believe that’s a 1918, that Shell sign right there.
ROB: Yeah, that’s the bottom piece.
And they’re always, you always find them…
MITCH: And I have tried to find the top.
ROB: Yeah. I mean… MITCH: And you can.
But they’ll hit you hard if you do find the top.
ROB: Shell has the greatest logo, I think, ever. The problem is with these signs, they made them in two pieces. I’ve got the other piece.
It will complete my project that I’ve been waiting to do for two years. ROB: Well, let me ask you this. What would you do for the three? John Deere, this, and that?
MITCH: Well, I’m still wanting to deal on this one and John Deere. 2,200 on it.
ROB: Alright, I’m doing it.
I’m paying your price. MITCH: 2,200 on…
ROB: I’m paying your price. The John Deere and this.
MITCH: Cool. ROB: How much is the Shell?
MITCH: You got to shoot at me on it.
ROB: 900 bucks on the gasoline.
MITCH: Let’s go with it.
ROB: See, that would’ve been a lot easier if we just bundled all three.
(laughter) JERSEY JON: Mitch is the kind of guy that I want in my town.
The guy I can talk about how things were.
JERSEY JON: Not a bad day. ROB: Not a bad day.
MITCH: Alright. Loreco.
MITCH: When I first started collecting, it was fun and still fun, but at my age, there’s no need for me to keep hanging onto it.
JERSEY JON: Mitch, thank you. MITCH: Man, I appreciate it, Jersey.
JERSEY JON: Yeah, it’s a real pleasure.
MITCH: I’m thinking I’m gonna try to keep selling, but I can’t rule out that if I happen to spot something somewhere, I may go buy it, if I can get it at the right price, you know.
MITCH: Y’all be careful. ROB: Thank you.
MITCH: Take care.