Eerie Antiques & Possessed Picks | American Pickers

Things get spooky when the Pickers hit the road for some of the strangest finds they’ve ever uncovered. See more in this compilation from American Pickers.
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So Larry, what’s up with that swimming pool sign up here?
Central city?
Came out of a motel out there.
It looks like ’60s.
That was back when the motels would always be, like, hey, we have a pool.
These signs are hand-painted.
For a motel that had a pool and a playground, those were big deals to families back then.
Is that for sale?
I’d sell them $300 a piece, or $500 for the pair.
– I’ll take them both for $500. – OK.
Thank you.
Robby’s a Popeye guy.
Look at that.
25 bucks.
No, I won’t do it.
Well, come on.
Then give– what do you got to have for it?
60, 70 bucks.
All right.
You said 60, then you said 70.
70 bucks.
70 bucks, I’ll take it.
What’s going on with that?
Interesting piece, isn’t it?
Is that off circus?
No.
My dad’s fraternity house at Creighton University.
– That was on his house? – Wow.
– I’m not going to keep it. – Oh, you’re not.
Now, what do you got to have for that?
$75.
All right, 75 bucks.
OK.
I love the lights, I love the patina, I love the shape, and most of all, I love the story.
I got to ask you about this.
Popcorn machine.
You always saw these in theaters.
Yeah, this thing’s– I think this is too big for me.
What’s going on with the steamboat, man?
This has to be super-loud.
It is very loud.
There’s a company in Kansas– I think it’s called Miner that specialized in making trucks and popcorn trucks with this type of musical equipment.
Oh, yeah.
And I have one of those that the candy store that I owned that I just got out of.
So wait a second.
So, you’re in the candy business, you’re in the printing business, you’re in the fairyland business.
What is this?
I started the candy business because we had some of these items.
I had PEZ dispensers and I had candy boxes.
Putting those up, it sparked people to come in the store.
We get people from all over the world.
How big is it?
About 12,000 square foot retail candy store.
Candy store, 12,000 square feet?
It has a diner, it has a movie theater.
What?
Oh, OK.
So you do things big, my friend.
Yeah.
Earlier this year, I sold the Hollywood Candy business.
And at the same time, the people that came in to buy the business also wanted to buy the building that I’m in.
At some point in time, I’ve got to make a decision so I don’t leave it on my kids and my wife to have to deal with all this.
Because as you can see, there’s lots, and this is just a small portion of it.
Well, I think it gets to a point, too, where you’ve worked so hard, you’ve accumulated so much stuff, that, you know, at some point you want to enjoy it.
Right.
And not just enjoy your things, but enjoy family, too.
Right.
And my brother now, we call him Daddy Pop.
– Yeah. – He’s a grandpa now.
– Yeah. – So am I.
– Yeah. – There you go.
When you’re an entrepreneur, you’re used to making something out of nothing, and Larry has done that over and over and over again.
And on his journey, he has collected all of these things for these businesses.
And now all of a sudden he’s realizing I got all this stuff.
What am I going to do with it?
I’ve got family.
I don’t want to leave the burden to them.
It’s like he wants to get back to the point where he’s working with less, because that’s where you have the most creative thoughts.
Did you have all games set up in here?
I was just starting to build the thing to put together with those knockdowns.
Oh, this is for the knockdowns right here.
I was going to make this a knockdown booth.
I had to do something to kind of choreograph it together with all the pieces and stuff that I had.
Yeah, that’s a great one. – I love these.
Yeah.
The chalkware was made during the wintertime when they didn’t go out on the street and have carnivals going.
They would go back and they’d pour these molds and they’d make this cheap chalkware then they’d paint them up and decorate them.
So there’s nothing fancy about most of them, and some of them are better than others.
That’s one I haven’t seen right there.
Is that Betty Boop?
I think so.
What’s cool, she’s sitting in a horseshoe.
What do you value that at?
Probably 40 bucks.
Would you sell it?
I’d sell it.
– OK, I’ll do 40 bucks on it. – OK.
I appreciate it.
What else you got back here?
These look like old Buster Keaton stuff.
Yeah, they were all really early.
Silent movie.
Oh, silent movie stuff.
Check that out.
Stereo optics.
I’ve got a bunch of stero optic cards.
– Do you? – Yeah.
We do, too.
It looks like that’s what will fit your traditional– Yeah.
99% of the time, when you find a stereo viewer, they’re very simple.
They’re made of wood, and they’re handheld.
This one is different.
It’s countertop, and it’s adjustable.
It’s almost kind of like on a microphone stand, and then it’s cast aluminum.
I think it’s missing something.
It might have had a light source on the back of it.
But I’ve never seen this piece, and it’s very cool.
It’s really elaborate.
The much later version of that would be like from when I was a kid when you put the round disk in the top and you looked through it and you flip through the pictures of dinosaurs and tarantulas.
It was called the Viewmaster.
What are you thinking on this?
Make me an offer on it.
$125.
I’d do $125.
All right, thank you.
I love it.
You’re right.
It is a general store and a museum.
Right?
Yep.
They open for us?
Yeah.
Jerry.
Hello?
JERRY: Sorry, we’re not– we’re not open right now.
It’s Danielle and Mike.
How you doing?
You talk to Danny on the phone?
JERRY: Oh, I talked to you on the phone.
Hi. How are you?
Nice to meet you. MIKE: Hey, how’s it going, man?
I’m Mike. – How you doing?
MIKE: Is this the general store side or the antique shop side?
JERRY: This was the antique side.
The other side is the museum side.
We bought it about 30 years ago.
MIKE: Oh wow.
You moved everything here 30 years ago?
JERRY: Yes.
Because Danny said you guys had another location.
It was downstate, yeah.
MIKE: Would you be interested in selling those cabinets or no?
Well, you know, it breaks my heart.
But it’s probably time to send it out there to some other collectors and let them enjoy it.
MIKE: I want him to know that I understand what these items are and that they are going to go somewhere, like these apothecary cabinets.
Well, these are neat.
These are really popular right now, whether they’re bare metal or white with that Queen Anne style iron leg.
They’re great to put in a bathroom or any kind of display.
It’s got the manufacturer’s tag.
Look at that one. This was made in Detroit.
Isn’t that cool?
JERRY: Yeah, everything local we could get our hands on, we bought.
MIKE: This was a key lock one right here.
They’re very simple and they’re steel so they’re overbuilt, and that’s what people love.
You probably know these poison bottles are collectible.
Oh yeah.
You know, like that with that label on it.
Yeah.
MIKE: That one.
And then this one, same exact label but different top.
It’s a larger top.
You know.
And these are always missing.
Back in the day, we didn’t have the convenience of really good lighting and there was a lot of illiteracy, so poison labels had to be big and obvious with the skull and crossbones.
The retail on a cabinet like this is probably anywhere from 600 to maybe 900.
I’d be a player at, like, 400 apiece on them.
Would you go 500 apiece?
I’d do 500 apiece with those two bottles.
DANIELLE: With these two?
MIKE: I want to do those, yeah.
[laughter] Whoa, whoa, now.
MIKE: Well, OK, what are you thinking on the bottles?
Well, they should be worth 100, wouldn’t you think?
50 a bottle here?
MIKE: Why don’t we do this.
Why don’t we do 1,050?
So we’ll do 500 bucks apiece on these and 50 on the bottles.
All right. MIKE: You want to do that?
All right. MIKE: All right.
That’s a good start.
These are what’s really interesting to me.
Those are advertisements for Walk-Over Shoes.
That was a big shoe company.
– In Michigan? – Yeah.
OK.
Do you remember where you got this stuff at?
Because this seems to be all from maybe the same place, because you got the shoes, you got the shoe display.
There’s four pieces here total that connect to anybody that’s going to be interested in shoes and vintage clothing.
No one’s going to actually wear these, but people that collect menswear and women’s clothing– JERRY: Isn’t that cool?
MIKE: All that kind of stuff.
The pedestal is really what sets it apart.
So I’ve got this piece, leather shoes.
I’d do– I’d do 60.
30 and 30.
– 75. – OK.
75.
All right.
75, shoes and stand.
OK, here, these two pieces are very cool.
They’re plaster. JERRY: Yeah.
They’re early.
She’s got a crack in her neck all the way around, see, though?
JERRY: I never noticed that.
MIKE: I never noticed that until just now, either.
He looks like he’s in pretty decent shape.
70 bucks.
I’m thinking $100.
I’d do 80 bucks.
It’s– she’s got a massive crack right there.
How about $90?
– 90 bucks. – $90.
MIKE: OK, 90 bucks.
And then look at this– Blackhawk’s Blood and Body Tonic, Chief Black Hawk.
Here’s a man that really knows the market.
He knows what people want.
Black Hawk was from our area in Illinois.
Oh really?
MIKE: Yeah.
There’s no fooling around with him.
He knows what he’s doing.
15 bucks.
Aw, come on, Mike.
25.
And I know what I’m doing, so we didn’t bluff each other.
20.
All right.
That’s the story that– – This is the story.
JERRY: –they printed in the local newspaper down there, and that’s my dad sitting there.
DANIELLE: That’s your dad with his cowboy hat!
JERRY: With his cowboy hat on. He’s probably like– DANIELLE: Yes!
He’s covered all around, too.
Oh, wow.
So the timing of this bathtub is about right for Mae West to have been able to have been in it, but we don’t have any solid provenance.
We don’t.
I can’t prove it.
All’s I can say is I have no doubt that that man was telling me the truth.
DANIELLE: Without the story, it’s worth 500 bucks.
Yeah.
Yeah.
It’s just with that story, it definitely– Which is still a lot.
–is worth more than 500 bucks.
But how much is that, you know?
So what would you think?
I could see adding another 1,000 on to that, doing 1,500.
I could see that with the local folklore, with your history, with your father’s history with this tub, with the– So you’re saying you believe that?
I believe that that could very well be true.
OK, so this is your bathtub.
Oh, Jerry.
Oh!
It’s not about the money all the time, you know?
These are my children.
I want them to go to a good home.
It’s crazy, I know it sounds crazy, but that’s what collectors do.
They get a little nuts.
Mike: Jersey, check out this town, man.
Jersey Jon: What a cool town, man, yea.
Nice downtown. Mike: This is so cool.
God, I love this. Old brick buildings.
Mike: Maybe old courthouse. Jersey Jon: Yup.
Mike: Here we go. Jersey Jon: It’s right here.
Mike: Here, grab a flyer.
Jersey Jon: Oof. Mike: Alright.
It’s a great town.
Jersey Jon: Hello!
Mike: Wow, this is cool!
Hey, Barbara?
Barbara: Yea, can I help you?
Jersey Jon: Hello. Mike: What are you doing?
Jersey Jon: Hey, how are you? Barbara: I’m fine, thank you.
Mike: How are you doing? I’m Mike.
Barbara: Hi Mike, it’s nice to meet you.
Mike: That’s Jersey Jon. Jersey Jon: Hey, I’m Jon.
Barbara: Hi Jon. Jersey Jon: Nice to meet you.
Mike: Wow, this is cool.
Barbara: My dad collected everything.
He said once when he was young, he wanted one of everything in a Montgomery Wards catalogue.
Barbara: He collected over the years.
Mike: Yea, that’s great.
Barbara: Well, he bought out stores that were going out of business.
Mike: Okay.
Barbara: If a business was shutting down, closing, Dad would go in and purchase everything, you know, for a flat fee and uh, drag it home.
Barbara: After he passed in ’92, he had stuff in warehouses that he paid rent monthly for, you know, for twenty plus years.
Mike: Okay.
Barbara: So, we tried to consolidate stuff and quit paying rent to everyone in town.
Mike: Yea. Yea.
Well, 1992, that was a long time ago.
That was, what, 31 years ago.
Barbara: It was. Yeah.
Now we need to get rid of some stuff.
Mike: Her father obviously wore a lot of hats.
Buying out the inventory of any type of business.
Not just some of it, all of it, you have to be able to see the light at the end of the tunnel and believe that you can pull it off.
Barbara: You all need to go downstairs.
We have a lot of neat things downstairs.
Mike: Okay.
Barbara: My husband’s down there, he’s cleaning up a little bit.
Mike: Wow, Jersey, look at this.
This is crazy.
Jersey Jon: Yeah!
Barbara: Hey Ed. Ed: Yeah?
Barbara: You down here somewhere?
Ed: Hey, yeah, how you all doing?
Mike: Looks like you got your work cut out for you.
Ed: Yeah, getting things organized.
Mike: How you doing man? Good to see you, I’m Mike.
This is Jersey Jon.
Do you feel overwhelmed?
Barbara: Yes. Ed: Always.
Mike: Always? Yeah? Barbara: Definitely.
Barbara: I believe it was 2019 or ’20, a business up the street caught on fire.
It was a huge building, and the water from the fire department, it was like a little river coming down, and the basement got flooded.
It ruined a lot of things.
Mike: Wow, you guys haven’t even been through these trunks?
Barbara: No. Jersey Jon: Look what I found.
Mike: Huh. Jersey Jon: Mike?
Mike: Oh wow. Lightning rod?
Jersey Jon: No, it’s a whimsy piece, it’s a glass cane.
Jersey Jon: We called these things whimsy pieces, or “end of the day” pieces, because the end of the day, in a glasshouse, the glass workers, they’re artists.
These guys are still pulling molten glass out of – out of the furnace, and they’re making these whimsical pieces.
This glass cane is one of those whimsical pieces.
Barbara: 20 bucks?
Jersey Jon: 50 bucks. Barbara: 50? 50 bucks?
Jersey Jon: Yep. Barbara: Okay.
Jersey Jon: I’m into it. Love it. Thank you.
Jersey Jon: There’s a glass community out there that loves these things.
Ed: Did you notice what you’re kneeling on?
Mike: Trunks? Wood trunks?
Jersey Jon: Ha! I know what they are.
Those are caskets, dude.
Mike: Oh, that’s a casket?
Jersey Jon: Those are caskets. Ed: Those are caskets.
Mike: Oh, they’re just… so, literally, a pine box.
Barbara: Those would’ve come from the state hospital.
Dad bought what was left over there, that’s what they buried the patients in, was a plain wooden pine box.
Mike: So, these are caskets. Can I walk on these?
Ed: Yeah, there’s stuff in them.
Jersey Jon: Be careful. Careful, buddy.
Mike: I don’t want to fall in.
Jersey Jon: Yeah, exactly. We’ll have to bury you.
Barbara: Of course, Dad stuffed them full of stuff.
Ed: There’s stuff in all – everything here…
Mike: The coffins have things in them?
Ed: Yes. Barbara: Oh yeah.
Mike: Oh [beep].
Mike: Over the years, I have picked a lot of strange places, I’ve met some very interesting people, but I have never met anyone that has stored stuff in caskets.
Jersey Jon: Anything gonna spring out of these coffins we aren’t aware of?
Jersey Jon: Our imaginations are going wild because you’re not gonna show us a bunch of caskets and tell us there’s a bunch of stuff in there without us looking in them.
Mike: It’s like mummy stuff, man.
Oh my God. Look at this.
Jersey Jon: Whoa. Mike: Holy crap.
Mike: I can honestly say I’ve never picked out of a casket before.
But I can’t speak for Jersey.
Mike: There, Jersey. Ed: Now what is that?
Jersey Jon: I think it’s a stone hammer, for cutting stone.
Ed: Yeah?
Jersey Jon: This is a very unusual tool to find.
It’s a very early stone axe.
Jersey Jon: For dressing stone down.
Ed: Yeah.
Jersey Jon: Yeah? These are all hardened.
Jersey Jon: It’s an early way to shape a piece of stone.
It would carefully cut a stone where it wouldn’t split it, but it would shear the stone off.
It would shape the surface so you can wear it down to what you needed.
Jersey Jon: How much? Ed: $5.
Jersey Jon: $5? Barbara: No!
Surely, it’s worth more than that.
[laughs] Yeah, let me do the- Jersey Jon: I’ll give you 20 bucks.
Barbara: Okay. 20 bucks. That’s a lot better.
Jersey Jon: Alright, yeah, I’ll take the stone hammer for 20 bucks.
Jersey Jon: What do you want for the embalming fluid crate?
Jersey Jon: So, believe it or not, it might seem morbid, but there’s actually a community of collectors out there that collect funeral parlor stuff.
Ed: What do you think?
Jersey Jon: Um, the crate itself is just cool because it says embalming fluid, and it’s got some paper label on it.
Jersey Jon: These embalming crates have advertising on them, and that makes them very desirable.
Jersey Jon: I’m thinking 40 bucks?
Ed: How about 50?
Jersey Jon: 45 bucks.
Barbara: It’s yours.
Jersey Jon: Yeah? Barbara: Yeah.
Jersey Jon: She says it’s mine. Thank you.
I like her.
[laughter] Mike: Her father Bill had no boundaries.
Mike: Wow, look at this one.
Ed: That’s a child’s one.
Mike: I’m opening casket after casket from a state hospital.
It’s crazy!
Jersey Jon: The last pine box.
Mike: Oh yeah!
Jersey Jon: Whoa…
Water got in this one real hard.
Mike: Oh, look at that, they were little stools, they’re like little milking stools.
Ed: Milking stools. Mike: Yeah.
Mike: And there’s stuff in them, but unfortunately water got in them during the flood and a lot of the things are ruined.
Mike: Yeah, moisture got in this one pretty bad.
Jersey Jon: Yeah.
Mike: This is the moonshine jug right here boy.
Jersey Jon: Any shine in it?
Barbara: Yeah, it’s a shame it got flooded down here.
Jersey Jon: Yeah.
it got pretty beat up down here didn’t it?
Barbara: Yeah.
Jersey Jon: What are you pulling out of there, Mike? Whoa!
Is it broken?
Mike: No.
Jersey Jon: Are the handles on it?
Mike: Yup.
Ed: I’m thinking $700. Mike: Woo!
Mike: We’re not in Egypt or South America…
we’re in West Virginia digging artifacts out of caskets.
Mike: There’s still water in these jars in here.
Barbara: Are you kidding? Mike: No.
Because all this was underwater.
Barbara: Yeah.
Mike: It’s unbelievable though, I mean just, like, this jug is a great jug, but to find it like this, it’s not on the table at a flea market, you know.
We’re pulling it out of a coffin!
Jersey Jon: Yeah.
[laughter] Barbara: It amazed me that they were in there.
I know some pieces are worth a lot, but I had no idea that it was there.
Mike: So, this has got what they call a couple flea bites in it, and it’s not that big a deal but it does – it takes a little bit off of it.
The retail on this one is like 350…
This, couple hundred bucks.
This one here, this is like 75 to 100.
So, like 350, 450, 550… 6…
$600 would be retail on this stuff.
Barbara: Four? 400? Ed: That’s what I was gonna say.
Mike: Okay, you know what?
I’m gonna pay that because I, I just…
I can’t believe that I’m digging this stuff out of a coffin, which is so fun for me.
It’s crazy incredible, and the things that we’re finding here.
Barbara: Yeah.
Mike: Okay. Thank you buddy. Ed: You’re welcome.
Mike: Appreciate it.
[rock music] Barbara: I have no idea what’s in there.
Mike: Whoa! Ed: Toys.
Mike: The reason antique toys are expensive is because kids played with them.
Mike: There’s Popeye on a high wheel.
What’s left of him.
Jersey Jon: Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
Mike: His handlebars – oh, his pipe’s gone.
He also would’ve had a pipe in his mouth.
Mike: They put them through the paces, so it’s very difficult to find something that’s in exceptional condition.
Jersey Jon: Oh, more Popeye. Look it.
Mike: Oh yeah. Jersey Jon: Is that part…
Mike: Oh that’s, that’s, that’s his arms.
This is the handlebars.
They actually pinch…
they pinch on here…
Jersey Jon: It’s incomplete, but anything Popeye is definitely desirable, and tin toys, I mean you just don’t see many Popeye’s out there.
Jersey Jon: Nice little Hubley car… more Auburn…
more Auburn.
Mike: On top of that, they weren’t made to last.
Something that’s tin that you wound up, and you hand it to a four-year-old…
what do you think he’s gonna do with it? So…
Jersey Jon: Oh, it’s a pull toy chicken.
It’s Fisher Price. It’s early Fisher Price.
It’s a bunch of little early Fisher Price.
Mike: Some of these toys are rubber, they’ve stood the test of time, but there’s faded paint, the wheels are jacked up on them.
Jersey Jon: Jack in the box.
No, he’s not in the box no more.
Mike: There’s a lot of stuff here, but not a lot of quality.
Jersey Jon: Ah! Ah!
Jersey Jon: They’re not mint, but it’s all about getting these toys back out in the collector’s community.
Jersey Jon: This stuff here, 175 bucks.
For all of this.
Barbara: I’m thinking 200.
Jersey Jon: 200?
Ed: Yeah, I think 200.
Jersey Jon: Alright, I’ll do the two.
Thanks buddy. Thank you. Yup. It’s a nice pile.
Mike: Oh here. Oh yeah, here we go.
So, what building did this come off of?
Was this something local?
Barbara: I would say…
Mike: Be like this, man.
That’s what he’d be like, right?
Jersey Jon: Barbara…
Barbara: Yeah? Find something you like?
Jersey Jon: Yeah!
Mike: It’s a great store display.
Especially like, you know, mercantile general store.
Whoa!
Barbara: Oh yeah, it works. Mike: She’s fired up.
Let’s see what happens.
Jersey Jon: Look it.
Barbara: There you go.
Jersey Jon: It’s a Herter’s Kodiak bear trap.
Mike: Oh man, I would love if this worked.
Oh my God, to wake my brother up or something, just…
BRR!
Oh, that’d be the best.
Jersey Jon: It’s a decorator piece, no one’s gonna be hunting with this thing anymore.
Barbara: Oh yeah.
Mike: And this is paper, so that’s amazing that that lasted as long as it has.
Mike: For the sign, and this, uh…
Ed: Hundred and a half?
Mike: No, I’m thinking more – way more than that.
I’m thinking uh, 750.
Ed: You are thinking a lot more, aren’t you?
Mike: Yeah. I’m thinking a lot more.
60 bucks.
Barbara: Oh gosh, 75 at least.
Mike: 70. Barbara: 75.
Jersey Jon: 350.
Mike: Hundred and a half.
Ed: Sold.
Mike: Thanks.
Ed: Yeah, sold.
Barbara: Yeah. Mike: Alright.
Alright, thanks.
Barbara: Okay. Jersey Jon: You’ll do 350?
Barbara: Yeah.
Jersey Jon: That was easy. Thank you, sweetheart.
Mike: There you go, Jersey.
Mike: There’s a lot of small town collectors that started preserving their communities’ past way before the local historical society or museum.
Jersey Jon: Oh yeah.
Mike: And it’s obvious that Bill was one of those guys.
Mike: Here’s my favorite.
Mike: He was a memory keeper.
He rescued stories and he understood that the smallest piece could have the biggest impact.
Ed: Alright, guys. Mike: Woo!
Ed: Thank you very much. Appreciate it.
Barbara: Appreciate it.
Mike: You guys wore me out. That’s not easy to do!
Jersey Jon: Thank you so much, sweetheart.
Barbara: Thank you.
Mike: Thank you, buddy.
MIKE WOLFE: A man’s house is his castle, and ron has chosen to surround himself with majestic animals.
And those majestic animals feed his powerful thoughts.
RON: So I’ve got the locks and I’ve got traps, because that’s what life is.
Life is locks and traps?
RON: Frank, let me take you upstairs.
FRANK FRITZ: Ron’s collection is everywhere throughout his whole entire house, upstairs, downstairs, the bathroom.
Here’s my whole room of artificial reproduced taxidermy.
FRANK FRITZ: Wow, all these are.
RON: Everything.
Now you have a guy that makes these for you, huh?
Right.
Ooh, I really like these.
So these are replicas.
RON: Right.
These are not real.
RON: They are not real.
They’re made with phony fur.
They airbrush it.
They put in glasses eyes, phony teeth– FRANK FRITZ: Fake teeth.
RON: Phony tongue.
Everything’s fake and no two are exactly alike.
Look at how light they are.
Yes, they had made them hollow so you don’t have to worry about where you hang them.
I mean, you don’t have to have five studs and everything to be on top of these.
Frank, If you ever really wanted to buy a Tiger, this is the cheapest, most legal way of owning one because it’s not real.
Right.
Plus, you’re not killing a beautiful animal to decorate your wall. – Ah, I know.
It’s beautiful.
If you killed a tiger because you have to, it’s one thing.
RON: But the biggest waste in the world is going out to kill a beautiful tiger because you just want that head on a wall.
Now, you can have a tiger without killing the animal and it’s totally illegal.
I tell you what- FRANK FRITZ: I’m looking at this tiger and this lioness.
They are pretty cool.
What do you get for these?
RON: 950 a pop.
950 a pop.
FRANK FRITZ: What about this little guy here too?
I like him too.
He’s just kind of a cute little one.
RON: Well, if we decide on a price here, I’ll throw him in for 300.
FRANK FRITZ: I’ll tell you what.
I do 750 a piece on these, that’s 15.
And I’ll take that for 3.
That’ll be 1800. – Done.
Done?
Done.
You got the deal.
FRANK FRITZ: So now I have a lioness, a tiger, and a bobcat.
No animals were hurt.
I’m excited.
MIKE WOLFE: Ron?
RON: Yes.
This is a very rare piece.
Yes.
I’m probably not telling you anything you already don’t know.
MIKE WOLFE: This genie coming out of a lamp, out of everything in this basement, it stands out the most.
I’d say it’s probably maybe ’20s.
You know, it’s early.
RON: Could even be early because King Cole made a lot of that.
Exactly.
Yeah, the King Cole company made a tremendous amount of stuff and I love that.
I love it.
MIKE WOLFE: This was made by a company called Old King Cole.
They were out of Ohio and they started around the turn of the century.
And they made some of the most amazing store displays, point of sale pieces that you’re ever going to find.
A lot of it was papier-mache, very colorful, some of it was lifelike, very whimsical.
It’s a great piece.
Yeah, and it’s an old piece.
Exactly.
MIKE WOLFE: This was a point of sale piece.
Whether it was in the window or in the store, it was designed to attract your attention.
See, he’s floating there.
RON: Yeah.
It’s got a little spring action going on there.
MIKE WOLFE: I’ve only seen a couple of these and I think it’s for a carpet company maybe out of Pennsylvania.
I’ve sold it twice and I got it back.
Really?
Right there you can see a crack.
Is that– looks like right there.
Crack, but that doesn’t look like a repair.
MIKE WOLFE: Yeah, there’s a piece of wire going through here and they’ve lost some like clay there.
RON: Yeah, and when you handle it, you might lose more.
Yeah, that’s what I’m thinking.
1300 bucks.
We doing it?
MIKE WOLFE: When you look at the detail, as far as how it’s made and how long it’s stood the test of time, that’s Old King Cole.
The quality of their pieces are incredible.
Ron is like an international man of mystery.
He’s well traveled.
He’s well read.
He likes art.
He likes weapons.
He’s got it going on.
RON: When you buy the best of the best, it’s hard to let it go.
But that money will go into other things that are hard to acquire.
Thank you my friend.
Thank you.
Come see us in Iowa.
We’re only a couple hours away. Seriously.
We learned a lot today. Yeah.
Come see us in Iowa. I’ll buy you lunch.
I just might.
You have a great eye and I love the way you displayed it.
Thank you very much.
Looks great in the house.
Nice to meet you, Ron. – Take care.
Take care.
At the end of the day, there’s no box stands in a funeral, only a hearse.
So you might as well enjoy what you have while you’re here.
[car horn ] See you later, Ron.
Take care. FRANK FRITZ: Take care.