When does the show featuring the business, Antique Archaeology, premiere on the History Channel?”
LeClaire antiquers will be on TV’s History channel Mike Wolfe and Frank Fritz spend their days criss-crossing the backroads of the United States, searching for homes with unmowed lawns, in need of a coat of paint and surrounded by large storage sheds and barns that just might contain a long-forgotten treasure. They’re on the ground floor of the antiques business, the types who go out and find the bicycles, samurai swords, advertising signs and carnival rides that end up in the hands of collectors, decorators and antique dealers. They call themselves “pickers,” and now they have a show on cable TV’s History channel called “American Pickers,” which documents their quest for the old and interesting while telling the stories of the people who saved the items in the first place. “We’re the people behind the scenes,” Fritz said. “We don’t go to antique shops, we don’t go to flea markets, we don’t go to estate sales. Once an antique hits a flea market or something like that, it’s already been
You won’t find 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 out-buildings 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. Mr. Wolfe of LeClaire and Mr. 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. “Picking is somewhat like sifting through trash,” Mr. Fritz said. “It’s not easy. We look through a lot of different articles that are just downright junk.” Now their quest for “rusty gold” has been turned into a 10-episode TVseries called “American Pickers,” which will prem
They call themselves “pickers,” and now they have a show on cable TV’s History channel called “American Pickers,” which documents their quest for the old and interesting while telling the stories of the people who saved the items in the first place. “We’re the people behind the scenes,” Fritz said. “We don’t go to antique shops, we don’t go to flea markets, we don’t go to estate sales. Once an antique hits a flea market or something like that, it’s already been found. We’re not interested in things that have been found. We’re interested in finding things.” The duo’s based in LeClaire, Iowa, with a warehouse tucked behind the BP station on Cody Road, at the end of the small city’s downtown area. They put about 75,000 miles a year on their vans and have been in 20 states over the past four months while filming the 10-episode series.
