'49 Motorola in Antiques Roadshow attic
 

I watch Antiques Roadshow every week. It was only on last night's episode that I noticed, in the opening title, lurking in the far left frame, what appears to be a 1949 Motorola 7VT5R 7" portable TV among all the stuff in that attic.

-Steve D.

These guys & the "Pickers" make me MAD, sometimes. They COMPLETELY ignore a TV or a radio I'd give my EYETEETH for, but break their necks over some dopey-@zz "Shell Oil" sign that's rusty, full of holes, something I wouldn't drag to a dogfight..

Oh they don't totally ignore them, I saw the "pickers" give a couple $20 for what looked like an H.H. Scott 350 tuner and 299 amp....

American Pickers guys are actually entertaining and their show is at least not 100% staged. My wife worked for The Discovery Channel during the height of these type shows. So they kept a close eye on their competition shows from other cable networks. The WORST is Pawn Stars. 95% of the items that people walk in "off the street" with are staged. The cool stuff is borrowed from private collections and museums for the show and then returned. All fake.

Pickers guys have been doing what they do for YEARS before their show and really have not altered much for the show, other than have a camera crew follow them around. Now, they do have more help finding locations with cool stuff. I agree that some of the stuff they focus on - like the oil cans, signs, bicycles, etc. are boring to me. But to each his own, right? All my friends think I am nuts over my love for old TVs and radios . . . so I cannot cast stones from my glass house full of vintage electronics. :D

You'd think that will all these types shows out there, and their popularity, that someone would find a niche for our hobby on TV somewhere? But NOT a show like American Restoration. That's another fake 'n bake staged for TV show.

I was in Las Vegas a little over a week ago so decided to drop by the Pawn Stars pawn shop expecting to see a lot of cool items. Half of the store was selling bobble heads of the show cast and Pawn Stars tea shirts. The rest was mostly vintage jewery. The did have the wierd bicycle from a current show listed for $20K (they paid $8K on the show) and an prewar Indian motor bke with no price yet. The only guitar was supposedly Bo Diddley's and picture framed so it couldn't ever be played again. No electronics at all (except reproduction Ghost Busters back pack) let alone a vintage radio or TV to be seen. I should take my Color-Tell color wheel down there sometimes to see if they know what it is.

How about that wonderful, Philco 41-280 console radio that was on a while back. They supposedly paid $200 for, with a 'lytic hum.
Those things, seem to be common as dirt. :yes:

Hello there are customers that come into my shop and tell me I need to call the pickers to buy some of my stuff I tell them that the pickers are fake and they act like I shot them in the heart.....Timothy

I don't like the pickers when they basically steal something from the owner, give them as little as possible, and then gloat between themselves (and us watching) about how they got such a fine deal, etc...

Then you have the jerk at American Restoration ruining old electronics...I remembered he ruined a 1920's Atwater Kent 37 radio, gutted a Danish Modern Barber Pole and installed a flat screen, and at least 1 other radio that I can't recall at the moment.

Steve D. ~ Good eye.....

I like ARS I like the stuff from around the civil war area, and the stories about people buying something their spouse balked at only to find decades later it's a mini gold mine.... I find ARS quite educational, as there is so much history around most of the pieces the feature on the show.... I don't remember many Gulf signs, and I don't remember seeing a tv set at all.....

The other shows I have never seen... But I think PBS has one where they bargain for stuff at flea markets, and try to end up with the most valuable stuff.... I only saw it once.... I like ARS and learning more about the stuff from around the world as well....

And oh-yah, I like the dream that one day I'm gunna find a Rembrandt at a Garage Sale that everyone else missed.... HA!

I remember seeing a prewar Baird console TV on ARS many years ago. They estimated the value at $10K way back then. I remember thinking if I had $10K that I would buy it.

The Pickers ostensibly have a store in Nashville now. There MIGHT be an outside chance that there COULD be a CT-100 to be scored there, since Nashville had/has a pretty good-sized bunch of affluent people, & especially back in '54, a LOT of people "In The Business", entertainment types.

I saw one episode of that show too. They all seem so proud that they can buy things cheap at an auction in Missouri or another Midwest state, ship them to high-priced Los Angeles, and make a profit (about half the time after paying for shipping and other costs, if I remember right). Just lousy, the complete opposite of collecting and appreciating things from the past.

I watched most of that "Market Warriors" series. They actually rarely made much of a profit and sometimes got burned badly. That may be what led to the series being cancelled.

A close friend of mine is also a friend to a star of another show on Discovery, who I shouldn't publically name because of this inside info. But, his producers also know the pickers guys. He said Mike and Frank hate each other. They won't travel together anymore or speak to each other except on camera. Their "picks" are all pre-arranged by producers and they just fly in separately, do their filming, and get out.

My buddy also talked to those producers from Pickers about doing a show with him. It fell through, but what the producers talked about with him, I can tell you it is almost 100% staged. The negotiations on camera are completely phony. The deal is worked out by the producers, if they even actually buy it. Even the deals where they don't agree on the price is staged, which is what they wanted my buddy to do. They told him they wanted him to name an outrageous price on something and not come down on camera and the guys would pass on it.