The second season of the popular “American Pickers” starring Mike Wolfe and Frank Fritz begins Monday, December 6th. The reality series, which features the pair in their search across America for “rusty gold”, was the #1 new cable series of 2010. As reported in September (see Mike Wolfe & Frank Fritz of American Pickers Coming to California, Seeking Movie and Hollywood Memorabilia), all new episodes will feature their search expanding to California. [Read more…]
Yesterday I was contacted by the producer of American Pickers, which is currently broadcasting its second season on The History Channel. Mike and Frank will be traveling through California over the next few weeks, and they are interesting in finding people in the state with movie and Hollywood memorabilia collections, as well as the kind of vintage and historic material that they are traditionally seeking. If you yourself have any such material or have leads that may be of interest to the show, please contact me and I will get you in touch with the producer of the show.
New York Daily News sports writer Michael O’Keefe has been publishing an ongoing series of articles about an FBI investigation into the sports memorabilia industry (see Mastro Auctions Closes In Midst Of FBI Investigation Into Shill Bidding & Fraud Allegations). Two updates have been published this week by the Daily News. [Read more…]
Memorabilia dealer Hake’s Americana & Collectibles is holding their 200th auction, with lots ending in late May. While the selection of original prop-related material is quite small compared with the general popular culture memorabilia comprising the auction, I thought it would be prudent to make note of an old article published by the Los Angeles Times that may prompt interested bidders to do proper due diligence on the provenance of a handful of lots. [Read more…]
One of my favorite programs on television is Pawn Stars, which airs on The History Channel. Pawn Stars is a reality series about the Gold and Silver Pawn Shop in Las Vegas run by “The Old Man”, his son Rick, and his grandson “Big Hoss”. The series is akin to Antiques Roadshow in that customers bring in antiques, collectibles, and other items to sell, which includes authentication and appraisal by experts. [Read more…]
eBay dealer SHOPitHollywood is auctioning authentic props, wardrobe, and other original assets and memorabilia from FOX’s MADtv. Per SHOPitHollywood, they will be listing new items every few days for several weeks. [Read more…]
I’ve found that there are many concepts in the original prop hobby for which words do not exist. Having words to use with specific and unique meaning are powerful tools, and when there are none available that fit the need, putting together a new word with hopes it may be adopted can be productive. In this case, a term is needed to describe an instance in which the source or an entity in the chain of ownership of a prop, costume, or other artifact has a distinctive and negative impact on the authentication of such a piece. The word I plan to use to describe such a circumstance is “anti-provenance”. [Read more…]
“Monsterpalooza – The Art of Monsters” will be held at the Burbank Airport Marritt Hotel & Convention Center May 29-21, 2009. This 3-day event is “dedicated to the art of monsters and the artists that create them”. [Read more…]