American Pickers' Mike Wolfe Once Spent $300 On A Furniture Store Sign

We'd all love to have a furniture sign. That's not even a matter of debate. For a lot of us, it's something we can't stop talking about. We'll subtly hint at how badly we want a furniture sign around the holidays or our birthdays or put a furniture sign on our wedding gift registries. With each passing day, the disappointment grows as we are forced to endure another undignified 24 hours without a furniture sign.

And do you know why that is? It's because we're not nationally-beloved reality television host of "American Pickers" and one-time guest on "NCIS" Mike Wolfe. Mike Wolfe gets what he wants and gets it the old-fashioned way: By picking.

As luck and contractual obligation would have it, that's what Wolfe was up to during the Season 23 episode "Pool Hall Picking," which saw the TV personality traveling to Louisiana for stuff to pick. What did he find? A furniture sign. What did he pay for it? $300. But here, we're getting ahead of ourselves.

"Murphey's Custom Built Furniture," the sign said. "Upholstery. Furniture. Gifts," it continued. "Lamps, Pictures, Draperies," it went on. "Carpets. Slip covers," it concluded. It wasn't a sign with a lack of stuff to say, but what good sign is?

"It's a cool sign, man," Mike Wolfe told the prospective seller during the "American Pickers" episode "Pool Hall Picking," "but the subject matter's not that great." It's a classic furniture sign buyer's tactic — try to convince the owner that what you actually want is a sign that's for something besides furniture, letting the proverbial line loose before you reel 'em back in.

And reel 'em back in, he did. Wolfe went on to extoll the many virtues of the furniture sign, calling it "reverse-painted," "heavy," and "seafoam blue." Asked by the owner if he'd make an offer, Wolfe threw out $300, prompting a handshake and the transfer of ownership of one furniture sign.

Would Mike Wolfe have paid more for a sign advertising oil or gas? He certainly claimed that he would have, but he may have been pulling the owner's chain. "Always leave them thinking that they got a generous offer on their furniture sign," that's the "American Pickers" motto. Maybe.