American Pickers Once Bought A Crawfish Pot For $150
Throughout its many years on History, "American Pickers" has seen the show's hosts buy a wide array of different things. From car parts to old movie props, there's truly no limit to the kinds of items they're interested in. In some instances, it can even feel like there's no limit to the amount of money they're willing to spend on these items as well. It stands to reason that, in reality, the Antique Archaeology crew has a budget that it sticks by. At the same time, it can be difficult to remember that when folks drop $150 on a crawfish pot, of all things.
During Season 16, pickers Danielle Colby and Robbie Wolfe visit the home of Paul and Amber, which is absolutely loaded with all kinds of odds and ends. One of the items that catches Colby's eye is a metal fishing pot, which Paul claims was likely used by former United States president Grover Cleveland. While Colby doubts the validity of this claim, she knows for a fact that she's interested in this item. Paul offers it to her for $150, and she accepts, estimating that she could fix it up and sell it for $250 to make a $100 profit.
Paying $150 for a crawfish pot and hoping to sell it for $250 might seem like a pipedream to some, and understandably so. Although, Danielle Colby knows her stuff, and she wouldn't take a risk if she didn't think she had a shot at gaining from it.
Danielle Colby knows a deal when she sees one
Like her "American Pickers" colleagues, Danielle Colby is no stranger to the antiquing game. She's been a picker for years, long before the History hit ever made it to the airwaves. In that time, she's learned how to spot good deals and has employed her learned strategies to help make Antique Archaeology as profitable a business as possible. As she explained during a chat with Famous Interviews, if one is to be successful at picking, one must be aware of market demands, current price assessments, and collector trends.
"There are times where they'll pick an item for $60, and we'll put it up on eBay, and it'll sell for $60 or $75, and then there are times where we'll pick an item for $50, and put it up on eBay, and we'll sell it for $1,000," she said, noting that there's no way to know precisely how much an item is worth at any given time. The "American Pickers" crew does its best to study up and follow the trends as closely as possible. While this often works out in their favor as a bunch of experienced pickers, she admits that sometimes, they miss the mark entirely: "There are times we really got sucker-punched."
Picking is a tricky business, but if they were bad at it, Danielle Colby and the rest of the "American Pickers" team would've been out of a job a long time ago.