'Pickers' fail to clear a basement bargain bar.

For my blog entry this week, I watched a show called 'American Pickers.' From what I could tell from the hosts, the premise of the show is to find American antiques at bargain prices (a la, scouting through old people's barns.) refurbish them, and make a profit when reselling them.

It didn't surprise me then that this show had almost no historical information. Among the thirty or so items they bought in the hour, producers felt it was necessary to include background information on only a handful of items. And what was offered was incredibly paltry, a picture of the item would be displayed next to a slim paragraph placing the object chronologically. Apparently the producers believe that either only professional archeologists of twentieth century America watch the program, or that any relevant historical legwork is irrelevant to the audience. Hence, the historical value of the show is veritably non-existent; I walked away knowing the approximate cost of a 1940's Ribbon microphone in resell, but nothing about why it should be worth anything at all.

I had my bar set below the basement prices their hosts demanded for antique objects, yet I was still disappointed.

Despite my apprehension over the content of the show, I feel that premise of the show is even more offensive. Apparently, the only value of antiques is as a refurbished plaything or as a decoration for your den wall. I feel that this robs both the antique value (a la 'this is old, and really and important') as well as the historical value that it could provide to historians, anthropologists and others from the social sciences pantheon. On one occasion, I witnessed the 'pickers' removing objects from a well-cataloged and preserved environment only to 'restore' the piece and sell it to a private collector, making any opportunities to study the piece virtually nonexistent. This is not to mention the disregard with which they handled the antiques in general, not a single person used gloves or other proper equipment to handle the pieces. Similarly, I witnessed the 'pickers' personally destroy three pieces by attempting to use them without proper care to their age or condition. ('This is a cool crank toy from the 20's, let's see if it works!)

As usual with the history channel, I feel as though they sacrifice too much history in the name of entertainment.