Panther Picks LIGHT UP Mike’s Day | American Pickers (S13)

NORA: Hi, hi, hi. MIKE: Oh my gosh.
NORA: Good to see you. MIKE: There she is!
NORA: Yes.
MIKE: Let me stand back.
DANIELLE: Oh! I’ve been waiting for that hug.
NORA: Aw. DANIELLE: Oh, whoops.
How are you doing? NORA: Real good. Real good.
Hanging in there, aren’t we? MIKE: Good to see you.
DANIELLE: Good to see you. You’re looking great.
NORA: Yes. Well, thanks. Y’all are, too.
NORA: My name is Nora Massengill, and I’m from beautiful Poetry, Texas.
I would consider myself both an artist and a collector.
MIKE: You look the same. NORA: Yeah. Well, let’s hope so.
MIKE: Yeah, you do. You haven’t aged a bit.
NORA: We’re not doing that.
MIKE: You’ve got your whole life ahead of you.
NORA: Ah! Hey, where do you guys want to start here?
In this mess? MIKE: I don’t know.
NORA: Well, let’s just open up this door…
MIKE: Okay, we’ll do that. NORA: Let’s just get in here, and we’ll just, you know, pull it out.
NORA: When I met JP, he was wearing a Hawaiian shirt and cowboy boots with one cuff in the cowboy boot, and curly hair. Curly hair. Yeah.
Oh my gosh. And I just thought, this is one of a kind. That’s what he was. I mean, we were married 43 years. We were best friends.
MIKE: Whaddya got? You got something to stick up here?
NORA: Yeah, we do. MIKE: Yeah, let me know, Danielle. I’m going to launch this thing.
NORA: It’s tricky. Here we go, guys.
(Mike grunts) MIKE: Whoa, first try! DANIELLE: Yeah!
NORA: Yeah, yeah, yeah.
MIKE: See, I told you she was awesome.
NORA: Yes, she is.
MIKE: You guys still got this bike?
MIKE: The last time I was here, I tried to buy this Schwinn cycle truck from JP, and he just wasn’t ready to sell it. MIKE: Look at those white bottle cap grips with the red glass jewels. NORA: Mm-hmm.
MIKE: A Schwinn cycle truck is basically the ultimate delivery vehicle on two wheels. It’s got a large basket on the front. It could have been used by a municipality or any other kind of business that would deliver something. It’s just a really neat workhorse bike that was overbuilt, very utilitarian. (bell rings) NORA: Ding, ding, ding, ding. MIKE: The little jingle bells.
NORA: Uh-huh. MIKE: Is it for sale now?
NORA: Well, let me think about that.
MIKE: Okay. You mull it over.
DANIELLE: What about this up here?
This is amazing. Did you paint that?
NORA: Yes. Yes. Yes. MIKE: I told you, you’re gonna love her stuff. DANIELLE: It’s got a nice red palm with an eye in the center. Oh, I love it.
MIKE: Oh.
MIKE: This is just overstimulating because there’s so much unique things. DANIELLE: I’m going to get myself locked up in here.
I just know it.
MIKE: You know, it’s just like an overabundance of so much bad-assery in here. MIKE: Dani! Danielle! DANIELLE: Yeah?
MIKE: Hey, I need some help. DANIELLE: Uh-oh.
MIKE: I found a whole collection of Black Panther TV lamps.
MIKE: Early televisions had cathode ray tubes that gave off an extremely harsh glare when you watched it in a dark room. So someone came up with the idea, hey, let’s put a TV lamp on top. It was made of pottery in different colors. We can make it into a little kitty cat or a bunny rabbit, and the panther was the king of them all. MIKE: Look at this one. That’s like the ultimate.
Feel the weight of that. DANIELLE: Yeah, that guy!
MIKE: It’s got a name on the back.
DANIELLE: Look at all the muscle.
MIKE: This one’s dated ’53.
MIKE: Unfortunately, a lot of these TV lamps are missing the lamp part. You know, there’s just a few of them that have the light that’s still in them. DANIELLE: This one looks more like an otter.
MIKE: Look at this beast.
DANIELLE: Oh, look at that necklace on him!
(Mike laughs) MIKE: I know.
MIKE: Here’s the good news. A lot of these aren’t chipped or cracked.
MIKE: Nora, I was deep, man.
NORA: Uh-huh. MIKE: I got into the back of the building. NORA: Yes.
MIKE: And I saw the one Black Panther, and then I saw another, and another, and another.
And I’m like, you guys collected so many TV lamps.
(Nora laughs) NORA: We have collected Panther lamps everywhere we’d go just because they would scream 1950s, and the cool, kind of beatnik, just the ’50s kind of happy-go-lucky good times.
MIKE: This is the King Daddy set.
I bet upstairs in Graceland, you know these are somewhere.
NORA: Oh, sure.
NORA: They just spoke to us, and so we collected them one by one all these years.
MIKE: Woo! (Nora laughs) MIKE: I got to stand back. (Nora laughs) MIKE: Oh, my gosh. NORA: Yeah.
MIKE: I think what’s cool about them is that you have so many of them.
MIKE: I think about how long it would take to acquire a collection like this. So if I can get these and put them in my store, I want to line them all up together.
MIKE: You know as well as I do how impactful it is when you put one, the smallest thing.
NORA: Yeah. MIKE: It can be spoons.
NORA: Oh, yes. MIKE: And you got a hundred spoons, and then all of a sudden, you got something.
NORA: Yes. MIKE: You know?
MIKE: People go, wow, I like this.
MIKE: If it’s possible, if we can come up with a number, then I would like to buy them all.
NORA: Okay. MIKE: Some of them can be $100 with the light fixture in it, and some can be $25. NORA: Yes. Yes.
MIKE: Okay, what do we got here?
One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17… I got 18.
Where you at? Oh, 19, 20.
All right, 600 for all of them.
NORA: Yes, sir! DANIELLE: Ah!
(laughter) NORA: I’m motivated now to sell at this point in my life and move on. I’ve got dreams of a one-story mid-century modern Palm Springs, you know, little, little, little house.
And I’ve got pieces here that would make it all happen. MIKE: So last time we were here, didn’t you have, well didn’t this work on both sides?
NORA: It does. Well, the glass itself is all intact.
MIKE: Okay. NORA: Cafe. But it’s inside.
MIKE: But you had to take it off?
NORA: It’s inside the whole box.
MIKE: How come you didn’t ever get this wired up?
NORA: I don’t know why we never connected it.
MIKE: Because I remember one side of it worked when we were here a long time ago.
NORA: Yes. And it does work. MIKE: It still does?
NORA: Center one on the wall.
The light switch over there, Mike.
uMIKE: The last time we were here, this sign was in the exact same place. And it’s not a huge sign, but it’s very impactful with the colors, the fact that it’s got that streamer piece on the bottom of it with the stripes, and the bullnose on it that says eat. It’s a very unique piece. I can see why they bought it. MIKE: Have you ever thought about letting loose of this?
NORA: I would. MIKE: So the other glass you have…
NORA: Yeah, it’s inside. And like I said, it’s…
MIKE: But it’s not broke or anything?
NORA: No. MIKE: Really?
NORA: Yeah.
MIKE: What are you thinking on it?
You tell me. It sounds like you…
NORA: I’m thinking close to three grand.
MIKE: Well, I was going to pay you 3500.
NORA: Yeah. Yes. Yes. Yes. Sold.
MIKE: Okay. DANIELLE: Ah…
NORA: I know they’re up there.
I know they’re up there, Mike. I know it.
MIKE: She’s such a beautiful person, you know, and I love spending time with her because she reminds you of what life should be.
Life should be beautiful, and life should be giving and simple. She has all of that coming out of her when you’re near her, and I just want more of that.
MIKE: I think I love my Panthers.
NORA: Great! MIKE: I know, right?
NORA: I know. They are. I mean, really.
DANIELLE: Say goodbye to your mommy.
Bye, Mommy. Say hello to your Daddy. Hi, Daddy.
NORA: I know.
NORA: I’ve had a ball with y’all, and I’m just excited that everybody’s so excited about everything, and visually, they’re just right on, and they gravitate to what they do.
It’s just interesting to learn and figure it all out, and, you know, we can do it again.
MIKE: Thanks for putting up with us.
NORA: Oh, no. It’s great. MIKE: I’ll see you in Kewanee.
NORA: Kewanee. DANIELLE: I love Kewanee.
MIKE: She’s from Kewanee.
DANIELLE: I fully intend to come back, sleep in one of these trailers, and just have some coffee with Nora in the morning, look through her stuff, maybe help her organize a bit.
DANIELLE: All right, listen. We’ll be in touch.
We’ll talk soon. NORA: Yes.
DANIELLE: I feel like I need to nest here for a second.
I’ll see if she’ll let me do it.
(honk) DANIELLE: Bye, Sister Nora!
NORA: Bye! Come back. Come back and see us.
DANIELLE: Oh yes. (Nora laughs)