Hidden WWII Treasures Worth a Fortune | American Pickers | History

We’ve got other buildings look in too.
Oh, is this like a meat locker?
This was my grandmother’s canning/gardening shed.
And my grandfather took it over as the storage area slowly.
And that’s why you find stuff very deep.

Grover L. Davis.
That was my grandpa.
These are dated 1945.
Look at that.
Wow.
A whole pile of them there.
They were addressed to my grandma.
Definitely from when he was in the war.

Ooh.
Found something.
Going to end up doing the splits up there.
There’s some cool stuff in here.
Like, look at this.

So was he—did he serve in World War II?
Yes.
Yeah, it’s a bag with some Japanese writing on it.
Buttons.
Australian Commonwealth Military Forces.
Look at those.

I found letters from my grandfather and an Australian pen pal.
Must have been a war buddy.
Oh, really?
Someone he met during the war.
He must have.
I’ve always wondered how they made a connection.
He had this connection to someone in Australia.

This is really interesting.
It’s incredible.
Wow, look at that.
It’s like a pocket watch.
There’s hair in there.
It’s got—Is that your grandma’s hair?
Could have been.

I definitely had some emotions finding my grandfather’s war mementos.
Those things are definitely priceless to me.
They bring tears to my eyes.

This is so cool that you found this.
I would really want to keep this and go through it.
I never get tired of the reaction when we come across something so personal, like a letter or a photograph.
Whatever it is, if they haven’t seen it before and it directly connects them to their family, it’s so cool.

Man, there’s some fun stuff in here, you guys.
All right.
Is it a couple little toys or something?
A little clay man?
—Frank who?
Lehman?
Yeah, looks like Lehman.

Man, somebody has painted his face on one side.
Actually, you know what that is? That’s not paint. It’s mud.
Because look—Really? Look at the color underneath that.
Look at that.
I’m doing the same thing my mom used to do to me.
Lick it and—
Yeah, lick it—
and spit on her hand and wipe it on my face.
I do it to my kids.

On these two toys, in the condition they’re in, I would do $550.
How about $600?
I mean, I don’t know, Frank. What do you think I need to be?
I think they’re up there.
Yeah, $600 I’d do.
How about $575?
I’ll meet you in the middle.
OK, thank you.
I appreciate you guys.
These are incredible.
—Definitely cool.

There’s a couple of trunks over here I want you guys to see.
Jolene is telling me that there’s a lot of stuff in these trunks.
So I start going through the trunks, and there’s a lot of Victorian clothing, some old dolls, a couple of old toys.
But I get down to the very bottom, I can see something blue, white stripes.

Oh yeah.
I mean, the coolest thing I found here so far is these overalls.
I mean, these are incredible.
Look at these.
California Brand.

Right now, I’m holding a pair of dead stock overalls made by a small company called California Brand.
I’ve never seen that label before.
These things have everything going on for them.
They’re in such good condition.
They feel like they—
They’re not jean.
Jean hybrid?
Yeah.

The fabric itself was made by Stifel and Sons in Wheeling, West Virginia, and it’s a Wabash pattern.
There are so many different types of Wabash patterns, but Stifel and Sons, they’re the company that made it famous.

They’re like a very fancy, very elaborate overall.
Man, they are incredible.
The way they button in the back.
I’m like, is this really happening?
Those things almost fit me, man.
Maybe a little short there on the length.

I mean, people that collect workwear or denim can go their whole lives without finding something this clean, this crisp.
They look like they’ve never been worn.

I think these are something special.
I really do, just because of the brand itself and then the condition overall.
And then the fact that they’re overalls.

I know this might sound crazy to somebody that’s not into vintage clothing, but when you hold something like this from 1910, it’s like, wow.
You’re just cloaked in history.

This type of overall was what somebody wore that built this country.
So many different tradesmen, so many different types of craftsmen wore this type of clothing.
These are incredibly important.

I do not want to throw a number out there that she’s going to say no to.
$2,500.
I would have never thought—
That was an outrageous offer, for sure.
Deal. $2,500.
That must have been the most mind-blowing sale of the day.

Rob!
Hey, Danielle.
—This is Robbie.
—Hey.
Rob.
Easy name to remember.
Yep.

All right.
Anxious to see it all.
I want to see this Jeep you’re wrenching on.
—Yeah.
Wow.
Love these things, man. They go anywhere.

So what’s the deal with this? Did you do all of this to it?
Me and my father-in-law, we put all the insignia back on it.
Oh yeah.
Yeah, you did.

This is just the—
—beginning of your militaria, right?
Correct.

I hear you’ve just got an insane collection of stuff.
Yep.
Mostly World War II because my dad was in World War II.
And that kind of got me going.

As a kid, I collected baseball cards.
My dad served in World War II.
One day, I guess I found in the closet his uniform and his stuff.
Started playing army and—
That’s the connection, huh?
Your dad was in World War II and it just—
Still have all my dad’s stuff.

Different souvenirs.
He brought back stuff.
The Air Corps stuff—he was in the Air Corps, so I’ve really zeroed in on collecting Air Corp.
And that just kind of snowballed to a collection of a lot of military stuff.

All right.
I’ve been hearing about this massive collection of militaria.
Sure.
Where’s it at?
—That’s inside.
—Let’s see it.

All right.
I outgrew my upstairs space.
—Wow.
—So I got sent down here, because I have so much stuff.
—Wow.

OK.
Mostly World War II. Some World War I.
All countries portrayed.

Rob, is this what I think this is?
—It’s a World War II bomber jacket.
—Wow.
That’s a Hell’s Angels bomber jacket.
—Sure is.

Howard Hughes made the movie about—
—Right.
Yeah, the Hell’s Angels.

This is one of those pieces that everybody’s wanting.
They want the vintage leather coat.
They want the original paintwork on the back.
It’s screaming cool.

Inside it’ll have his name written in it.
—There we go.
—Right here.

WH Wilson with a service number, and from that I’ve researched.
Found his unit.
Cecil Miller was the pilot, and he passed away when they had to jump.
This is the guy wearing this jacket.
He bailed out.
He made it.

While crossing the English coast, three engines were out.
Pilot was unable to find an emergency airfield, and ordered the crew to bail out.
Cecil Miller jumped but was killed on landing.

This is something—
It’s something I’m holding—I’m taking a deep breath every time I look at this.

Rob, I got to ask.
—Yeah?
This is a kid’s uniform.
Kid’s uniform from World War I.
It’s got some mothing, but at 100 years old, it’s not too bad.

They used the same buttons as they did on the real uniforms, as you see.
So basically, they would just dress up like daddy and play.
For parades maybe.
More of an honor thing.
—Mm-hmm. Yep.

OK.
OK.
For a military son, you can only imagine they were very proud of their fathers.
Their fathers were heroes, and they wanted to dress like them.

The same type of wool.
The same type of buttons.
It’s made just the same as dad’s would have been, kind of thing.

Imagine how scratchy this would have been to wear in the trenches.
In the middle of the summer when you’re sweating—

This thing would be amazing in the store.
You’re right.
Literally, we have so many kids that come in.
And World War I.
It’s over 100 years.
Yeah, it’s World War I.
It’s 100 years old.

World War I doesn’t come up very often.
You see plenty of World War II childhood uniforms, but I’ve been collecting a while.
I don’t recall seeing another World War I.

I don’t even know what to price something like this, really.
With the mannequin—
—Yeah, you’ve got to have the mannequin.
—I was thinking about $400.

With the signals?
—You can have the signals if you want. Yep.

At that time, there was so much family pride in passing on the family name, the family tradition, the family work, which is exactly why I want to bring it to the shop.
It’s going to make a great display piece.

Thanks, Rob.
All right.
There you go.
Rob, my friend—
Thank you.
It’s a pleasure.
All righty.

I enjoy researching and finding out the history about the things I find.
Bye, Rob.
Thank you.
See ya.

It’s not just an object anymore.
You can say, well, this was there.
This was somebody.

ROBBIE!
—Yo.
Look at this gun.
It looks like a trade sign.
Awesome subject matter.
Actually it’s an Army training prop.
—This is a training aid?
—Yes, it’s a training aid.

Wow.
The clip comes out.
Wow.

We’ve bought military training models in the past.
That is a World War II teaching tool, 30-caliber machine gun.
—I’m going to do 15.
—We’re good, buddy.
All right, Buddy.

But I’ve never seen this one.
It’s a Browning.
It’s before World War II.

It’s got a pole on the bottom where you’d mount it.
Where’d you get it at?
University Surplus.
It came to the university because they had ROTC.

This disassembles the same way the actual pistol did.
It would have been in a classroom with a number of young servicemen teaching them how to use this weapon where they can actually physically take it apart, put it together, in such a large format.

What are you asking for?
Would you sell this?
Well, (sighs) yeah, I guess I would, much to the dismay of many, many of my friends, you know? (laughs)
A lot of people want that gun.
I’ve had people try to buy it, but I kept it because for one thing, it made some of my faculty colleagues mad at me because I had it and they didn’t.

What would you have to have for it?
What are you thinking?
—Well, I don’t know. I heard someone say they saw them at auction that went between $7,500 and $8,000 or something like that.
Yeah.

We’ve got a guy that works with the Rock Island Gun Auction Company in Rock Island, Illinois.
They’re a very large company.
He’s extremely knowledgeable.
Can we send him pictures of it?
—Sure.

Because he would know more than anybody the value of it, if you know what I mean?
—Right, right, right, right.

For firearms, our guy is Richard Ellis.
Richard’s company is one of the biggest firearm auction companies in the world.

I want to get a picture of that.
—Hello.
Richard, are you there?
—Yes, I am.

We’re walking down these snail trails back up here.
Did you get all the pictures I sent you?
What can you tell me about this thing?

Over the years, we’ve sent Richard Ellis a ton of photos, but this is the first time I’ve ever sent him photos of something he’s never seen before.
This is a mind bender because this guy has seen it all.

And it’s really reflected in his voice.
He’s bewildered.
He’s befuddled.
The guy’s dazed.
This is his euphoric voice.
I mean, it takes a lot to knock Richard onto his heels.
That’s a big deal.

Yeah.
It’s not plastic.
The grips are definitely resin.
Yeah.
I don’t think it’s fiberglass under there.
There’s a chip.
—Yeah, there’s a chip right here. You can see a little bit right there.
It’d help if you got a flashlight.
—This whole thing—this piece right here is made of wood.
This is wood.
—Yeah. You can tell that.

It came with a stand, and I don’t know what happened to it.
I had the box that it came in.
—Like a wooden box?
Yeah, a wooden box.

So what are you thinking on it?
You could demand more.
—OK.
—OK.

We always appreciate your knowledge, buddy, and your passion.
All right.
Thanks, Richard.

So what are you thinking?
Well, I’m thinking $7,000.
I think you’re right—you’re right there on the money then.
If he was at $7,500.
Yeah.
You know, then you’re—you’re right there, I mean, after you pay a fee or—
I think $7,000 is a fair price.
He said it was rare.
—Yeah.
You know? And I—I mean, I’m just selling it like it is, you know?
—Right.

Why don’t—why don’t we do this then?
We’re not that far apart.
Why don’t we do $6,500?
It gives us a little bit more room.
$6,800.
$6,700.
Well, finally I guess that’s where we got to.
—We’re doing it!
—Hey!

All right, man.
I think it’s brilliant, and I love that you saved it.
Thank you.

All right, I’m going to grab it.
—You got a hold of it?
—Yeah.
—All right. I got it.

Oh yeah.
OK.
This might be muddy because the top on this one’s open.
—Oh, we don’t care about mud.

So there you go, fellas.

So I get in the second bunker, here’s a Texaco sign.
Here are some cans.
Here’s a Coca-Cola sign.
Every room is packed.
It’s like putting a fat kid in a candy store.

“Texaco Gasoline, Localized For You,” I like that.
I think if you look on the back, it’s got—yeah, there’s your name.
It says Frank right on it.
—It says Frank right on the back?
That’s right.
And you know what it says right on the front here?
—Uh-huh?
—It says $60.
Ooh.
Yeah, that’s right. You got it.

Hey, Dan, Rob.
The only time I ever see these signs they’re on top of the buildings.
—Yep.
This was a 17-foot long sign that went on the top ridge of the transfer station.
It said Conoco Oil Company on it.

Very, very highly sought-after sign to the Conoco collectors.
Yeah, they were on top of the building.
You still have the original mounts on this one.

Would you do 800 on the pair?
I think it’s a pretty cool piece.
Robbie, I’d like to have 1,000 bucks.
Can you do that?
—I’ll do 1,000.
—Oh.
—Seriously.
—Thank you.
I’ll do 1,000 on it.
Appreciate it.

What about the Coca-Cola sign?
It’s so bad that it’s good.
It’s hurting.
It’s got rust.
It’s got bullet holes.
It’s beyond character.
And it’s cool.
I would take 150 bucks for it.
All right.
It would be a great piece for somebody to put on their barn.
No one’s going to touch it.
This one’s safe and sound.

I think he’s got a vision.
You could take a brand new car and knock a hubcap and break a headlight out, and the value drops to half to people.
They can’t see past it.
He can see past it.
—You bet.

—Wow.
—Whoa!
You can pick till you puke.

Frank was digging in a box.
And I said, what the hell’s he doing?

Oh, looky there.
It’s a Goodyear’s Tire.
You found a nugget.
It’s double-sided.
It’s still very, very presentable.

I buy anything that’s good Goodyear, Goodrich, anything that’s good.
$80.
Well, I’m not going to argue with you.
You found it.
—Team me, baby.

You know, we dug two good things out of there, any one of them.
Matchless Auto Lamps.
That’s bad it’s so faded.
—Look at the girl on it.
Oh man.
—10 bucks.
—Yeah.

Well, I’ll tell you one thing.
He’s got a nose for good crap.
—50 bucks.
—Absolutely. All right.

I mean, the guy’s like a bloodhound.
He just went right to it.

S&H Green Stamps—now this isn’t porcelain, 40 bucks.
—Yeah, that’s fine.

Frank goes right to the bottom of the pile like a rabbit—
you know, dog hunting a rabbit.
I mean, how do you do that?

I would gladly take that for it, to be honest with you.
I mean, them guys are professional pickers.
That’s all there is to it.

Heck, I’m doing pretty good in the front rounds.
—Yeah, you are. You’re a scrounger.

This thing right here is a wind charger for a farm basically is what they are.
It sat on a pole.
It generated electricity.

Like this one says 32 volt, Wincharger Corp, Sioux City, Iowa.
This wind generator would have been used to charge batteries, to power a radio on the farm.

So this piece is the long piece.
And then there’s your generator up there, which looks like it’s all gone.
The brake is here, but it’s bent and mangled.

Now, I know they reproduce a lot of these parts.
They’re pretty darn cool when they’re set up.

Think about how isolated a family farm was in the 1920s.
This was their connection to the outside world.

I’ll tell you what I’d want to do—this piece and the tail, the rest of it, the remains here, 400 bucks.
Ooh, that’s a lot.
Are you sure you want to pay that much?
This is a good decorator piece.
Right, right, right.
OK?

This piece put back together is going to demand good money.
You get down the road 100 miles, you’re going to say, oh, man, I paid too much.
—I don’t think so. I think 400 is a good number.
—OK, buddy.