High Energy Super Collector | American Pickers (S16) | History

[phone ringing]
FRANK: What’s up, Danielle? Before you get off the phone.
MIKE: Alright, what you got?
DANIELLE: So I’m gonna send you to a guy named Dave-O.
FRANK: Dave-O?
DANIELLE: Dave, and “O.”
MIKE: Okay, Dave-O.
DANIELLE: Super interesting character. He’s got bicycles, he’s got toys… That’s the bulk of what he’s got, but I’m gonna forewarn you before you go in there… I was exhausted just talking to him.
MIKE: What do you mean?
DANIELLE: You’ll figure it out when you get there.
MIKE: No, no, no, no, you’re not doing that to us again.
DANIELLE: [laughs]
MIKE: We’re not seeing when we get there. What are you talking about?
DANIELLE: He is super high energy.
FRANK: More high energy than Mike?
DANIELLE: If you take Mike, and give him a double espresso, and then have him wash that down with like a whole pack of energy drinks…
MIKE: Woo!
DANIELLE: Then we’re talkin’ Dave-O!
MIKE: And some Dunkin’ Donuts?
FRANK: He’d be bouncin’ off the walls!
DANIELLE: Take your vitamins. Today’s gonna be a long day.
FRANK: Okay yeah, there you go, there’s the house.
MIKE: There’s the gate.
FRANK: Yep.
MIKE: Alright.
FRANK: Remember, Dave-O.
MIKE: Dave-O…
[van doors closing]
[knocking]
MIKE: Dave-O!
FRANK: There he is.
MIKE: What’s the “O” stand for?
DAVE-O: Ah…
FRANK: Oh, boy…
DAVE-O: Kind of like “Devo,” but Dave-O.
MIKE: Yeah? [laughs] Hey, I’m Mike. Nice to meet you, man.
FRANK: I’m Frank, how’re you doing?
DAVE-O: Mike and Frank, huh?
MIKE: You a bicycle guy?
DAVE-O: Uh, a little bit. I got 400 of them.
MIKE: You got 400 bikes?
FRANK: Wow!
FRANK: I go into his backyard, and it looks like the city-wide clean-out day. I mean, he’s got bicycles, you know, I don’t see anything old, but he’s got some yard art. Seems like he’s really into two wheels.
FRANK: This is kind of some of the stuff that we’re looking for. We got bicycles on there.
DAVE-O: Oh yeah, cap guns…
FRANK: Oil bottles, cap guns, a little bit of everything.
DAVE-O: Yep, chairs, cast iron…
DAVE-O: As a super collector, I collect everything. It brings back a little bit of your childhood, trying to get back all the stuff you had. It was just a simpler time back then.
FRANK: Geez, Dave!
FRANK: So we walk into the house, he’s got stuff everywhere. I mean, Dave lives with his collection.
DAVE-O: Get a load of this. This is cast iron, that’s cast iron… Look at the horseshoes!
FRANK: Whoa!
DAVE-O: Look in these boxes, guys!
FRANK: I seen that bicycle light…
MIKE: So we get inside, and Dave-O transforms…
DAVE-O: Look at the cast iron of that! Never used!
MIKE: He goes from 0 to 60. I can see what Danielle’s talking about. This guy… is drunk on the junk.
DAVE-O: Army helmets!
MIKE: Yeah, Frank—
DAVE-O: World War II helmets!
MIKE: Frank loves helmets.
FRANK: No, I’m good on helmets.
DAVE-O: Dug ’em up from Iwo!
FRANK: I can really see Dave-O’s enthusiasm here, you know, he’s going on here, Frank look at this…
DAVE-O: Look here.
FRANK: That looks like—
DAVE-O: That’s an SSP!
FRANK: Whoa!
FRANK: He says, this you might like, you might want this…
DAVE-O: From the factory! That’s a freakin’ AMF, do you know what that helmet’s worth?
FRANK: He’s bouncing off the walls!
DAVE-O: Look at this nutcracker I just bought.
FRANK: Nutcracker?
DAVE-O: If you wanna talk about industrial—
FRANK: What do you got on the STP here?
DAVE-O: Uh…
FRANK: With the original zip cord?
DAVE-O: 30? 20 for the car, 10 for the cord!
FRANK: You know, I see a lot of STP cars on my travels, but I never see them with the T-pull. It’s like a little zip strip that goes in and pulls them, that’s always missing.
FRANK: 25.
DAVE-O: Go ahead.
FRANK: Made in the 1970s.
DAVE-O: Go ahead.
FRANK: Alright.
FRANK: At $25, there’s not a lot of money to be left on it, but with original T-pull, I gotta buy it.
DAVE-O: I just bought that on Saturday for a dollar.
FRANK: There you go, that’s a good deal.
MIKE: How much is the Elvis painting?
DAVE-O: 100?
MIKE: 100?
DAVE-O: It’s mint.
MIKE: Whoa!
DAVE-O: I remember every bike that I got, but I don’t think I remember where I got the Elvis.
DAVE-O: It’s mint, or whatever you want, whatever you want to give.
MIKE: What is that?
DAVE-O: I spilled that when I was painting that. That’ll come off, that’ll shear right off, or just paint it black.
MIKE: Paint that black?
DAVE-O: Everything else is completely mint.
MIKE: Velvet paintings have never been on the radar screen, and have always been looked down by art collectors or art critics, but now they’ve been around for so long, people are starting to collect them.
MIKE: What’s that, and that? Blood comin’ out of his ear.
DAVE-O: No, no, no, that’s, that’s just cracking, that’s…
MIKE: The felt’s breaking down.
MIKE: Mexican artists started selling these in the US in the 1950s. You know, the three staples: scary clown, matador, Elvis.
MIKE: 75 bucks!
DAVE-O: Can you go 85?
MIKE: Do 80.
DAVE-O: Go ahead.
MIKE: Alright, let’s do it. Thanks, brother.
MIKE: The person that’s going to buy this has a good sense of humour, a funky sense of style, and is not going to be afraid to show that.
MIKE: Alright, let’s look upstairs, come on!
FRANK: Alright.
DAVE-O: Come on!
FRANK: Hit it, Dave-O!
MIKE: Dave-O loves to entertain himself, and the fact that Frankie and I are here, that’s just the cheese on his bologna sandwich. If I can buy some of the guy’s energy…
DAVE-O: Whoa, toy-a-lanche…
MIKE: …this would be a mega-pick for me.
DAVE-O: I got so much stuff, I do gotta start selling. I don’t want to put it on my family. I gotta start selling this stuff, before ain’t worth nothing.
DAVE-O: You know how when you pull the sock drawer out, you get socks? Look what happens when you pull this sock drawer out.
FRANK: Ooh… you like cap guns, don’t ya?
DAVE-O: Hey, Mike.
MIKE: Dang…
DAVE-O: Okay, next…
MIKE: So his bedroom is layer after layer of some pretty neat stuff. Just like all the bikes, Dave-O has literally spent years hunting down all the toys that he grew up with. Dave-O has to be one of the hardest working men in the junk business. You don’t get all of this stuff by sitting around.
FRANK: What do you want for this little Weirdo?
FRANK: Weirdos were real popular in the ’70s. They were always some weird guy in a boat or a hot rod.
FRANK: 25!
DAVE-O: 30.
FRANK: 25.
DAVE-O: 30.
FRANK: Alright, we’ll do 30.
MIKE: What are you thinking on that?
DAVE-O: $20 for the holder, and $30 for the car!
MIKE: Negative…
FRANK: Space toy?
DAVE-O: Now you’re getting into the heavy stuff.
FRANK: Space toys are always hot. This one was made in the 1960s; it was made in Japan.
FRANK: $100.
DAVE-O: 110.
FRANK: 105.
DAVE-O: Go ahead.
MIKE: Dave-O’s enthusiasm for the toys is refreshing.
DAVE-O: Ahh! [laughs]
MIKE: [laughs]
MIKE: And it’s also contagious.
FRANK: Booby— Whoa!
DAVE-O: Noo!
MIKE: It’s kind of hard not to get caught up in Dave-O’s world.
MIKE: How much, boss?
DAVE-O: Buck and a quarter.
MIKE: Uhh…
DAVE-O: His eyes light up when you hit it.
MIKE: I can’t do that. What is this?
DAVE-O: Incredible Edibles. It was a thing like Creepy Crawlers, only you eat it.
MIKE: Yeah…
DAVE-O: Look at the condition of that Incredible Edibles.
FRANK: Incredible Edibles, they were made in 1969. You’d make up some batter, and you’d pour them in; you know, they’re electric, and then they would heat them up and make little cookies.
DAVE-O: This makes candy, and this makes cakes.
FRANK: They’re in great condition, they’ve got the original cord…
FRANK: How much are they?
DAVE-O: Those, 30 apiece.
FRANK: There’s collectors out there for everything.
FRANK: Alright, Dave-O, I’m going to take these for 30 apiece. How much is King Kong?
MIKE: He told me 125 on it.
FRANK: The litho’s great, it’s got great colour.
DAVE-O: It’s for a dart gun; you shoot his stomach, and the eyes light up when you shoot it. And the hands go up.
FRANK: I mean, I’d do 80.
DAVE-O: Go ahead. You guys were good to me, and you bought a lot of stuff.
FRANK: We bought some stuff.
MIKE: I didn’t know you were gonna come off that hard!
DAVE-O: Oh, I start high. You know they’re gonna cut you in two right away. So you gotta go high. You can never go back up.
DAVE-O: I do got some more stuff upstairs I want to show you guys.
MIKE: Lead the way, man.
FRANK: Alright.
MIKE: Lead the way.
FRANK: If downstairs was Dave-O’s childhood toy collection, this level’s more like his trippy teenage years. There’s motorcycle helmets, there’s black lights, there’s instruments – this place is crammed.
DAVE-O: Aawr-owr-owr-owr…!
FRANK: Geez! Ahh!
MIKE: So how much is the black light poster? Let’s get crazy here, the panther.
MIKE: These were mood-altering posters that hung in your inner sanctum. Shut the light off, click on the black light… and all of these images come to life.
MIKE: This is the black panther, he looks like he’s coming out of the wall at you, and that’s what’s bad to the bone about it.
DAVE-O: Uh… ooh, I gave crazy money for that thing.
MIKE: Like what?
DAVE-O: I think I gave 40 for it.
MIKE: Did you really?
DAVE-O: Yeah. What I paid for, 40.
MIKE: 40 bucks.
DAVE-O: It’s out of this world, it’s…
MIKE: Nailed it up!
DAVE-O: That’s not the actual poster, that’s the cardboard.
FRANK: It’s factory?
DAVE-O: Oh my god…
MIKE: 40 bucks.
DAVE-O: Okay.
MIKE: I’m gettin’ crazy here.
DAVE-O: Go ahead.
MIKE: 40 bucks. Punch it.
MIKE: Black light posters, lava lamps, vinyl records and platform shoes, Dave-O loves this time period. Lucky for Dave-O, everything from that era has come back in style.
DAVE-O: Look here!
FRANK: Whoa…
MIKE: [laughs]
DAVE-O: Get a load of this!
FRANK: Alright, what do you got?
DAVE-O: I’m going into art. I make— I’m making these now.
FRANK: [laughs]
DAVE-O: You get it? It’s like you’re goin’ fast!
MIKE: Oh, ’cause the antler’s bent?
DAVE-O: Yeah!
FRANK: You know, Dave, I mean, he’s out there. You know, I mean, all of today, each level keeps getting a little bit weirder.
MIKE: Hey, how much is this guitar, man?
DAVE-O: 1920 National Resonator!
MIKE: How much is it?
DAVE-O: I want $2,900 for it. It books for 3,500, it’s a Resonator, from National.
MIKE: Okay, that’s exactly what happened to a friend of mine, and that’s the only reason I know what I know about this.
DAVE-O: Why?
MIKE: ‘Cause I’ve got a National Resonator…
DAVE-O: Uh-huh.
MIKE: Okay, but listen to me on this. You look in here, look in those holes… there is no Resonator in there. It’s made by a company called Regal, and this guitar brand new, brand new, was 10 bucks. It was a student guitar.
DAVE-O: Some guy told me it’s a 1930 Resonator, from National.
MIKE: This is a student guitar, made by Regal. It’s made to look like a National Resonator guitar, but it’s not. He thinks it’s a National Resonator, and he’s got a fat price on it, and I hate breaking the news to him, but he’s a picker, just like me, and that’s how you learn.
MIKE: It’s got a fantastic look, but right now, to be honest with you, it’s about the look, it’s not about the…
DAVE-O: It’s a wall-hanger.
MIKE: It’s not about the instrument. It’s a wall-hanger.
DAVE-O: It’s not a National?
MIKE: No, it’s not a National. It’s a Regal.
DAVE-O: I was a little disappointed. I was hoping it was a National, you know?
MIKE: Are you into it deep?
DAVE-O: I gave $75.
MIKE: Well then, you did good, you did good.
DAVE-O: The guy I got it from, he probably knew, you know?
MIKE: See, we have a store in Nashville, this is the kind of thing that sells.
DAVE-O: I usually like to double my money…
MIKE: You paid 75? I’ll tell you what, I’ll let you more than double your money, I’d do 200 bucks on it. I’ll make like 50 bucks.
DAVE-O: Go ahead.
MIKE: You wanna do that?
DAVE-O: Get it outta here.
MIKE: I’d do that with ya.
FRANK: Alright.
MIKE: Alright, let’s do that.
MIKE: For a lot of people, a real Resonator is way too pricy for a wall hanger. So a knock-off like this is perfect for them, because it still captures the look, the vibe, and it’s not gonna break the bank.
FRANK: Dave-O… it’s been wild.
MIKE: Yeah, man.
DAVE-O: They were real nice guys. I need the money, and I can’t hold the stuff forever.
MIKE: Dave-O spent his whole adult life collecting things from the past that brought him joy.
MIKE: Ahh… look at that!
DAVE-O: That’s killer, man.
MIKE: I can’t help but feel that his excitement rubs off on everyone he meets.
MIKE: Alright, buddy.
FRANK: Bye, Dave-O!
DAVE-O: Alright, guys!
MIKE: We all strive to keep that little spark of childhood innocence inside of us.
[honks horn]
FRANK: See you, Dave-O!