Television and Antiquities

This week I took a different approach, and wanted to explore antiquities as shown on popular television shows. If you were to flip through the channels on your T.V, I bet you would see many shows about people uncovering antiquities, and buying, selling or appraising them. Two popular shows that use this premise are “American Pickers”, and “Pawn Stars.” They each may have different formats, but they all deal with handling rather old objects.

 “American Pickers”, for example, is shown on the History Channel, involves two men out on the search for special antiques right in the backyard of America. Their intro reads;

“I'm Mike Wolfe. And I'm Frank Fritz. And we're pickers. We travel the back roads of America looking for rusty gold. We're looking for amazing things buried in people's garages and barns. What most people see as junk, we see as dollar signs. We'll buy "anything" we think we can make a buck on. Each item we pick has a history all its own and the people we meet? Well, they're a breed all their own. We make a living telling the history of America...one piece at a time”

Wolfe and Fritz barter the items off the owners, who are most of the time hesitant, and then sell them at auction or by other means at a higher price. Wolfe and Fritz are often entertaining and likeable guys. When I watch the show, however, I often feel bad at the fact that the usually dupe the owners of the “antiquity” to buy the items at a lower price. Even after they do that, they sell the items so they can make money off of them. Even though they say they buy junk, most of the items they find are worth quite a few dollars. Once they sell the items, who knows what happens to them.

                History Channel’s “Pawn Stars” is about a 24-hour family owned pawn shop in Las Vegas. The business is operated by the often grumpy Richard "Old Man" Harrison, and his son Rick Harrison. They opened the shop in 1988. The business is always run by Rick’s son, Corey, and his clumsy friend Austin "Chumlee" Russell. They show has attracted the network’s most viewers, becoming a great success.  The pawn shop comes into contact with many interesting antiquities, such as Civil War paraphernalia or old letters from presidents. Part of the show is to determine if the object is authentic, and if it is, the owner is given the option to with pawn or sell it. The price offered to the owner is often much lower than what the appraiser says it is worth. Of course, the “Pawn Stars” buy it at a lower price to make a profit of it. The item than goes to sale at the shop, or is kept by the “Pawn Stars”, or sold elsewhere.  While I watch this show, I always wonder how the owners get some of these objects. Many times, they say it was passed down through their family, but why would they want to sell it knowing it could end up anywhere?

                These shows prove that the antiquities market is a sticky market. The objects are often bartered as if it was a gambling game. These objects are than sold or auctioned as if they were trading cards, too. One could easily see how illusive the market is. You can buy an item for $50, than sell it at auction, and make $500, even if it is not worth that much. One could say “One man’s trash is another man’s treasure”, but are these objects really trash?  If everything is worth something, than nothing is really trash, besides trash itself. Also, what if the owner wants their object back if it was stolen from them? This then leads to a case of repatriation too. It goes to show that museums are not the only places that feel the heat of the antiquities market. Local pawn shops and auction houses can be home of the shady hand of the black market. The creepy thing is, is that things like that are broadcasted on T.V for your enjoyment.  
           Even though the points I stated above may exist, "Pawn Stars" and "American Pickers" are not as evil as I may have described. My Professor brought up a good point that these shows do save objects from rotting away in a shed or barn. Many times, they restore the objects and give them a second life, so to speak. These shows also raise the public's awareness to antiquities, and perhaps could inspire people to respect antiquities more.  In the end, both shows are highly entertaining and endearing, and have a lot of value educationally as well. 

Kiera Lanni