The Best Finds On American Pickers

While there are still a few people who claim it's a point of pride that they haven't seen "Star Wars," even they have to know who iconic characters like Yoda and Darth Vader are: It's no secret that pop culture knowledge is absorbed by osmosis, and anyone who's turned on a television or glanced at social media just knows. Still, that said, the "Star Wars" find from Season 16 is one that true fans would appreciate most.

A phone call to sculptor, artist, and model-maker Mario Chiodo confirmed that they were looking at the real deal: Prototypes he had made of Yoda for the Jedi Master's introduction into the onscreen "Star Wars" universe. While there were a few models, there was only one that Chiodo could confirm he had actually made, thanks to a telltale glaze put on the model's eyes. 

It was Frank Fritz who negotiated for the sale of that particular model, and for a cool $6,250, the pickers walked away with a little slice of movie history.

It was during a Season 19 episode that Mike Wolfe and Frank Fritz met a guy named Phil. Phil had a property of a sort that looked pretty familiar to fans of the show, filled with old, once-magnificent items whose heyday had long since passed. There was something here that really stood out, though: An International Harvester Metro van with an oddly-shaped Aerosmith logo painted on the side.

The van's owner had rescued it out of the mud, but didn't know much more about it. He'd heard rumors that it might have been the first van Aerosmith used when they started playing together, but rumors and confirmation are two entirely different things — and while it might sound too good to be true, it was weird enough that the pickers decided to do some investigating of their own.

It's good to know people, and they were able to get Ray Tabano — original Aerosmith guitarist — to come out, take a look, and ultimately confirm that, yes, it was their old van. "It's been like 40 years since we've been in this thing," Tabano exclaimed. "I just flashed back, to when we first started the band. It was this amazing thing, all of a sudden here's this thing that we lived in. It was like our dressing room, it was like a rolling hotel." Tabano had something else cool, too — pictures of Aerosmith inside the van, showing details down to the rug still on the roof. And yes, they ended up buying it and getting it back to the band.

The idea of olde-timey sideshows might look exploitative to modern eyes, but there's no denying it's a part of American history. Many traveling sideshows had their exhibits advertised with massive banners, and in Season 17, the American Pickers found a set of banners hand-painted by one of the most famous sideshow artists of the era, Fred Johnson.

Johnson, Wolfe explained, had worked for the O. Henry Tent & Awning Company for around four decades, starting in the 1930s. The banner that they had stumbled across — depicting all the classic movie monsters of the era, and promising only the bravest of visitors that they'd encounter them in the Monster Mansion — wasn't signed, but they still offered a not-too-shabby $3,500 for the piece.

At the same pick, they found some other cool banners, too — including one advertising an animatronic show depicting The Last Supper. It's not often viewers get to see Wolfe completely baffled, but he freely admitted that it was the first time he had seen a religious circus banner — although after talking out how it made sense to offer families with children something they could safely go see, without worrying about giving their kids nightmares, Wolfe offered $2,000 that the seller accepted.

Video games might be getting more advanced, more complicated, and more lifelike, but there's still something wonderfully nostalgic about the old-school games. From Atari to 8-bit consoles, they're still fun — and when it comes to hanging out with friends, pinball games were pretty much the pre-internet equivalent of today's online multiplayer games.

In a Season 23 episode, Mike Wolfe was climbing through a treasure trove of signs when he uncovered an ultra-rare pinball machine that he didn't recognize — and for good reason. The machine was one of just 85 made back around 1975, making the Bally Slap Stick machine one of the rarest pinball machines that any collector could try to get their hands on.

Exactly why the company designed and produced just 85 machines wasn't clear, but as Wolfe said, that's part of the allure. Imagining the life story of these rare video games is half the fun of owning them ... and perhaps more, as their expert suggested it just wasn't a very fun game to play, and the demand had fallen flat. Still, the gamers' loss was the collectors' win, and it was valued — in present rough condition, not working — as being worth around $3,000. An original offer of $1,500 was countered with $1,750, allowing them to make a deal that both parties were happy with.

In Season 23, Mike Wolfe headed out to pick the collection of Gene Warren, and while that might not be a household name, the movies he worked on certainly were. Before CGI, there was stop motion, and Warren headed up the stop motion effects on blockbusters including "Terminator 2." The family had scores of props that they had made for stop-motion movies, including the giant squid Wolfe recovered from outside beneath the trees: It was the monster from Peter Benchley's "The Beast."

It wasn't only the movies that were iconic, though, and among the stop-motion props Wolfe found a collection of models from one of the most well-known advertising campaigns in recent history: Pillsbury's Doughboy. They were a brilliant look behind the scenes, with Warren's sons — who had worked in the business as well — explaining that there were heads made with different facial expressions, so swapping them out could give the illusion of speech without needing to animate the mouths.

Also included were the hands, and a brilliant story about how Warren's sons also starred in the commercials — as the hands that poked the Doughboy's belly and made him giggle. The Doughboy heads were the embodiment of everything Wolfe looked for in a great piece: There was Americana, pop culture, nostalgia, advertising, art, and a story, all wrapped up in one pick. The Warren brothers' original $2,500 offer was countered, and for $2,250, Wolfe took them all home.

Authenticating rare photos of larger-than-life, olde-timey figures from the Wild West is admittedly hard, and in Season 13, Frank Fritz and Mike Wolfe came across something that had unlimited potential for being super cool — a new/old photo of Billy the Kid.

Purchased by the then-owner in 1979, the tintype was sourced from the daughter of Pat Garrett, the man who had shot and killed Billy the Kid in 1881. Forensics experts had been consulted, the owner explained, and were so certain that it was him that they claimed any jury would be happy to send a person away for life based on the quality of photographic evidence.

And as far as value? A previously sold image of Billy the Kid blew all auction estimates away and sold for a whopping $2.3 million. Needless to say, they were quick to say that it was way out of their price range, but agreed that researching items — and the potential to come across something of massive historical importance — like the photo was the fun part of collecting.

No one gets into picking antiques without having a passion for it, and everyone has their thing. For Mike Wolfe, part of that was the dream of rebuilding a 1911 Harley Davidson motorcycle from pieces that they recovered from across the country, and in Season 11, he had finally found the last piece: the motor. He had spent more than four years looking for the 100-plus-year-old motor, and when he found it, it wasn't an easy buy.

Still, it was clearly an indescribably exciting find. Wolfe and partner Frank Fritz had spent so much time searching for the perfect pieces for clients that seeing them do something solely for themselves was a reminder of why they got into the business in the first place. "This thing is sweaty. It's scarred. It's rusted. I've been dreaming about it. Finally, we got the heartbeat for it," Wolfe explained.

And it was more than about just getting him a bike: They also lauded the entire community who had worked to not only bring all the pieces together, but then got the whole thing up and running again. Preserving such an intricate part of history was a group effort, and at the end of the day, that's what it's all about.