American Pickers

The Nash Statesman Super in front of the Antique Archaeology building in Le Claire, Iowa

The show follows antique and collectible pickers Mike Wolfe and Frank Fritz, who travel around the United States to buy or "pick" various items for resale, for clients, or for their personal collections. Danielle Colby runs the office of Wolfe's business, Antique Archaeology,[1] from their home base in Le Claire, Iowa, and more recently at a second location in Nashville, Tennessee. They originally traveled in a Mercedes-Benz Sprinter van and now in a Ford Transit. Fritz sells his acquisitions at his own shop, and previously on his now-defunct website,[2] Frank Fritz Finds, upriver in Savanna, Illinois.[3] The men go on the road, not only following up leads that Colby has generated but also "freestyling" – stopping at places that look like they might hold items worth buying. They also pick some places more than once.

The series introduction is narrated by Wolfe and Fritz. The first three seasons used a lengthy introduction, but beginning with Season 4, a shortened version began to be used:

[W]e're pickers. We travel the back roads of America looking to buy 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.

Mike and Frank explore people's homes, barns, sheds, outbuildings, and other places where they have stored antiques and collectibles. They call upon amateur and serious collectors, hoarders, and also people who have inherited overwhelming collections of items that they don't know what to do with. Wolfe, who has been picking since age four,[4] has a particular interest in antique motorcycles, air-cooled Volkswagens (pronounced “votes-wagon” by Wolfe), old bicycles and penny-farthings, while Fritz has a fondness for antique toys, oil cans, and old Hondas, with a special love for peanut-related items.[5] They have purchased old advertisements and commercial signage, film posters, a rare 15-gallon visible gasoline pump, and a Piaggio Ape (pronounced: ah-peh) that one of their friends told them is probably the only one of its kind in North America.[6][7]

In December 2011, American Pickers revealed that Antique Archaeology had leased part of a former 1914 car factory in Nashville, Tennessee, which originally made the Marathon automobile, for a second business location to decrease the distance required to haul their finds from the southern states.[8]

On March 13, 2018, Mike Wolfe made a cameo as himself on Season 15, Episode 17, of NCIS, titled "One Man's Trash".

The series debuted on January 18, 2010. The premiere episode of American Pickers had 3.1 million viewers, making it the highest rated History channel debut since Ice Road Truckers in 2007.[9] The September 8, 2010, episode "Laurel & Hardy" garnered Nielsen ratings as high as 5.3 million viewers in the 25–54 age group. As of that episode, the show retained the title of #1 new non-fiction series of 2010 among all viewers and adults 25–54.[10]

American Pickers is distributed on DVD by Beyond Home Entertainment in Australia.

• In the NCIS episode, "One Man's Trash", Gibbs and Ducky watch American Pickers and see an antique war stick from a 16-year-old cold case. Mike Wolfe guest stars as himself in the episode.

• Canadian Pickers / Cash Cowboys (2011–13), a similar TV series featuring two pickers in Canada; produced by Cineflix Media for the History channel in Canada.
• Picker Sisters, a 2011 TV series about two female pickers/designers.
• Picked Off, History's 2012 reality competition series, also produced by Cineflix Media.

• Official website
• History's "Meet the Pickers" cast bios
• Official Antique Archaeology website
• Official Frank Fritz Finds website
• American Pickers at IMDb
• "American Pickers": The Inside Story of the History Channel’s Surprise Hit, Jeff Ignatius, River Cities' Reader, 17 March 2010