A far better show is the UK Antiques Road Trip.

You've got two dealers who have $200 pounds each. During a 4 episode stretch they PICK antique shops and barter hard to get bargains. Each episode they take the stuff to auction. These auctions usually have internet bidders too.

Why is this so superior to American Pickers? Because these dealers also think they're going to make money off every purchase, BUT YOU GET TO SEE WHETHER THEY DID OR NOT!

Mike Wolfe has this show set up to look like they hardly, if ever, make mistakes. I've seen them overpay a bunch of times, but we're always left with just what THEY THINK they'll get. Especially Frank who doesn't seem like he wants to part much with his $20,000 per episode pay. He goes into houses full of toys and focus's on the broken toys because he knows he'll be able to buy those for $10, instead of the great stuff you see all over the room.

The dealers on Antique Road Trip are doing this for charity. All the profits go to children's charities. So they do fight hard for bargains, and it's a competition. But they also make big mistakes!

I've watched these two American Picker clowns go into Gilleys and overpay for everything! and you could literally look up all the things they bought in that episode and see they are dead items on Ebay. It's because Mickey somehow managed to empty the bar before the fire! Almost like it was set on purpose?? and people know that there's more Gilleys memorabilia around than there ever was interest.

And that's just an observation from one episode. Frank and Mike lately have been buying part missing toys, bikes and motorcycles and claiming they'll make huge profits. All that kind of stuff lies around for YEARS until you connect WITH A GUY WHO NEEDS IT and is willing to pay your ransom.

It's so easy for these guys to do that, and it's becoming more and more frequent on their picks. Every local (10 mile X 10 mile area) has 50 guys storing old parts toys and bikes that they thought they'd rebuild one day, but haven't gotten around to in 40+ years and the main reason is...all the other guys with those parts act like they're worth their weight in gold and you can't even begin to restore something without possibly shelling out twice it's mint value. So it's literally a DEAD MARKET! Go to a big swap meet where guys bring out tables full of rare parts. Set up a camera and film two or three of these booths where everything is rare, and high priced. You know what you'll get 48 hours of on film? A ton of people looking, nobody buying. Because they've priced the hobby out of interest to most people. You put that stuff through an auction, the guy would be lucky to recover .33 on a dollar. They killed the hobby from greed. Mike Wolfe acts like there are slews of people running around looking to restore everything. It's just not true anymore. They can buy the cars and bikes in great condition now for 1/2 what they used to bring, why would they pay you for something they have to hunt high and low for affordable parts to? Simple answer..they don't anymore.

I'll tell you why they promote it so much. Because he's most likely sitting on a large stash himself, and would like to shock resuscitate the hobby.

To get a better idea of THE REAL MARKET watch Antiques Road Trip.

I'll explain the fluctuation. As generations pass people want the stuff THEY grew up with. There's less and less people wanting to shell out gazillions for 1900-1960's bikes daily. Because they die, and there's more of them available, and less buyers who want them. The hot stuff is 70's to 80's cars, bikes, toys. Because the collectors want them in mass! The old collectors always don't get this. That all their collecting buddies are dropping dead, and it's now onto the next generation.

This is why you recently had an episode where Mike could have bought original monster models for $3 each and only took a few, because he is not growing as a buyer/collector and is instead focused on what used to sell 25 years ago. I'm sure anybody who knows the current toy market went "Waaa waa what?" all of those were a steal at $3

Another thing about Antiques Road Trip is these are seasoned dealers who aren't one trick ponies, but are experts in a huge variety of things. They aren't limited to Bikes, toys, and advertising. They know 1000 other markets besides those 3, or four.