THE whole premise behind the History Channel show, American Pickers, rests on the fact that Mike Wolfe and Frank Fritz (previously) travel across the country to find one-of-a-kind antiques worth splurging on.
Of course, as they come across motorcycles from the 1930s and sideshow banners from the early 1900s, it's worth exploring the most expensive items found in American Pickers so far.
ACE BIKE
Price tag: $90K
During one episode in season 17, the pickers came across an expansive collection of old bikes that the owner's late father had passed on to him.
In the collection, Mike and Frank quickly recognized one of the rarest bikes in existence: the Ace bike, which was made anywhere between 1920 and 1924.
The Ace brand was only in business for those four years before being bought by a second company and later retired from the market.
Upon showing interest in buying the bike, the owner said it was all a package deal and they had to take every other bike in the collection.
In total, they dished out $90K for the entire collection with the Ace bike going for $45K.
1935 AUBURN PHAETON 653
Price tag: $45K
Another one of Frank and Mike's passions is antique cars that have been sitting in dusty garages for decades.
Well, during season 12, they came across a very rare 1935 Auburn Phaeton – which was produced on the same year the company went out of business.
The two paid $27K for the car before spending another $1k transporting it to the American Pickers HQ.
They then spent over $10K to make it look brand new and make it run.
LEATHER LICENSE PLATE
Price tag: $1K
Before you say $1K is not a lot compared to a $90K bike, it actually is for a license plate.
More than 100 years ago, license plates actually only had numbers instead of a combination with letters.
This meant that some people took it upon themselves to make their own license plates and some of them made them with embossed leather, like the one the boys found.
SIDESHOW BANNERS
Price tag: $6K
During one of their earlier seasons, the Pickers discovered amusement park posters in one of the oldest continuously operating amusement parks in the country.
Bushkill Park in Easton, Pennsylvania began operating in 1902 and only closed in the early 2000s, leaving behind plenty of memorabilia.
After simply picking up a few for $700 each, they later discovered they were well over $6K where they then went back to the park to buy the rest.
1910 ROYAL PIONEER BIKE
Price tag: $55K
Bike aficionados will know that a Royal Pioneer bike is actually a rarity while also being one of the best bikes in the market.
Sadly, before the company stopped production, they only made over 500 bikes with only four still being in existence today.
So, of course, when the Pickers came across this rarity, they happily dished out $55K for it, which then went up in value when they made it look brand new.
The bike is now well worth over $100K.
YODA PROTOTYPES
Price tags: $7K
Two collections had reached out to the Pickers as they enticing them by offering to sell their movie memorabilia.
Little did they know, they would across limited-edition Yoda prototypes sold to fans of the Star Wars movies.
Despite them not being huge on movie memorabilia, they knew it was a gold mine as Star Wars is one of the most beloved and profitable movies out there.
Each Yoda prototype went for $7K.
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