It turns out Maryland isn’t only good for picking crab – but also antiques. American Pickers, a hit show on The History Channel is returning to the Old Line State this May. Antique enthusiasts Mike Wolfe and Frank Fritz are constantly on the lookout for large, private, antique collections with unique backstories, and have had some rare finds in Maryland in the past.
If you have a unique collection and would like to be featured on American Pickers, send your name, town, state, collection location, description, and photos to americanpickers@cineflex.com or leave a voicemail at 1-855-OLD-RUST.
THE AMERICAN PICKERS IN MARYLAND
In 2011, Mike and Frank paid a visit to Henry Langley, a marine engineer in Lusby, Maryland, with antiques spanning from tin toy cars to a two-hundred-year-old General dress sword worth $3,000.
DORCHESTER COUNTY
In the same trip, the two explored the site of the McMahan Oil Company, an Easton-based company which closed in 2001. The founder’s grandson, Tim Miller, hoped to sell pieces from the collection of oil-related paraphrenailia – or “petroliana” as the pickers call it. Gems in the collection included a classic American Oil Company sign and a set of mint condition Esso gas pump globe faces.
SOMERSET COUNTY
The pickers returned five years later to tour Somerset County’s Eastern Shore Early Americana Museum, a repurposed chicken house filled with two floors of collectibles amassed by Lawrence Burgess. Burgess founded the museum in 1976 so visitors could understand ‘how things were in the days gone by.’ Mike walked away with an antique mangle press, a machine used to wring out clothes, complete with a beautiful cast-iron base.
This post was written by Maggie Pelta-Pauls, a Waxter Intern with Preservation Maryland. A graduate of The College of William and Mary, Maggie is primed to research and write about Maryland history – especially culinary history. Learn more about Maggie and our The Waxter Memorial Internship program here: presmd.org/waxter.