two more shows!

[grasswire]

http://www.extraspace.com/news/post/2010/11/29/Another-New-Show-on-Storage-Unit-Treasure-Hunting-Set-to-Premier-This-Week.aspx

Reality TV just can’t get enough of the excitement of treasure hunting in abandoned storage units. A new show by A&E is joining the game just as Spike TV released its own show as recently as last month.

On Nov. 9 Spike TV’s Auction Hunters premiered with the premise of all of the show’s half-hour episodes being what Clinton "Ton" Jones and Allen Haff can acquire in abandoned storage units and then sell for profit. The first show puts them in the heart of L.A. In one storage unit Allen finds a rare 1910 copper cash register and Ton unearths a mint condition 1970's German H&K P7 pistol.

Now A&E is ready to dive for potential treasure by debuting its own storage unit auction series on Dec. 1, 10 p.m. ET. The show will be called Storage Wars and instead of following a team of storage-gold seekers, it segments the show into the trials of four buyers. The show stealers just might turn out to be the fast-talking married auctioneers Dan and Laura Dotson. Also featured are well known relic collector Barry Weiss, a new-to-the-scene Jarrod Schulz and his nitpicking wife, Brandi, who has no problem brow-beating her husband when he makes a bad decision.

Rob Sharenow, senior vice president of alternative programming at A&E said he hasn’t seen Spike TV’s Auction Hunters, but believes there’s enough room on cable TV for two shows about storage unit treasure hunting.

“I think any other show that’s out there just doesn’t have the level of access, characters and dramatic rivalry that we have,” boasted Sharenow in a release. “We’ve got the real deal here. The hunting shows and shows about valuable objects are out there. That’s really only a piece of this show.”

The stars of these shows need to act as part gamblers and part detectives as they get mere glimpses into the repossessed storage units and must decide whether to bid on them. A recent big find was the world’s most valuable comic book collection. The stars have found plenty of valuable pottery and works of art, and yes a lot of junk and oddities too. But when they hit it big, the excitement swells. Paying as little as $10 dollars for a unit, they have made millions from the hidden treasure inside.

A&E is billed as “Real Life Drama” and reaches more than 99 million homes. The shows are mostly unscripted and are dramatic and authentic. The A&E website is located at www.aetv.com.

[Vinca]

1. These could be interesting shows. I've always toyed with the idea

of buying storage units, but I've always been afraid I'd find one decent item and be stuck with a truckload of stuff for the dump. There was an interesting find around here, though. Years ago a woman bought some packets of letters at a junk shop that turned out to be correspondence from the daughers of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow. She didn't pay much for them. The owner of the shop had bought a storage unit and just baled up the letters and threw them in a barrel to sell. As I recall, they appraised at nearly a quarter of a million dollars. I have no idea if she sold them or kept them. The value seemed high to me, but what do I know?

[grasswire]

2. a neighbor of mine does this as a sideline.

Just this morning he bought a storage unit for ONE dollar. It contained three drive-through espresso stands. No espresso machines or supplies, but the stands are intact, clean, new, fresh paint etc. Thirty five cents each. Worth thousands of dollars.

Crazy.

[Vinca]

4. That's amazing. There are some local people who have a regular

tag sale going on the weekends who buy them. Oddly enough, I don't think they're that sharp and it wouldn't surprise me to find something in their stuff someday.

[Duer 157099]

3. I've been watching the one on Spike, I like it

I also have thought about going to such an auction, but I can't help but wondering why the storage facility owners don't first look through the units and skim the treasures off the top? What prevents them from doing that? And then just selling the junk?

Also, where does one learn about such auctions? I think it'd be fun. Although, knowing me, I'd just keep all the stuff and put it in storage, lol.

I need to learn how to sell the stuff I have/find/collect. In these shows, they always seem to have a "buddy" who knows all about antique-such-and-such. I need some buddies like that first, I guess, so I can sell stuff to someone.

[grasswire]

5. ads for the storage auctions are required to be in the newspaper ..

...as far as I know. Can't auction off a person's stuff without a public notice.

As far as determining value of an item -- there's no experience like experience. Researching an antique is a lot of fun, I think.

Last night I watched the A&E show episodes and saw that some of the people who regularly buy at storage auctions own second-hand shops. If you have that kind of an outlet for lesser merchandise, you can get rid of the flotsam and sell the better stuff elsewhere.

[demgrrrll]

6. I don't know if anyone has mentioned Oddities yet but the

show is about an antique shop in New York that specializes in weird stuff like mummified cats and two headed cow taxidermy mounts and straight jackets etc. The customers are as weird as the merchandise. I think it is on syfy and may be on again this Wednesday. I think someone brought in gallstones to sell and the owner was interested and pulled out a huge baseball sized gallstone that was already in the shop. Really something.

[grasswire]

7. whoaaa!

That sounds so fun. Thanks for the news!

[Vinca]

9. OMG - I flipped onto this show last night. Weird, weird, weird.

These folks are a bunch of sick puppies. Especially the skull-obsessed guy.

[demgrrrll]

10. I dont know what to think about that one either. I dont think I will

be watching that show on a regular basis. The new show Cash and Cari looks interesting. She looks like a pretty savvy picker.

[grasswire]

12. what about the fingernail collection?

Or was it toenails?

The stuff she made from clippings was really creepy!

[demgrrrll]

8. New Show Cash and Cari on some channel looks like a

female version of American Pickers

[grasswire]

11. Weds. nights for Cash & Cari on HGTV

I look forward to it!

[eleny]

13. Starts on January 3rd!

Cash & Cari: Premieres Mon, Jan 3, 10pm/9c
http://www.hgtv.com/cash-cari/show/index.html