[Ads-l] picker

[Bill Mullins]

This is much older than I would have guessed.  I worked in the collectibles field in high school (1970s),was at the Nashville Flea Market every month, haunted antiques malls and stores, and knew and worked with many antiques dealers.  I never heard "picker" in this sense until ca. 2010, when the show came on .

NY _Daily News_ 26 Aug 1961 p 22 col 3
"An antique shop on E. 49th St. has a sign which reads: "Because our suppliers are the greediest, most miserable, conniving pickers of antiques who comb the country and only buy when some poor unfortunate is in exceptionally distressed circumstances, we can pass the benefit of this practice on to you." "

_Pittsburgh [PA] Press) 9 Dec 1962 magazine sec p 4 col 3
"Became A Picker
So Recco Luppino, still in knee pants, became a "picker," the lowest run on the ladder of the antiques business.  For years, before and after graduating at East Washington High School, he rang door bells in Washington, and rummaged through attics and barns for glass, china, furniture, books and anything that might be salable."


> -----Original Message-----
> From: American Dialect Society [mailto:ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU] On Behalf Of Barretts Mail
> Sent: Friday, October 26, 2018 11:40 AM
> To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
> Subject:  picker
> 
> ----
> 
> Yesterday, my neighbor told me about pickers, people who seek out valuable merchandise to sell to antique shops. She told me that pickers
> often have routes that they visit in their search and that it can be a lucrative occupation.
> 
> This meaning of “picker” is not in the English OLD (https://en.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/picker <
> https://en.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/picker>), Wiktionary (https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/picker <
> https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/picker>) or Merriam-Webster (https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/picker <
> https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/picker>).
> 
> TVphiles may be familiar with this meaning from a program called “American Pickers” that debuted on 18 January 2010 (
> https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_Pickers <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_Pickers>).
> 
> 1. December 2012
> https://www.udemy.com/draft/32557/ <https://www.udemy.com/draft/32557/>
> Scott Liscomb
> 
> ——
> So You Want To Be A Picker?
> 
> This course will teach the basics, and secret techniques, of how to make money as a picker of rare and valuable items.
> ——
> 
> 2. 2018 c. March
> https://www.reddit.com/r/whatisthisthing/comments/8ac182/a_picker_brought_this_art_into_our_antique_shop/ <
> https://www.reddit.com/r/whatisthisthing/comments/8ac182/a_picker_brought_this_art_into_our_antique_shop/>
> Posted by u/johnsinternetsales
> 
> ——
> A picker brought this art into our antique shop. Wondering the name of the model.
> ——
> 
> 3. There are numerous shops with “picker” in the name.
> 
> Picker Paradise (https://www.averyjournal.com/avery/picker-paradise-new-antique-shop-open-in-newland/article_5f11abde-
> af5d-54cf-9428-1132384b3469.html <https://www.averyjournal.com/avery/picker-paradise-new-antique-shop-open-in-
> newland/article_5f11abde-af5d-54cf-9428-1132384b3469.html>)
> Picker Joe’s Antique Mall (https://www.yelp.ca/biz/picker-joes-antique-mall-savannah <https://www.yelp.ca/biz/picker-
> joes-antique-mall-savannah>)
> The Picker Sisters (http://www.retrochique.ca/ <http://www.retrochique.ca/>), apparently a nickname
> 
> 4. July/August 1971?
>https://www.motherearthnews.com/homesteading-and-livestock/how-to-antique-picker-zmaz71jazgoe <
> https://www.motherearthnews.com/homesteading-and-livestock/how-to-antique-picker-zmaz71jazgoe>
> by Ira Smith
> 
> This appears to be an article on antique picking written in 1971 in _Mother Earth News_ that has been put on the internet, but it’s not clear.
> 
> Benjamin Barrett
> Formerly of Seattle, WA
> 
> 
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