I don't know how many of you watch the series "American Pickers" on the History Channel. For those of you who don't, it showcases these two guys who travel around, mostly in the midwest, looking for valuable collectibles and antiques amidst the clutter of people's homes and yards. It's a generaly amusing show, but I never really expected to see a somewhat familiar toy turn up on it.

On an episode I saw last night, which I think was a rerun from earlier in the week, but still a relatively new episode (had a 2011 production date), the guys were going through the very cluttered old house of someone, and came across a Mego "Bat-Van", which one of the "pickers" quickly proclaimed to be a VW Van, something he is particularly fond of. The box was in pretty poor condition, but the van seemed to be in fair to decent shape, and even had a few Mego figures stuffed inside of it!

Interesting place to come across a toy that I remember having myself, decades ago...

i saw it. 20 bucks was a great price on it. american pickers is my favorite show on tv. i cant wait to see what the come up with next. i dont know if you watch "storage wars", but they had mego figures on there a few weeks ago.

I saw that too. UGh... I had that as a kid I'd LOVE to get one again... especially for $20!!!

$20 wasn't just a great price, they ripped the guy off soundly.

these guys are scam artists, and if I ever saw 'em anywhere near my place, I'd run 'em off.

Being an antique dealer myself, I am always on the look out for good deals, but I also offer fair prices.

So the question was-- when they do the recap-- what did the show say the items were worth? Ive always wondered how accurate that part was (since lots of times they just say estimated value- not what they can actually sell it for) You know thay have to be getting a decent bump in sales or of other merchandise just from having this show-- because what they flip some of the items for- isnt worth the price of gas to drive down and pick some of that stuff up..

Why are they scam artists? If the guy selling accepts the price for well below market value, that's on the seller, not the buyer.

In the day of ebay, it should only take a seller about 5 minutes on a computer to get a good estimate on the value of an item. If a seller can't be bothered to do that, I feel no pity for them.

Congrats to them for getting such an excellent price!

I hope I can manage to buy as many things as possible from sellers who have Mr. B's sense of business ethics. For example, I want my mechanic to give me a fair price, not just charge me as much as he thinks he can get me to pay.