{"type":"rich","version":"1.0","provider_name":"Transistor","provider_url":"https://transistor.fm","author_name":"House of Folk Art","title":"Episode 44 | Secrets from Alamance County and the Pick of a Lifetime","html":"","width":"100%","height":180,"duration":3664,"description":"Matt sits down with his dad, the infamous Wade Ledbetter, inside the auction gallery for a story Wade admits might be risky to even share. What starts as a quiet memory from rural Alamance County quickly turns into a mystery about a ten foot clock, a fifty thousand dollar offer from Henry Ford’s museum team, and a farmhouse fire that erased everything. Wade takes Matt back to the days when he delivered milk to the Krauss family and explains why the story of that clock stayed with him for more than fifty years.\nThat secret leads Matt to share a story of his own. At twenty five, he walked into a house in Virginia that changed everything for him as a picker. A house filled with museum tagged antiques, rare crystal, first edition books, and paintings he was not yet experienced enough to understand. It was the pick of a lifetime, the kind that teaches you more in a day than years of picking can.\nTwo stories from two Ledbetters. One about a clock that vanished. One about a house that should never have been lost.\n00:00 | Wade Introduces the Krauss Family and the Mysterious Clock\n06:40 | Henry Ford’s Buyers and the Fifty Thousand Dollar Offer\n13:50 | The House Fire, the Surviving Clock Weight, and Wade’s Milk Route\n18:50 | Why Wade Believes the Clock Story Still Matters\n25:30 | Wade’s Attic Finds and Early Picking Lessons\n29:01 | Wade’s Unexpected Friendship with Mickey Mantle\n38:28 | Matt Heads North and Walks Into a Once in a Lifetime House\n45:20 | The Crystal, Paintings, and Museum Tagged Pieces Inside Phil’s Home\n52:00 | Matt’s Big Scores and the Things He Missed\n58:20 | Phil Passes Away and the House Is Emptied\n01:00:40 | Closing Thoughts with Matt and Wade\nAs the conversation winds down, Matt and Wade reflect on the stories that shape a picker’s life. From a vanished Alamance County clock to the house that launched Matt’s career, these moments remind us that the best finds are often the ones you cannot plan for. Every attic, every basement, and every back road has...","thumbnail_url":"https://img.transistorcdn.com/V9-9EJUZ9R45flfIBnsuQ4AwapFGe_rYKiVr1IMQwbU/rs:fill:0:0:1/w:400/h:400/q:60/mb:500000/aHR0cHM6Ly9pbWct/dXBsb2FkLXByb2R1/Y3Rpb24udHJhbnNp/c3Rvci5mbS9zaG93/LzUxNTk0LzE3MTE3/Mzc2MTktYXJ0d29y/ay5qcGc.webp","thumbnail_width":300,"thumbnail_height":300}