{"type":"rich","version":"1.0","provider_name":"Transistor","provider_url":"https://transistor.fm","author_name":"House of Folk Art","title":"Episode 63 | The Lost Art of Door-Knock Picking with Wade Ledbetter","html":"","width":"100%","height":180,"duration":4183,"description":"Wade Ledbetter returns to the House of Folk Art to talk about the lost art of door-knock picking.\nWade started picking around 1978 and spent more than 30 years driving back roads, choosing houses that looked promising, and knocking on doors to ask if anyone had old things they were ready to sell. In this episode, Matt asks him to explain what real picking looked like before Facebook Marketplace, online auctions, and yard-sale listings changed the business.\nWade walks through the pitch he used at the front door, how he gained someone’s trust, and why the first offer could determine whether he ever made it into the basement, barn, or shed. He remembers arriving as a stranger, spending cash one piece at a time, and occasionally finding himself in the middle of a family disagreement after the buying had already started.\nThe biggest story begins with a house Wade had passed several times outside Roanoke, Virginia. When he finally found someone home, he made his way through the basement, upstairs, and into the surrounding buildings, buying vinegar jugs, handmade violins, a forge, an anvil, carved powder horns, and a face jug he paid $20 for. The powder horn later brought around $1,500, while the face jug sold at auction for $5,500 and would likely be worth considerably more today.\nMatt and Wade move from face jugs into baskets, early pottery, country store material, carnival glass, and the objects that once filled weekly auctions. Wade remembers returning to an old house in Littleton, North Carolina, only to find that most of the building had collapsed with the antiques still inside. He also explains how pickers once bought throughout the week, called their auction advertisements into the newspaper, and had everything ready to sell by Friday.\nSomewhere along the way, the conversation turns into an auction of its own. Matt sells Wade a seven-foot crosscut saw on camera, tries to interest him in several baskets, and learns that Wade is still ready to make a deal as long...","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}