The Best Finds On American Pickers

In Season 23, Mike Wolfe headed out to pick the collection of Gene Warren, and while that might not be a household name, the movies he worked on certainly were. Before CGI, there was stop motion, and Warren headed up the stop motion effects on blockbusters including "Terminator 2." The family had scores of props that they had made for stop-motion movies, including the giant squid Wolfe recovered from outside beneath the trees: It was the monster from Peter Benchley's "The Beast."

It wasn't only the movies that were iconic, though, and among the stop-motion props Wolfe found a collection of models from one of the most well-known advertising campaigns in recent history: Pillsbury's Doughboy. They were a brilliant look behind the scenes, with Warren's sons — who had worked in the business as well — explaining that there were heads made with different facial expressions, so swapping them out could give the illusion of speech without needing to animate the mouths.

Also included were the hands, and a brilliant story about how Warren's sons also starred in the commercials — as the hands that poked the Doughboy's belly and made him giggle. The Doughboy heads were the embodiment of everything Wolfe looked for in a great piece: There was Americana, pop culture, nostalgia, advertising, art, and a story, all wrapped up in one pick. The Warren brothers' original $2,500 offer was countered, and for $2,250, Wolfe took them all home.

ncG1vNJzZmivp6x7qL7Up56eZpOkunB9j25paXBlZMGpsYybnKysXZu2r7DSZqanZZGisrO1wpqlZqiZmLimvtJo