auction kings new cast member

Growing up, Lori Verderame took an interest in the antiques her parents collected, often hunting for them with her dad at flea markets and yard sales.
Known simply as “Dr. Lori” to many, Verderame is a Penn State graduate (she holds a Ph.D. in art history, Class of ’96) who will join the cast of the hit reality TV show “Auction Kings” on the Discovery Channel for the show’s third season.
Verderame, a TV expert and nationally syndicated columnist whose articles reach 8.2 million readers, worked as a graduate assistant in Penn State’s Palmer Museum of Art. She credits the University for providing her with the opportunity to gain important museum and art history training that she uses in her work today.
“I used to teach in the lecture halls that held 300 students,” she said. “I learned quickly the best way to keep that many students happy and awake is to be funny while teaching the subject matter.”
The Penn State alumna’s humor and expertise as a certified fine art and antiques appraiser has been not only the inspiration of her column and blog, it has led to appearances on Comedy Central’s “The Daily Show with Jon Stewart,” “The Tonight Show with Jay Leno” and additional shows on ABC, NBC, CBS and FOX.
Though it was the sense of humor she honed at Penn State that got her on TV, it was an older woman who inspired her to become an antiques appraiser. While working as a museum curator, Verderame met a 75-year-old woman who needed to pay her bills and sold a historic George Washington document for $50 to a dealer. The document was actually worth $50,000. When Verderame spoke to people in the appraisal business about the incident, they told her, “That’s just business.”
“When I met her I thought, ‘This woman could be my mother,’ she said. “Anyone could make that mistake.”
Determined to educate people on the value of their possessions, Verderame began teaching the public about antiques. She taught art and antiques courses at local community colleges and eventually began touring the country, even presenting her popular antiques appraisal shows on cruise ships, all to teach people the worth of their collectibles.
“I ended up with a fun, fabulous career as an appraiser,” Verderame explained. “No one knows more than I do how lucky I am.”
Her career wasn’t just luck, however. Verderame has been working at it for a long time. She said she doesn’t bake, have kids or pets — she has her career, which she’s passionate about but which takes up her time. She’s always researching and maintaining the latest information on appraisals.
“On ‘Auction Kings,’ the values I provide are comparable, so if someone brings me their Tiffany lamp, I appraise it for what another, similar Tiffany lamp has most recently been sold for,” she explained. “I evaluate about 20,000 objects per year at my antiques appraisal shows and on TV. I have to keep a running database in my head.”
She’s rarely stumped. Verderame appraises “anything from soup to nuts,” and her unique expertise has her ready to appraise nearly any object.

auction kings the tv show

Paul Brown -- Owner of Gallery 63. Paul is a second-generation auction house owner. He at first had no desire to pursue it as a career but changed his mind after working at a car wash and earning a college degree in Literature. Paul took a job with his father's Atlanta-based auction house in 1989. In 2005 the opportunity to buy Gallery 63, just north of the Atlanta city limits, was one he couldn't resist.

Cindy Shook -- Manager. Cindy and Paul first worked together at his father's auction house in the early 1990s. She functions as both office manager and inventory manager, tagging and cataloging items for each sale.

Jon Hammond -- Picker. As a "picker" Jon not only helps process items at the Gallery but will often go in search of interesting and unusual items to sell on consignment. A college English major, he bested nearly one hundred other applicants for the position of assistant manager.

Delfino Ramos -- Repairman. As Paul has said repeatedly: "If Delfino can't fix it, no one can." Often items brought to the auction house are in need of cleanup or repairs—both major and minor—to increase their sale value. Delfino has been with Gallery 63 since Paul Brown purchased the business.

Episodes (Season 1)

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#	Title	Original air date
1	"Vampire Hunting Kit/Meteorite"	October 26, 2010
A softball-sized meteorite that struck Russia in 1947, a vampire-killing kit from the 19th century, Jon (the newest employee) finds a signed copy of Gone with the Wind and a genuine Nazi handbook from World War II.
2	"Love Meter/Knights of the Templar Sword"	October 26, 2010
Delfino's handyman skills are challenged when picker Jon uncovers a classic "Love Meter" arcade game. A monk brings in a 1637 Episcopalian prayer book that was brought to America during the Revolutionary War and used in the church attended by some of the Founding Fathers. A man brings in his grandfather's Knights of the Templar coat and sword.
3	"Ladies' Muff Pistols/John Hancock's Book"	November 2, 2010
A collector brings in a pair of 19th-century ladies' pistols designed to be concealed in a hand muff, while another seller offers for auction an early-print Great Gatsby and a book signed by John Hancock. Jon picks a Venetian mirror.
4	"Rolling Stones' Snooker Table/Aliens"	November 2, 2010
A seller brings in a snooker table he built for the Rolling Stones to use on tour. A woman's collection of rare African artifacts, including an elephant mask, two iron throne chairs, and a terracotta honey pot. Paul's dad Bob decides to sell a family of alien props that he took as trade for a pool table.
5	"Iwo Jima Sword/Cathouse Chairs"	November 9, 2010
A 1969 Oldsmobile 442, two chairs reportedly from a New Orleans cathouse, and a WWII Japanese rifle and sword still partially wrapped in the 60-year-old paper used to mail them home from the battlefield.
6	"Dinosaur Tooth/Victorian Furniture"	November 9, 2010
The Gallery 63 crew struggles with Cindy's new stress release, a drum set Jon brought in on a pick. Paul takes Jon to meet a client auctioning off his collection of sentimental Victorian furniture, including a settee and a piano, while a fossil-hunting couple from Montana bring in three rare dinosaur fossils, including a T.Rex tooth.
7	"Pink Cadillac/Baseball Memorabilia"	November 16, 2010
Looking for funds to buy a new tour bus, a rock-a-billy musician cruises to Gallery 63 in a gleaming pink 1960 Cadillac. A wife unloads her husband's model tugboat, but it'll need some of Delfino's magic before it can be sold in working order. And a collector brings in historic Negro League baseball memorabilia that he hopes will help pay for a mission trip to the Ivory Coast.
8	"Spy Watch/Model A"	November 16, 2010
The Gallery 63 team prepare for their next auction, which includes a Model A Ford and Lion King concept sketches. Cindy reminds the team of her picking prowess when she brings in a weekend find: a 1950s spy watch/recorder that still has historic voices on it.
9	"Triumph Chopper/Ruby Necklace"	November 21, 2010
Auctions are a risky business, with seemingly worthless items often selling big while fabulous items fall flat -- and it's up to Cindy to teach Jon how to identify what will sell. This week, a man walks in with a 92-carat ruby necklace he's been keeping in a shoebox, another brings in a classic 1967 Triumph Chopper, hoping for enough cash to help his mother renovate her house, and a third presents an unopened case of presidential brother Billy Carter's Billy Beer that the expert says it's worthless, but Jon bets will sell.
10	"Hand Cannon/Fabergé Pencil"	November 23, 2010
A seller brings in an ancient hand cannon so old and so rare, even the experts struggle to determine its origin and history. Also a mystery is a tiny jewel-encrusted gold pencil that might just be Faberge. Meanwhile, Delfino struggles to revive a 90-year-old sour-sounding player piano and a woman brings in a dreary painting her aunt left her that she can't wait to get out of her house ... only to get a big surprise on auction day.