Jesse McClure says his new TV show ‘British Treasure, American Gold’ is a cross between ‘Antiques Roadshow’ and ‘Jackass’.
The American antique seller is the star of the new programme which sees him travel the length and breadth of the UK with £80,000 looking for items he can sell for big profit back across the pond.
Jesse purchases some very unusual collectables such as a stuffed giraffe’s head and a mini tank – which he spends £8,000 on – and he says those items are a reflection of Great British eccentricity.
Speaking exclusively to BANG Showbiz, he said: "It’s one of those shows where if you took ‘Antiques Roadshow’ and mixed it together with ‘Jackass’ this is what you’d get. It’s a mixture of good fun and interesting transactions for collectables that I find along the way. I brought over my 1978 Pontiac Trans Am and I brought over two of my buddies and we drove around the UK looking for unique and awesome items to take back to my antique mall in Los Angeles to try and make a couple of bucks and turn over a profit. I’m not a specialist in anything, I’m just a jack-of-all-trades kind of guy and that’s what you see, me evaluating different types of items."
The first episode airs on Wednesday night (19.10.16) on Quest and is a music special.
And ‘Storage Hunters UK’ star Jesse gets his hands on a very rare piece of rock ‘n’ roll memorabilia – a pair of boots worn by Sir Elton John on stage.
He revealed: "In one episode I buy Elton John’s stage-worn boots I spent a few hundred pounds and sold them for $1,000. It took a little but of time but once you find the right guy whose really into Elton John or music memorabilia you can make great profit.
"Stuff like The Beatles, The Who, classic rock derived from the UK, that’s the heart and soul of that music. On the show I buy UK pressings of vinyl. For someone here, UK vinyl to you is just vinyl, but to someone in America if I have a first edition pressing of The Beatles’ ‘Let It Be’ I can sell it for 10 times the price I could in the UK, having those variations is what really drives up the price. UK pressed vinyl has been a huge success for me in the past few months, I’ve been killing it. I’ve spent £1,000 on British vinyl and have made $4,000."
‘British Treasure, American Gold’ is screened at 8pm on Quest. Freeview Channel 37, Youview 37, Sky 144 and Virgin 172.
Jesse McClure: British Treasure, American Gold is Antiques Roadshow crossed with Jackass
