Looking for “Wow” with Big Ten Treasure Hunter John Arcand

Got a big collection of Big Ten sports memorabilia? Then John Arcand might be your man.

Arcand is the host of BTN’s new eight-episode Big Ten Treasure Hunter series (Tuesdays at 8pm ET), which follows him as he travels the country to visit collectors of memorabilia from every school in the Big Ten and negotiates to purchase attractive items. In the premiere episode, Arcand visited a Nebraska fan with a collection of original Cornhuskers art, a Michigan collector with a massive array of Wolverines memorabilia, and a former Indiana Hoosiers baseball coach who has transplanted artificial turf on his staircase, a leather football helmet from 1919, and the actual section of basketball floor where Bobby Knight threw the chair.

Arcand is the proprietor of Big John & Little Debby’s Collectibles in the Chicago area, and has been in the business of collectibles for nearly 30 years. “[BTN] called around looking for someone that was well-polished in the sports industry and charismatic, but they couldn’t find that guy, so they called me,” Arcand jokes.

With rabid fans and nostalgic alumni, the market for college sports memorabilia is thriving. “The truly unique stuff is actually a lot more popular in the circles of college collectors than the people who are looking for pro items,” Arcand says.

College memorabilia also goes back farther in history and predates most pro sports collectibles. The Michigan collector Arcand visits has memorabilia from Irving Kane Pond, who scored the first touchdown in Michigan football history in 1879. “In the Big Ten you’ve got Rutgers and 1766,” Arcand says. “You’re talking 10 years before the Declaration of Independence was signed.”

Arcand finds no shortage of unique items in his visits. “You always want to try and find something that’s going to be a ‘wow’ factor, something that’s going to get you the bang for the buck, as the industry calls it. It’s not so much about making a killing on one item, because you don’t get rich off of one item often. But what you do want to find is the piece that almost any collector of that genre is going to say, ‘Gee, I need to add that to my collection.'”

In Big Ten Treasure Hunter, Arcand visits some serious collectors who won’t easily part with their rarest items. “It scares these guys, because 1) They don’t want to necessarily sell anything out of their collection, and 2) Sometimes when you have the older collectors, they’re not sure what your motivation is,” he says. For him, it’s in the stories that lie behind the items, and a desire to see the perfect piece go to the right person. “Even if I’m breaking even on an item or slightly making any money on it, boy when it goes to the right guy, that could be a customer for life for a person like me or any other collector.”

Once Arcand sees something he likes, he’ll make the collector an offer, and he and the collector usually can negotiate to a sweet spot in the middle. “When I have a piece that I know is going to immediately turn, I’m not going to barter too much. But when I have items that I think are going to sit for a while, I want to try and barter a little bit more,” he says. “Me sitting on an item for a year or two, that’s not the quick ROI that I’m usually looking for.

“I come to the house, and I make it clear to these guys, ‘Guys, this isn’t spades. This is me trying to get it for $1 and you trying to get $1,000,” he says. “‘If you’re easy on me, I’m going to crush you.’ And I say, ‘If you’re hard on me, you’re going to crush me, but let’s hope we meet somewhere in the middle.'”

In the Sept. 23 (8pm ET) episode, Arcand visits a Penn State alum with a personal Nittany Lions Den, and heads to Madison, Wisc., to check out a big assortment of Wisconsin Badgers and Barry Alvarez memorabilia. His visit to Madison includes a quick segment at the famous State Street Brats. The bratwurst didn’t disappoint, and neither did the Badgers memorabilia collection he perused.

“This guy’s collection will mirror if not annihilate that Michigan collection you saw,” Arcand says.

“Of course,” says this proud Wisconsin alum.

Got some unique or cool Big Ten stuff you think might have value? You can submit photos and descriptions of items for consideration to BTN.com.