Elgin man loves 'the hunt' for Big Ten treasure
You never know what's going to catch John Arcand's eye.
The collectibles expert might spend a few thousand dollars to buy an entire collection of Northwestern University memorabilia from a fan's basement, or he might wade through a large flea market and emerge with nothing but a small ticket stub from a 1966 Indiana-Michigan State basketball game that cost him $50.
Arcand, 50, of Elgin, is host of “Big Ten Treasure Hunter” on BTN, a show where he buys memorabilia of Big Ten universities, mostly sports items, from regular people and other collectors. It airs at 7 p.m. on Tuesdays on both BTN and BTN2Go.
A small portion of Arcand's collection is for sale in Daddyo's, a collectibles store in downtown Wauconda frequently seen on the show.
Good-humored, personable and yet a tough-as-nails negotiator, Arcand can look at a piece of Big Ten memorabilia and quickly determine whether it's valuable, worthless or a fake.
While the show's “hunts” are prearranged — like the giant barn full of Penn State memorabilia he'll visit this season — he's been known to follow plain signs that say “SALE” with an arrow while driving along rural Midwest roads.
“The hunt is half the fun,” Arcand said. “On the show, I don't know what I'm buying until I get into the house. I know there's going to be a whole room of stuff, but I don't know what I'm going to see. The producers like to do that so I'm genuinely surprised.”
Arcand admits he didn't know much about Big Ten sports when he started hosting the show last year — the Evanston native went to Arizona State University -- but he learned quickly. Now he's an expert on the coaches, players and alumni from all 14 Big Ten schools dating back to the early 1900s. He's also learned the market supply and demand for different schools (Ohio State and Michigan are the biggest sellers, Nebraska and Northwestern the weakest).
“Collectors are naturally statisticians,” he said. “You want to buy low and sell high. It's a sports version of a micro stock market.”
Even with the TV show, acquiring collectibles is still just a side gig for Arcand, who runs a multimillion-dollar electrical manufacturing business, UVD Industries Inc. in Addison. Collecting, he said, is just for fun.
He caught the bug 38 years ago, when he got his first job sorting baseball cards at AU Sports Memorabilia in Morton Grove. His pay was that he could keep three cards. Soon he was amassing collectibles ranging from comic books to motorcycles.
Arcand has bought a few duds over the years (some Babe Ruth baseball cards that turned out to be reprints) and found some diamonds in the rough (some old beer cans he bought for $5 and sold on eBay for thousands of dollars).
Arcand and his wife, Debby, ran a few small collectible stores, including Big John & Little Debby's Collectibles in Rogers Park, which is now closed. Right before he decided to retire from the business and close the store, he was approached by a BTN production company about hosting “Big Ten Treasure Hunter.” He had no on-camera experience and thought the invitation was a joke being pulled by his friends. But he went ahead and made an audition tape, which he described as “terrible,” and sent it in. The network executives liked what they saw.
“They were looking for someone smart about sports and good on camera. And when they couldn't find him, they called me,” he said.
Now, he's comfortable on camera, with the filming process (“it can take six hours to film what will amount to 7½ minutes of television”) and with his new celebrity status. Big Ten fans regularly invite him to tailgate parties, he's a VIP guest at Big Ten games and he gets recognized by strangers in places like the drugstore.
They'll ask him — like everyone does — “Hey, John, I got this thing ... what's it worth?”
The highest offer Arcand ever made for a Big Ten item was $10,000 for a 1902 Michigan Rose Bowl program signed by every player and coach (his offer was rejected; he heard the owner later sold it for $12,000).
This season, Arcand will offer big bucks for John Wooden's 1930s-era All American certificate, from when the legendary coach was a star basketball player at Purdue University.
The buy-sell-trade business is competitive and cutthroat, and Arcand often warns people not to buy items hoping to profit off them. It's common for people to think they have something old, only to find out it's been reprinted to look old, or it's something that was mass produced.
“I tell people, ‘Collect what you really enjoy. And hopefully, you will get some type of return on your investment. But don't expect it to be much,” he said.
Arcand doesn't know what his future TV career holds, but he's enjoying the spotlight.
“I truly do enjoy it,” he said. “I just have the reality of knowing it can end at any time.”
Fans who have items they want Arcand to look at can submit details at BTN.com.
— Jamie Sotonoff
• Dann Gire and Jamie Sotonoff are always looking for people from the suburbs who are now working in showbiz. If you know of someone who would make an interesting feature, email them at dgire@dailyherald.com and jsotonoff@dailyherald.com.
Treasure Hunter's secrets
What BTN's “Big Ten Treasure Hunter” host John Arcand has learned about Big Ten memorabilia:
• The best sellers are items from Ohio State's and Michigan's football teams.
• The poorest sellers are Nebraska sports items. Nebraska didn't start mass producing memorabilia until much later than other Big Ten schools, so there is less inventory. That makes its vintage items very high priced.
• Items from celebrity alumni, Big Ten players who went pro or famous coaches are always hot sellers, such as memorabilia from talk show host Johnny Carson's years at Nebraska, pro golfer Jack Nicklaus' time at Ohio State or NBA All-Star Isiah Thomas' years playing basketball at Indiana.
• Generally speaking, the older the item is, the more it's worth.