History Channel Story

Quitaque has a population of 411 and one of the most misspelled and mispronounced names in the state of Texas. But to our surprise a nationally televised story broadcast on the History Channel got it right! Quitaque is pronounced ‘kitty-kway’ by some and ‘kita-kway’ by other local citizens.

In one of the weekly episodes on the History Channel’s American Pickers titled ‘Substitute Picker,’ Mike and his brother Robbie, who is substituting for Frank, are picking (searching for antiques) in Idaho when Robbie finds a pair of old spurs in a warehouse at a seller’s home. They were owned by the seller’s dad, are of plain design, and are stamped on the shank, ‘J. O. BASS, QUITAQUE, TX.’ Robbie thinks they are valuable, so Mike takes photos and calls a friend to see if he knows anything about this type of spur. The friend tells Mike the spurs were made in Quitaque between 1891 and 1905 and are very rare. These were made before J. O. Bass moved from Quitaque to Tulia, Texas, where he started cataloging his spurs and bridal bits and began embellishing many of them with silver. This pair of spurs, because they are rare, is estimated to be worth $5000 to $7000. Mike bought the spurs and is offering them for sale in his store for $5,500.