Forget TV Pickers, Meet The Real Mavericks Of The Antiques World

Long before Mike Wolfe and Frank Fritz swaggered into the spotlight with 'American Pickers,' writer Maureen Stanton became fascinated with another rugged Alpha Male of the antiques world. But unlike Wolfe and Fritz, the brash 40-something man she calls by the pseudonym 'Curt Avery' tends to avoid the spotlight.

Avery is a professional antiques hustler, wheeling and dealing at flea markets all over the country - 30 or 40 per year. And between September 4 and 9, 2012, he'll be one of thousands of vendors at the last Brimfield Antique Show of the year, the largest such outdoor flea market in the country, which happens three times a summer.