STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. — Mike Pacello describes himself as “a forever 10-year-old boy.”
Step into his collection space — which he refers to as his “lair” — and the nickname makes a little more sense.
The 59-year-old Great Kills resident has spent over two decades amassing an eclectic collection of cast iron toys, vintage advertising, Americana, pop culture memorabilia and curious oddities — items that might make the average person scratch their head, but for Pacello, each piece tells a story.
“I go into a place and it’s exhilarating,” Pacello said. “It’s like my Spidey sense starts tingling.”
His enthusiasm for collecting began to take shape alongside his career as the owner of Mike’s Landscaping of Staten Island, a business he’s run for 34 years. About 20 years ago, after binging episodes of “Pawn Stars” and “American Pickers” — reality shows centered on antique hunting and the business of buying and selling historically significant or unique items — Pacello found a new passion taking root.
Mike Pacello, 59, of Great Kills, has spent years amassing an eclectic collection of cast iron toys, vintage advertising, Americana, pop culture memorabilia and curious oddities.(Advance/SILive.com | Scott R. Axelrod)
That passion also led to an unexpected friendship through a routine eBay transaction, as an exchange of emails between strangers blossomed into a 13-year friendship with Frank Fritz of “American Pickers,” who passed away in 2024 at the age of 60.
“Frank and I were cut from the same cloth,” Pacello recalled fondly. “He was like the everyman collector. He collected what he liked, and it wasn’t always about valuable stuff.”
What started as casual weekend treasure hunts soon became a full-blown obsession — one that’s taken Pacello across the country and landed him on television.
Mike Pacello, 59, of Great Kills, has spent years amassing an eclectic collection of cast iron toys, vintage advertising, Americana, pop culture memorabilia and curious oddities.(Advance/SILive.com | Scott R. Axelrod)
“You can say I’m a frugal buyer,” he noted. “A lot of this stuff doesn’t have tremendous value, but it’s stuff that I like.”
Pacello’s collecting philosophy is simple and sincere: “The collection will never be complete, because I don’t even know what I’m looking for sometimes.”
That open-ended curiosity has led him to discover everything from 1920s cast iron toys and quirky advertising pieces to a taxidermied turtle cigar ashtray from the Victorian era.
“Sometimes I don’t even know what I’m looking for until I see it,” he explained. “And then I’m like, holy s—, what’s that?”
Mike Pacello, 59, of Great Kills, has spent years amassing an eclectic collection of cast iron toys, vintage advertising, Americana, pop culture memorabilia and curious oddities.(Advance/SILive.com | Scott R. Axelrod)
His dedication means weekends are often packed with early mornings at the Chelsea Flea Market in Manhattan before moving on to other flea markets and collector shows in New Jersey and Pennsylvania. Between stops, his phone buzzes with fellow collectors and dealers calling with invitations to private viewings and estate sales throughout the region.
Pacello’s network extends far beyond the tri-state area thanks to his management of a Facebook group called “I Love Old Junk,” which boasts more than 20,000 active members. Established around 2019, the group serves as a space where members can buy, sell, trade and share photos of their most unique weekly finds that at a minimum, are pre-1980.
“It’s mostly people showing off their hauls,” he said. “Like, ‘Hey, check out this devil thing I found today,’ or ‘Look at this army helmet.’ It could be anything.”
Pacello’s expertise and reputation in the collecting community eventually caught the attention of TV producers, resulting in appearances on “Comic Book Men,” produced by filmmaker Kevin Smith, and nine episodes of the Las Vegas-based “Pawn Stars” between 2013 and 2024. During these segments, he sold some early comic strip character toys and salesman samples but turned down offers for pieces he decided were too sentimental to part with.
Back in the “lair,” Pacello proudly displays one of his most cherished finds — an 1878 mechanical bulldog savings bank, discovered in pieces inside a dust-covered box while antiquing in Florida with his son, Michael. After extensive restoration, the clockwork mechanism came back to life: a bulldog leaps up, “eats” a coin, and drops it into the bank.
Interestingly, dog-themed items are sprinkled throughout his collection — a nod to his 2-year-old Boston terrier, Hubley, named after the historic Hubley toy company that operated from the late 1800s through the 1950s.
A display of “Popeye the Sailor Man.”(Advance/SILive.com | Scott R. Axelrod)
A particular draw for Pacello is cast iron collectibles. “That old cast iron patina just grabs me — there’s something special about it,” he said. “There’s nothing like it, man; it’s just phenomenal.”
His appreciation partly stems from frustration with modern throwaway culture. “This is a disposable society now. You buy something, and it lasts five, maybe 10 years. They make appliances like that these days.”
Many pieces in his collection also carry personal memories. A blue section of a Coca-Cola sign reminds him of the paint in his grandmother’s Brooklyn kitchen. A poster for the 1963 B-movie “The Day of the Triffids” transports him back to childhood, when he and his grandfather watched the invasion of carnivorous plants that both thrilled and freaked him out. Even his first soda-bottle find — a rare “Sweetie” from Philadelphia — sparked a lifelong fascination with advertising collectibles.
One of Mike Pacello’s most cherished finds — an 1878 mechanical bulldog savings bank featuring a bulldog that leaps up, “eats” a coin, and drops it into the bank.(Advance/SILive.com | Scott R. Axelrod)
While Pacello stores his most valuable pieces safely off-site, he surrounds himself at home with items he enjoys looking at and that simply make him happy.
Beyond collecting, he and a close circle of friends regularly explore abandoned areas across Staten Island, from the old Sea View Hospital to Annadale’s Spanish Camp to Clay Pit Ponds State Park Preserve in Charleston to parts of Fort Wadsworth.
These urban adventures occasionally yield rare finds, though they come with risks — he said a fall suffered in early 2024 at Sea View left him with a souvenir scar from a severe facial laceration requiring 38 stitches.
“I don’t even know what I landed on, but I had a hole in my face,” he said. “I was weirdly calm though and went straight to the ER.”
Mike Pacello, 59, of Great Kills, has spent years amassing an eclectic collection of cast iron toys, vintage advertising, Americana, pop culture memorabilia and curious oddities.(Advance/SILive.com | Scott R. Axelrod)
When he’s not out treasure hunting or exploring, Pacello can usually be found researching his latest acquisitions. “I say it all the time — I’m like an encyclopedia of useless information. But it’s not useless, because knowledge is extremely powerful in this hobby.”
For newcomers eager to start collecting, Pacello offers straightforward advice: “Knowledge is power. Do your research. Know what you’re looking at. Get familiar with your prices. Be patient — slow your roll, because you’ll find another one for a better price or something else you like even better.”
Mike Pacello, 59, of Great Kills, has spent years amassing an eclectic collection of cast iron toys, vintage advertising, Americana, pop culture memorabilia and curious oddities.(Advance/SILive.com | Scott R. Axelrod)
His wife Anna, who has been married to him for 38 years and only occasionally joins him on hunts, said, “It’s something he got into a long time ago, and I’m happy that it turned into a passion that brings him a lot of joy.”
After decades of collecting — and the endless search for a spare spot in the lair to display new acquisitions — Pacello shows no sign of slowing down. The thrill of the hunt keeps him going.
“It’s always something to look forward to,” he said. “I work my a– off all week, and I can’t wait for the weekend to get back out there.”
If you are or know a Staten Islander with a unique hobby or profession, please email Scott R. Axelrod at saxelrod@siadvance.com.
Dog-themed items are sprinkled throughout Mike Pacello’s collecton — a nod to his 2-year-old Boston Terrier, Hubley, named after the historic Hubley toy company that operated from the late 1800s through the 1950s.(Advance/SILive.com | Scott R. Axelrod)
Mike Pacello, 59, of Great Kills, has spent years amassing an eclectic collection of cast iron toys, vintage advertising, Americana, pop culture memorabilia and curious oddities.(Advance/SILive.com | Scott R. Axelrod)
Mike Pacello, 59, of Great Kills, has spent years amassing an eclectic collection of cast iron toys, vintage advertising, Americana, pop culture memorabilia and curious oddities.(Advance/SILive.com | Scott R. Axelrod)
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