I like the show, but agree. They contacted a bunch of people about Civil War Gettysburg associated items for the Civil War episode. Instead of it being some tattoo'd CSI knock off woman named Danielle in Iowa who does the sleuthing work, however, it was a woman on Park Avenue in New York City who sent the eMails I saw.
Seems like the drill is let them come in and get something wicked cheap from you and in exchange you get to be on TV. Interestingly rather than re-sell the items for a profit as is the show's premise, they committed to donate them to a museum.
Dwayne Davis, a good guy and dealer in Tennessee did do it (& they ended up buying a motorcycle from him). Not sure who else we know who did for that episode.