Dana Cain has been fascinated with pop culture since her 1960s childhood. Blessed with parents who made sure she had access to all the best toys, films, concerts and TV shows, Dana's modern-day pop culture expertise is rooted in genuine memory.

 

Since earning her Mass Communications degree in the 1980s, Dana has made her living buying, selling and writing about collectibles, pop culture and Boomerabilia. Leaving no stone unturned in her exploration of the field, she has authored several price guides, sold thousands of items on eBay, run live auctions of toys and pop culture items, and organized nearly 100 toy and pop culture collectors shows. In 1995, she accidentally founded The Church of the Risen Elvis.

 

She also co-owned a Denver shop called Atomic, for many years in the 1990s, specializing in 1950s-60s-70s collectibles, toys, pop culture and home decor. She originated and ran the monthly Rocky Mountain Toy Auction as well as The Rocky Mountain Collectors Supershow (the largest show of its kind in the region). With her extensive background in buying and selling items from the 1950s-60s-70s, she has a solid working knowledge of the values of pop culture memorabilia. Currently, Dana sells mid-century modern furniture and home decor at a local Denver shop called Mod Livin'.

 

She has a solid understanding of the ever-changing market of retro home decor, from the top designer pieces to the campiest kitsch ... Eames lounge chairs to Tiki mugs. She is also very active with the eBay online auction system, buying, selling and researching a wide variety of collectibles. Her feedback rating, after 6 years of trading, is over 2200, with not a single negative feedback! Dana's eBay involvement helps her maintain a good general knowledge of collectibles and their current values and availability.

 

Dana has appeared on numerous TV and radio shows, sharing her considerable knowledge about collectibles, pop culture and childhood memories. Her most recent appearances have been on HGTV's Hey Remember series (in 12 episodes), HGTV's That 50s Home and That 60s Home, and the Hey Remember Christmas Special. Prior to the HGTV appearances, Dana was featured as the "SuperCollector" on FX Network's Personal FX Collectibles Show, and she was a cast member of a local Denver show called The Fanboy Report. She has also been on many local news broadcasts (and a few national ones) promoting her pop culture shows and events. She has also been featured on dozens of radio shows (Harry Rinker, etc.) in several states discussing many aspects of vintage toys and collectibles.

 

In 2005, Dana was selected to be a top cast appraiser for a proposed DISCOVERY CHANNEL show ... POP NATION: AMERICA'S COOLEST STUFF! The show was to be sort of an updated, more FUN version of Antiques Roadshow, focusing on treasures from the 1960s-70s-80s and 90s! EBay was onboard, too -- and was set to run auctions of the items brought in to the show. Dana was flown to several cities and got to work with some of the coolest people in the business - including "the man himself" - Harry Rinker! You may know him as "The Collector Inspector!" Unfortunately, the Discovery Channel and the production company involved decided to basically scrap the whole idea -- but it sure was FUN doing the tapings anyway -- in Baltimore, Austin and Long Beach!

 

Dana and Collectibles Guru Harry Rinker on the set of POP NATION, July 2005, Long Beach

 

Dana's writing credits have included the "Toy Detective" column for Antique Trader newspaper, cover stories for Toy Shop magazine, a monthly collectors column for Explore Denver, and feature stories for Baby Boomer magazine, the Rocky Mountain News and The Denver Post, among others. She has also written several price guides, and continues to be a consultant for the giant annual "Antiques & Collectibles" guide published by Antique Trader.

 

       

     

 

Book credits include:

 

Krause Publications

Collecting Monsters of Film and TV (1997)

UFO and Alien Collectibles (1999)

The Encyclopedia of Saturday Morning TV Collectibles (2000)

 

Antique Trader Books

Film and TV Animal Star Collectibles (1998)

Japanese Movie Monster Collectibles (1998)

Dinosaur Collectibles (with Mike Fredericks) (1999)

TOYS Price Guide (with Kyle Husfloen) (2001)

Antiques & Collectibles (major contributor - giant annual price guide by Kyle Husfloen) (2004)

Antiques & Collectibles (major contributor - giant annual price guide by Kyle Husfloen) (2005)

 

Schiffer Publishing

501 Collectible Horses (with Jan Lindenberger) (1995)

Fun Collectibles of the 1950s, 60s and 70s (with Jan Lindenberger) (1995)

 

Dana's personal collections have included: Godzilla, Lassie, Flipper, toy dinosaurs, vintage psychedelic monster toys, tarot cards, Planet of the Apes, Benji, gas masks, horses, 101 Dalmatians, children’s books, modern art books, costume jewelry, vinyl LPs, garage sale artwork, unicorns, Dancing Hamsters, vintage concrete yard animals, sock monkeys, jackalopes, religious artifacts (all religions) and vintage science fiction movie posters. Right now, she's focusing on tiki mugs!

 

She lives in Denver with her boyfriend, artist Peter Illig (www.peterillig.com)

 

Dana and Peter in Long Beach for the POP NATION taping, July 2005