After hundreds of “Pawn Stars” episodes aired over a decade on TV, it was time for a change for the staff of the World Famous Gold & Silver Pawn Shop. That’s how in 2022, their spin-off “Pawn Stars Do America” came alive, letting its audience see Rick, Corey and Chumlee searching for lost pieces of American history as they travel around the country.
While the show’s concept might be new for those who are used to seeing the Harrisons’ doing business in their old Las Vegas Show, “Pawn Stars Do America” is undeniably attractive for history lovers and collectors, for showcasing rare and unique items which usually aren’t seen in “Pawn Stars” main show.
Despite having aired only one season so far, “Pawn Stars Do America” findings are already ones for the books, but which ones are the most memorable out of them? Stay here to know which are the most amazing articles found by the Harrisons, what their new show is about, and so much more!
War Cannon but
It’s for a fact that war-related items are highly-sought after by history collectors, it’s not everyday that a legitimate war cannon from centuries ago makes it to a pawn shop.
As seen in the episode “Revolutionary Deals”, Austin ‘Chumlee’ Russell is brought a 1768 cannon in great condition. While the cannon’s owner Bob assures that the cannon had Spanish origins, the show’s firearms expert Alex Cranmer, shuts down his theory by pointing out how, despite being equipped with an European tube, the cannon’s engravings place the artifact’s origins to the American Revolution.
Although the owner’s hopes were slightly deflated by the revelation, to his joy Cranmer affirmed that the cannon’s excellent condition plus the fact it was part of American history most likely made it quite an attractive, expensive piece. After later research, Cranmer found that the cannon was most-likely used by Hessian soldiers, which made it all the more special.
Nevertheless, the cannon still had to be proven a good acquisition for Rick Harrison’s standards, hence why the staff took it to a firing test, which turned out much better than expected, leading Cranmer to surprisingly value the cannon for at least $200,000, 10 times more than the owner initially asked. He walked away with an impressive $100,000 deal, in exchange to saying goodbye to his family’s most precious possession.
Airplane Spinners
While airplane pieces aren’t a rare sight in the antiquity business, a pair of vintage spinners brought to Chumlee and Corey Harrison in the “Pawn Stars Do America” episode “Revolutionary Deals” are a good deal for every collector. Dated from the 1950s to the 1960s, the spinners most likely belonged to non-commercial planes due to their small size, and were in a condition apparently good enough to be bought without much hassle.
Nevertheless, a later revision by expert Luca Paganico confirmed that despite being a rare and sought after article, the spinners had markings and holes which considerably lowered its value. Despite initially asking for $750, the seller walked away with $400 in his pocket but the best part was yet to come, as a meticulous restoration and paint job by Paganico turned the spinners into beautiful ornament pieces, which were ultimately gifted to Rick by Corey and Chumlee.
Cards Collection
Sports cards are highly sought-after in the collectibles industry, though several factors such as the athlete’s popularity, the uniqueness of the card and its condition all come into play when the value of these items is assessed. That being said, while it isn’t rare to see sports cards being sold for thousands, what happens when not only is the card a rarely seen golf edition, which features not any player, but the best of the best in his field?
The answer is that the card ends up with an exaggerated value, which is hard to match ,even by the most interested collectors. That’s what happened in “Pawn Stars Do America”s first season premiere episode “Denver Gold Rush”, in which a seller named Brett not only owned several valuable cards featuring stars such as baseball player Fernando Tari Jr and basketball star Luka Dončić, but also unique printer plates featuring Tiger Woods from his rookie days in 1997.
Despite admitting that he ‘wouldn’t even believe that there was a golf card if it wasn’t for Tiger’, the cards’ total selling price of $205,000 was a little too much even for Corey Harrison. In spite of his reticence from buying the cards right away, Corey admitted a deal wasn’t out of the question, if he were to find the right buyer for them.
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17th Century Map
Some antiquities require only a brief assessment to determine their value, but when it comes to maps, there’s a lot more to look into, to decide if there’s any potential money in them. The latter is the case of a navigation map featured in the episode “San Francisco Treats”, which despite having a rich and interesting history behind it, wasn’t worth quite as much as one would assume.
According to the examination of antiquity expert Kathleen Manning, the map which was initially thought by Rick to date from the 1700s, was actually created around 1660 by Dutch cartographer Pieter Goos, who in the 17th Century mapped maritime territories nowadays known as the Baltic Sea, North Sea, along with the Arctic, Pacific and Indian Oceans.
Besides Goos’ impressive maps, several of his works such as the “Atlas or Water World” and “East Indies” made his name unforgettable for cartographers and collectors alike.
The map brought to Rick in “Pawn Stars Do America” was “The Straits of Gibraltar in the south to Bretagne in the North”, and was undoubtedly a sight to behold, but its not-so-good condition resulted in the seller walking home with only $150 in her pocket, half the price she initially asked. Nevertheless, a $650-worth restoration led by Manning turned the map’s value from hundreds to at least $1,700, surely making it an undeniably good deal.
Rare Horse Book
Besides being an experienced businessman and history expert, Rick Harrison is also a book guy who also happens to love horses. That unexpected but somehow pleasing fact was known by “Pawn Stars Do America” viewers during the episode “Revolutionary Deals”, when a book entitled “Anatomy Of The Horse” left Rick equally excited and flabbergasted.
The book wasn’t ordinary to say the least, but it wasn’t only the fact that it was printed in the 19th century that made it so special; the most amazing and impressive fact about the book was its copper plate engraved illustrations, achieving a level of detail and skill which are nowadays rarely seen.
The seller, who admitted finding the book in a farm basement by pure luck, walked away with $525 in his pocket. Although Corey was certainly skeptical about the purchase due to the poor condition of the book, a later assessment by book expert and fan favorite Rebecca Romney revealed that a possible restoration could turn the book’s value from hundreds to at least $10,000, much to Rick’s joy.
A Harrison always pays their debt 💰 and we owe you a new episode of #PawnStars Monday at 10/9c. pic.twitter.com/S5InlPgRTg
— Pawn Stars (@pawnstars) May 14, 2019
First Edition “Harry Potter” Book
Although rare and rarely seen books are considered collectors treasures, there’s also a potential market for those worldwide known book sagas, as long as they have something special in them. While it’s not rare to find editions of “Harry Potter” all around the world, a first edition from the saga’s first book “The Philosopher’s Stone” from 1997 is a treasure that not even die-hard fans easily get a hold of.
Luckily for the guys in “Pawn Stars Do America”, one of the aforementioned editions was brought to them as they visited Colorado for the episode “Denver Gold Rush”. Not only was the book in incredibly good state, but also included a paperback bound and some spelling errors found in it which confirmed its authenticity, according to the show’s book expert Rebecca Romney.
Despite all the things which made this “Harry Potter” book a collector’s dream, Romney’s valuation of $18,000 was quite lower than the seller had envisioned at first, so rejecting Chumlee’s offer of $15,000.
Dangerous Ball
Collective sports items are some of the most sought-after and valuable in the business, but sometimes not all the money in the world is worth the hassle of owning an unwelcome item from a rival team. That’s exactly what happened in the episode “Sweet Carolina”, when the “Pawn Stars Do America” guys went to Winston-Salem in North Carolina, searching for adventure, and discovering the well-kept secrets of the hometown of late ‘Old Man’ Richard Harrison.
While there wasn’t a shortage of interesting items in the episode, a man named Michael caught Corey’s attention for bringing in a basketball signed by legendary coaches Jim Valvano, Dean Smith and Mike ‘Coach K’ Krzyzewski from 1991. The item was undoubtedly eye-catching for any sport’s fan, given how the three men were considered enemies on the court by the time the ball was signed, due to the on-going rivalries between their champion teams.
Regardless of how uncommon and highly valuable the ball was, Corey wasn’t quite on board with the idea of owning such a ball: ‘as a businessman this is really really cool. Unfortunately, if I were to bring this to Las Vegas they’d burn my building down’, he told the seller, emphasizing the lack of popularity of Coach K in the-so-called Sin City as the reason. However, there’s surely someone out there who would buy the ball, without putting themselves in danger.
Ancient Pistols
Old pistols are some of the most sought-after items by collectors, but few of these are in a condition good enough to be used. Nevertheless, during the episode “Revolutionary Deals”, Corey Harrison and the firearms expert Alex Cranmer, were ecstatic when a customer brought in a rare 150-year-old revolver to the shop, in such a good condition that it was impossible to say no.
As described by Cranmer, the revolver was a Side-Loading model created back in 1863 by Frank P. Slocum, who avoided the limitations of design and functionality imposed by other revolver patents by producing a five bullet-chamber pistol with a right side charging system. That being said, the Slocum Side-Loading featured in the show was even more special, for being stored in its original box and so being in excellent condition, despite the passage of time, resulting in a $4,000 valuation by Cranmer.
The later the episode “National Treasures” featured an even older pistol. It was the case of what Rick believed was a 1758 Colt Dragoon, though he was slightly reluctant to pay much for it due to the rough state of the pistol, and the fact that several of its parts were disassembled from it. Rick ultimately paid the seller $700 for it, but later found out that the revolver was Marine Dragoon Pistol, a very rare model, which if restored correctly, would gain him over $5,000.
Disney’s Certificate
While collectible Disney items are very popular and highly valuable, very few times does something in this category leave the guys in the Pawn Shop speechless. One of those rare cases occurred during the “Pawn Stars Do America” episode “San Francisco Treats”, when a customer named Fred brought Corey a canceled stock certificate signed by Walt Disney himself for his daughter Sharon Mae Disney in 1955, the year the company was founded.
Due to the fact this item was not a regular Disney autograph but a real document from the company, it was examined by the show’s autograph expert Steve Grad, who confirmed the certificate’s authenticity and its uniqueness. As he explained, documents of this nature usually came from Disney’s brother Roy’s office, but this certificate was most likely written by Walt himself, which confirmed that it was issued early in the company’s life, making it all the more special and rare.
The very impressed Grad admitted to never seeing a document like this before, making an approximate valuation of it at over $30,000, and possibly even more if sold through an auctioneering house.
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Lincoln’s Assassination Collectibles
Despite seeing lots of interesting items throughout the season, the episode “National Treasures” filmed in Washington brought to light some items related to Abraham Lincoln’s assassination, starting with a pair of opera glasses worn by Mary Ann Todd Lincoln on the day her husband was shot.
The glasses were acquired by the seller Dough through an auction in England, and added to other items he owned related to the event, such as a lithograph of Lincoln on his deathbed, and a letter written by doctor Charles Leale, who described the medical procedures he performed on the president in trying to save his life on the fateful day of his assassination.
Unfortunately, Corey and Dough couldn’t agree on a right selling price, but no one can deny that these items were some of the most iconic in the whole series. However, if a second “Pawn Stars Do America” season were to see the light, we’ll surely get the chance to see even more impressive pieces of history in it.
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