Pawn Stars s03e26 Episode Script

Honest Abe

On this episode of Pawn Stars Got a Lincoln campaign ribbon from 1860.
Okay, this is amazing, but I don't even know what this thing is worth.
Well, I do.
Okay.
$25,000.
It's a mid -'60s little electric car.
The body's in just great shape.
So how does this thing drive? You got to pull up your throttle and brake, turn the key on.
Oh, come on! I've got an 1860s dynamite blaster.
How does it work? You run that out to your dynamite.
You raise that up.
I was told this one works.
Don't put that down! I'm Rick Harrison, and this is my pawn shop.
I work here with my old man and my son, big hoss.
Everything in here has a story and a price.
One thing I've learned after 21 years, you never know what is gonna come through that door.
What can I help you with? Got a Lincoln campaign ribbon from 1860.
It's made of silk.
It's in very good condition.
It's got Abraham Lincoln's bust picture on it.
Also has, for vice president, Hannibal Hamlin.
Is that like a Lincoln log? No, it's a ribbon you would, like, wear on your clothes.
Like they have campaign buttons nowadays.
Yeah.
Sort of what they had back then.
I need to bust out the new button: Chumlee for president, 2012.
[Laughs.]
I decided to come to the pawn shop today.
I have an Abraham Lincoln campaign ribbon.
It's a very rare piece of history.
Decided to bring it and see what it was worth.
Everything has a number on it, but I'm not gonna give it away.
Well, it's been in my family 150 years.
I have a little document here.
It was originally, and when I found it, in my mom's cedar chest.
Got a little story about it there.
Okay.
"Worn by my grandfather John hall.
Campaign of 1860.
" I'm definitely interested in it because, quite frankly, it's pretty cool.
Abraham Lincoln is considered one of the greatest leaders this country has ever had, so whenever I run across items from his presidency, you bet I'm interested.
How come Lincoln doesn't have a beard? The story goes is, a little girl wrote him a letter saying he would look much more distinctive if he grew a beard, and that's why he grew it.
I don't know if it's true or not.
Beard or no beard, you don't get a much bigger American icon than Lincoln.
So what were you looking to do with it? Sell it, if the price is right.
Okay, um The great thing is, it's in beautiful shape.
And I can definitely tell it's real from how old it is, but the problem I have here is, I don't even know what this thing is worth.
Well, I do.
Okay, and what is that? I had it appraised seven, eight years ago for $25,000.
Okay.
Um Sounds a little high to me.
You mind if I have someone come down here, take a look at it, maybe we could figure something out? No problem.
Not that I don't believe you.
It's just, I don't believe anybody.
Fair enough.
All right.
So let me get someone down here to check it out.
Thank you.
This ribbon is awesome, but I have no idea how rare it is or what it's worth.
It could be 25 grand like the guy says, but I'm not taking his word for it.
Oh, it's you again, trying to sell me something else, huh? What you got there? I've got an 1860s dynamite blaster.
Wile e.
Coyote used it.
Is it made by acme? Beep, beep.
[Laughs.]
I decided to come to the pawn shop today to sell my 1860s dynamite blaster.
I've got a lot of stuff around the house.
I need to make some room and get rid of stuff.
It's a rare piece, and these guys really should jump all over this.
They used these for probably over 100 years.
They're an interesting piece.
They don't use them no more.
I was told this one works.
Oh, it might work, but when they set dynamite off now, they use a lighter.
No.
[Laughs.]
It's all done with radio waves now.
This type of detonator was invented in the late 1800s.
It sure beat lighting dynamite by hand, where you could blow your damn arm off.
How does it work? You attach your leads here, two wires.
You run that out to your dynamite.
You raise that up.
[Clicking.]
[Squeaking and clanking.]
Do you hear that sound in there? Yeah.
That's the gyro turning in there, creating the current that goes out and blows the dynamite up.
You can tell they built these things to last, for a century later, they still work.
What are you trying to do with it? You want to sell it? You want to pawn it? I'd like to sell it.
I usually get about 300 bucks out of these.
Mm -hmm.
That's with the manufacturer's plate on them.
This one here don't have a plate on it, so I can't date it, and I don't know who made it.
I'd go about $125 on it.
That'd be about the best I could go.
Could you do $150? $125 is top of the line, sir.
All right, I'll do $125.
All right, we got a deal.
Thank you.
They gave me 125 bucks.
It's quick money.
I really didn't want to hang on to it, and so I decided to get rid of it.
This is it.
[Laughs.]
What do you think? Well, it's definitely different.
What in the hell is this thing? It's an electra -king, mid -'60s little electric car.
This looks like something Mr.
potato head would drive.
[Laughs.]
I came to the pawn shop today to sell my little electric car.
I did some work for a guy, and he gave it to me as partial payment.
I'm hoping to get around $3,500.
I guess I'd take $1,500.
I know they got to make money too.
So how fast is it? 25, 30.
It'll keep up with a moped.
It's an electra-king? Yeah.
So that would make it late '60s, early '70s.
It was designed to be a cheap commuter car.
It was pretty much maintenance-free.
Rick, this thing would make a hell of a golf cart.
Really couldn't be a golf cart because there's no place to put your clubs.
Put some racks on the back.
That's my old man.
He loves just about any old car, even if it's an electric one from the '60s that no one's heard of.
So how does this thing drive? Can I show you? Sure.
Turn the key on.
Here's your forward and reverse toggle switch.
Then you push this forward to go forward.
Pull back for stop.
This thing would be like a beer can in a collision.
Sure you guys don't want to go for a ride? No, I don't think the three of us would fit in it.
[Laughs.]
You don't know what you're missing.
That's got to be the most unnatural thing I've ever seen.
It does take some getting used to.
This car can't decide if it's a golf cart, a bumper car, or the world's oldest prius.
It's weird, but I like it.
So how much you want for this thing? I'm thinking around 35.
Dollars? No, hundred.
I'm just trying to figure out if there's something I can do with it.
I don't think people collect these things.
Well, you've never seen one.
I've never seen a petrified dinosaur turd, but I don't think there's a market for one.
Yeah.
You know, I mean, I don't mean to beat you up, but I'd give you 500 bucks for the thing.
500 bucks? I mean, I got to figure out something to do with it.
This is not gonna be an easy sell.
Oh, come on.
How about 1,500 bucks? I mean, I'll go 600 bucks.
And I don't even know why I'm doing it.
I still don't know what the hell I'm gonna do with it.
That's the best you can do? That's it.
That's it.
I guess $600 it is.
$600 is a deal, man.
Let's go write it up.
The reason I settled for $600 is, it's been taking up space in my building for too long.
I would have been happier with $1,500.
This is a wonderful campaign ribbon.
There's some fraying at the top.
That's a problem.
So is it real? I don't know about that.
I bought this at a garage sale.
It's got some Springs, so I imagine this actually fired.
I think it's actually pre-world war ii.
It's a pretty rare toy.
It can be worth a lot of money.
Earlier, a guy brought in an Abraham Lincoln campaign ribbon.
He said it's worth 25,000 bucks, but I have no idea if he's right.
So I called in my buddy Dana to take a closer look.
I'm Dana.
I'm president of early American history auctions.
Rick calls me to check on items to make sure that they're authentic and to get an update on what they might be worth in today's marketplace.
Well, this is what I called you about.
This is a campaign ribbon from, obviously, 1860, where it says that.
This election was really one of the most important in American history because, of course, Abraham Lincoln's election led to the civil war, and his views on slavery caused the South to secede.
And another really interesting fact about this campaign was, over 81% of the population actually voted in this election, so this is a really historic, wonderful ribbon.
An 81% turnout is insane.
And it was much harder to get to a place to vote back then.
So is it real? It's actually in very, very nice shape, because it's very easy to read, and you can even see that there's a sculptor's name down here, Childs.
It's full and complete other than the tear at the top.
It is one of the nicer examples that I've seen.
In my opinion, this is the real deal.
So what do you think it's worth? Well, what do you think it's worth? I'm thinking it's worth $20,000 -plus.
I don't know about that.
At the peak of the market, this ribbon would have sold for maybe $4,000.
These days at auction, it would bring somewhere in the vicinity of about $3,000.
It's a great ribbon, but it's simply not worth that kind of money.
I understand.
All right, well, thanks a lot, Dana.
I appreciate it.
So apparently we were pretty far off on the price.
Way off.
I mean, I would give you, like, 2 grand for it.
2 grand, does that have any extra zeros on the end? I'll throw a decimal in there for you.
Where are you gonna put that at, the end? Well, how low would you go? $5,000.
Mm, no, I mean, I'll go $2,500, but I'm not gonna go a dime more than that.
No, I think I'll just leave it in the family.
It's been there for 150 years, and Okay, thanks for bringing it in, though.
I appreciate it.
Thank you.
I was disappointed with the expert's numbers.
There's no way I'm gonna get rid of it for that.
I'm not gonna just listen to one person.
I was feeling them out just like they were me.
Hey, what's going on, man? Hey, what's happening, man? Got these old-school Jordans.
I normally don't deal with tennis shoes, man.
I don't really know anything about them.
I got a buddy who spends a whole bunch of money on this stuff.
So give me a second.
Chum! What's up? These are Jordan number 5s.
I have 40 pairs of Jordans.
That's it? Only 40? Wow.
Only 40 pairs.
Decided to come to the pawn shop today to sell my 1990 air Jordans.
Not only they don't fit me.
Things are a little tight right now, and I'm looking to get a little extra money and pay a couple bills.
These shoes are in mint condition even though they're 20 years old, and I'm looking to get probably about $500, from what I'm thinking.
Where did you get these? Buddy of mine gave them to me about a year back, owed me some money.
Said they were the original shoes from back when Jordan won the championship in '90.
Jordan definitely won the championship wearing the 5.
You know, this is one of the classic Jordans right here.
They made the tongue out of 3m material.
It's reflective.
Jordan, doing the flashy dunks he would do, would be up in the air.
Everyone snapping a picture, the tongue would glow.
Chum's brain doesn't work like most people's.
I mean, it only seems to absorb information about video games, pinball machines, and basketball shoes.
Jordan 5 ogs, they can go for several hundred dollars.
I got some news for you.
This isn't the shoe that came out in 1990.
This shoe was actually released in 2009, 19 years later.
What? Kidding me? My buddy told me the things were real, man.
How can you tell that they're not the It doesn't look like it, but this whole shoe was actually made out of reflective material.
What? Do you have a camera on you? When you take a picture of it, it's easy to tell.
It's alarming how much you know about this.
It really is.
It's hard to get used to the idea that chum actually knows something.
I mean, normally he's as dumb as a pile of rocks.
We can take a picture of them, and you'll see this whole shoe is made out of 3m.
Only the tongue is supposed to flash out on the originals.
You know what, chum? You're right.
Wow.
Unfortunately, man, I'm not a shoe store.
If they were the original ones, I could probably see doing something, or if Jordan wore them.
Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa.
These are still a very nice shoe.
You can buy them out of your pocket, then, if you want.
How much you want for them? I don't know.
100 bucks? Uh, how about $50? Um, $75.
$75, um All right, deal.
Let's go do some paperwork.
Man, I couldn't believe that the shoes weren't real.
My buddy is gonna get it from me.
You know, I got something for them, but for the most part, I thought they were gonna be worth a little bit more, and they weren't.
So I'm a little disappointed.
Hey, how we doing? Good, how are you? It looks like a It looks like a truck.
[Laughter.]
I decided to come to the pawn shop today to sell my old army truck toy.
I picked it up for 25 bucks.
I figure it's got to be worth maybe $50, $100, $200.
The sky's the limit.
I don't know.
Everybody finds this stuff once in a while.
Maybe I found one.
I think it's a '60s army truck.
I picked it up at a garage sale.
I really don't have any need for it.
I guess what caught my attention was the way the doors the handles are, you know, a little bit of intricate work there, and the fact that these were actually splined.
Okay, yeah, it is pretty cool.
I think it's actually pre-world war ii.
Wow.
It might be.
I'm not sure, but the fact that it says Germany on the bottom and not west Germany would mean that it's most likely during world war ii or pre-world war ii.
I mean, I think it's a pretty rare toy.
I know some of them can be worth a lot of money.
Since Germany was divided into two countries for over 40 years, I can often date German stuff just by the markings on the bottom of it.
This truck definitely looks pre-world war ii, and it's a really cool piece.
All the parts are here, it seems like.
I mean, the little gun here looks a little messed up.
It does need a little help.
It's in pretty rough shape.
I mean, we have the whole little wind-up mechanism is screwed up right here.
Yup.
This toy truck is pretty beat up, but my guess is, it's rare, and that means it could be valuable.
I just need to get it checked out.
Believe it or not, I got someone who knows everything there is to know about toys.
He's coming by here in a little bit anyway, if you could just hang out and wait for him.
And We'll go from there.
Okay? Absolutely.
Wow, he's got a toy expert.
Yeah, bring him in.
Let's see what this thing is worth.
Let's get this ball rolling.
Earlier, I got a call from a woman selling an antique record player, so I'm gonna go see what she's got.
All right, so what do we got here? Well, I have a victrola talking machine.
It was made in 1913.
It was my grandmother's.
This was made by rca Victor.
Rca split off the Victor company.
You ever heard of jvc? Yes.
Japan Victor company.
So you have, like, a hi-fi jvc system right here.
How about that? I decided to call the pawn shop to look at my victrola talking machine.
We're moving right now.
I don't want to lug it with me.
I'd like to sell it for $2,000, but the minimum I'll take for it is about $1,000.
Do you know what these are right here? That's where they put the records, right? No, that's the speaker.
Remember the old victrolas, they had the big horn that went out? Well, this one, they kept it internal, so it goes down this pipe right here.
Then it fans out in there, and that's the speaker, so it fills the room up like that.
This was one of the more expensive models.
I imagine probably over $100, which was a lot of money back then.
Thomas Edison may have invented the phonograph machine, but victrola was by far the most popular brand.
Do you have the stylus for it? No.
What about the diaphragm? No.
Okay, this just just what we see here, what you see is what you get? I have this really beautiful handle.
Okay.
Does it even turn? Have you tried it out? I don't remember.
I don't know how it works.
Okay, there's a spring in there that you got to wind up.
It's like a clock or a watch.
It seems like it should be turning a little harder than it's turning.
Yeah, for some reason, it's not winding up.
Maybe it's rusty.
It hasn't been used since world war ii.
A mint condition victrola can go for thousands of dollars, but collectors want them to work.
This thing is missing parts, and the winding mechanism is busted.
Imagine trying to find parts for something that's 100 years old.
It gets real expensive real fast.
So what were you looking to do with it? Sell it.
Okay, and how much did you want for it? I'd like $2,000 for it.
Mm No? It's a beautiful piece of furniture, but my problem is, you're missing parts.
You know, I'm in business to make money, and I would not be able to make a dime on it at any price.
So what are you saying? I can't buy it.
You can't buy this? Yeah, I'm not even gonna make you an offer.
And here I'm thinking I had something that was worth a lot of money.
It's meant to stay with me, I guess.
Well, thanks for letting me look at it.
I really appreciate it.
When he said he couldn't put an offer on it, I was disappointed.
I thought I was gonna sell it, and I guess I'm gonna be just stuck with it.
Earlier, a guy brought in a toy German army truck he picked up at a yard sale.
I think it's a rare find, but I'm not exactly sure, so I called my buddy Johnny down to take a closer look.
I'm Johnny jimenez, owner of toy shack Las Vegas.
We specialize in vintage cars, die casts, and collectibles.
I'm thinking it's, like, world war ii or pre-world war ii.
I've seen a few of these come up.
It's a pretty rare piece.
Anything from the 1930s is gonna be pretty rare.
The toy comes from the company tippco.
The owner of tippco was Jewish.
He was forced to flee the country before the '30s.
He later came back and took back his company, started reproducing toys again.
Yeah, what we've got here is a shell.
We're missing the driver.
There was a driver that went here in the front.
He had two gunners in the back, and there was a shield here.
Okay.
So we're missing a few pieces.
This gun, when it came out, actually fired, and it would just shoot a projectile out.
You got a few condition issues.
It looks like it was played with.
But, I mean, then again, I mean, back then, you know, people were trying to put food on the table, yet alone buy toys for their kids, you know? So you got one toy, and that was it.
Yeah.
It's not like today.
So what's it worth in this kind of condition? Being that you're missing a lot of the main pieces, I would put a price on this maybe about $150 to $250 dollars.
Okay, thanks, man.
No problem.
Well, as a toy collector, I mean, it's an amazing toy.
I mean, I would love to have it in my shop.
It's just too bad that it wasn't in better condition.
Okay, did you want to pawn this or sell it? I want to sell it.
Okay.
So how much you want for it? Well, he said $250.
$300? Really? You're really gonna start that way? Absolutely.
I'm thinking, like, 80 bucks.
The thing is I mean, literally, you look this thing up in a book somewhere, and you're gonna go to the [Bleep.]
-Up column.
[Laughter.]
I hear you.
$175.
80 bucks.
Okay, $125, you know you're getting on awesome deal on it.
You guys will do well on it.
How about 90 bucks? Because I'm gonna get, like, $150 out of it, tops.
100 bucks, and you don't see my smiley face again today.
Promise? Promise.
All right, I'll go 100 bucks on it.
All right, let's go do some paperwork.
All right, sounds good.
You know, I sold it for 100 bucks.
Maybe they can make some good money on it too.
Good for them.
I'm happy with what I got.

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