HISTORIC 18th & 19th Century Finds | Pawn Stars

RICK: Hey, how can I help you, man?
I’ve got an old map I want to sell you.
RICK: So you want to give GPS a try?
DAVID: Looks like they definitely needed it back then.
GPS VOICE: Turn left at the next street.
I came to the pawn shop today to try to sell my map from the 1700s.
The interesting thing about the map is how we know the world to be now and how they perceived it then.
I’m in it for $1,000.
But I’m going to shoot for $3,000 or $4,000.
RICK: All right, so how did you get this thing?
Actually, I picked it up in a poker game.
One of the guys had this as a piece of his buy in.
This is the first time I’ve ever heard of one of these as a buy in.
But you know, this is Vegas.
[laughter] This is cool.
California is an island.
DAVID: That was the first thing that I noticed.
RICK: All maps like this were a little bit screwed up back in the 1600s and the 1700s.
I saw a couple of things on there.
I didn’t see an Alaska.
And down here, we’ve got the Great Lakes running too deep.
RICK: Literally into like Tennessee and stuff.
DAVID: Right.
Remember, these guys were on sailing ships with really crude instruments.
To me, it’s amazing they got it this correct.
DAVID: They could even do that.
RICK: Yeah.
This was a process to make.
This is really nice, this engravings right here.
I mean, I don’t read Latin.
But this says 1492.
So this is probably a tale of Christopher Columbus landing.
DAVID: OK, OK.
And basically, they had to put him there, because they didn’t know what was there.
DAVID: Right.
This map is not 100% accurate, but they never were back then.
That’s just part of their charm.
This thing is really fun, and it’s a great conversation piece.
You know, some of these maps go for $20,000, $30,000.
Wow.
Wow, really? RICK: OK.
OK.
RICK: How much were you looking to get out of it?
I was thinking maybe $3,000 or $4,000.
Quite frankly, it could be less, it could be more.
The cool thing is, it gave you a map of the New World as opposed to the Old World.
If it’s of Europe, it’s a quarter of the price.
DAVID: Really?
RICK: You know, you sort of needed a map of Europe if you lived in Europe. DAVID: Right.
This was definitely a luxury item, because it was the New World.
No one was really there.
This was just a cool thing to hang on the wall.
Do you mind if I call someone in who will know a lot more about the map?
And he can date it for me.
DAVID: It works for me.
RICK: Let me give the guy a call.
All right. Thank you.
He doesn’t have a good poker face.
He seems pretty excited about it.
So I’m seeing big bucks coming.
MARK: Oh, a California as an island map.
RICK: Yeah.
MARK: This is beautiful.
How did you come up with this?
DAVID: I actually won this in a poker game.
Really?
Now that’s got to be an interesting poker game.
RICK: It definitely was.
All right, so tell me all about it.
When California was first discovered and put on the map, it wasn’t shown as an island.
Because we knew that it was part of the North American continent.
In 1602 an explorer by the name of Sebastian Vizcaino came up the West Coast here.
And he said that California was an island.
So mapmakers started showing it as an island in the late 17th century.
The interesting thing about map making in the 18th century, they had to base everything on other explorers’ work and try to correct the errors that they found there.
RICK: So I know the older the printing date of these maps, the more valuable they are.
The big concern is, what year is it?
I can understand that with prints like this.
There’s a couple of things that we have to look at here.
One of them is Mendocino.
If you look at that, you see it’s Mondocino.
He misspelled it when he engraved the map.
Now in a very late engraving, he corrected that.
It says that it was printed by Johan Michael Probst.
Probst bought the plates in 1762.
1784, he added 1784 to the end of this line here.
From the details that I see on it, not having 1784 down here, you can get it within about 20 years.
This particular map dates from between 1762 and 1784.
It’s in very, very nice shape.
It was a nice win in poker.
All right.
I’ll– I’ll take it. I’ll take it.
RICK: Thanks, Mark. – Not a problem.
Thank you.
This is an 18th century print of this map, and it’s in beautiful condition.
So this is a very nice find to have come into the shop.
It’s made a little later than I was hoping.
I’ll go $1,500 bucks on it.
It seems to me that it’s worth a lot more than $1,500.
$2,500.
I’ll meet you halfway.
That’s all I can do.
I’ll go $2,000 bucks on it.
$2,500 is a good deal.
$2,500, $3,000 grand is what I’m gonna get out of it.
$2,000 bucks, man.
I think it’s a fair price.
And quite frankly, you bring it to anyone else in Vegas, they’re not gonna know what it is.
All right, but you owe me a solid the next time I come in.
No problem, man.
DAVID: Thank you.
Meet you right up front.
I’m satisfied with $2,000.
I made $1,000 more than I have into it, and I learned something today.
– Hey, how’s it going? – Hello, how can I help you?
– I brought you in a Bunker Hill Broadside.
This is one of the earliest surviving accounts of the first major battle of the American Revolution, the Battle of Bunker Hill.
This is an account that’s filled with the immediacy of the moment there.
– You ever go into a coffee shop, Chum, where they have, like, the little pegboard with a bunch of, you know, babysitters and lost dog things on it?
– Yeah. – That’s how most people used to get their news back in the day.
– Before social media, before late-night comedians, although I don’t know if Ben Franklin was a late-night comedian, but– – He might have been in his own right.
– Certainly could have been.
– I’m at the pawn shop today to sell my Broadside on the Battle of Bunker Hill, the first major battle of the American Revolution. This document was printed in 1775, so it’s almost 250 years old. Everything is a battle in negotiation. I am aware of that. I am asking $8,000 for it. I mean, I think that’s a bargain price. I mean, this is a major document for American history.
– Well, it’s a pretty cool piece you have here.
And how did you get this?
– I actually bought this at an auction maybe 15 years ago, something like that.
– You ever hear of the Battle of Bunker Hill, Chum?
– Um, I’ve heard of it before.
This was kind of like right before the Revolutionary War really took place, right?
– Chum, you’ve got to understand, prior to the Bunker Hill Battle we weren’t even really taken serious.
This battle is pretty much why, you know, we had to make the decision, are we really, really going to take this serious and go to war with England and become and independent country?
– Well, I imagine when this got posted up people were rushing over there to read it to get a perspective on what’s going on in America right now.
– Oh, yeah. George Washington was in New York at the time, and he received the news from a Broadside probably just like this one about what happened on Bunker Hill.
– That’s pretty cool to think George Washington might have read this exact same Broadside.
– You can even see some of the holes here, which is probably where they put nails.
– So what are you looking to get for it?
– I’m asking $8,000.
– I mean, for a 200-some-odd-year-old piece of paper it’s in great condition.
I mean, it’s almost in too good of a condition for me.
And just to ease my mind on the condition of it do you mind if I have somebody take a look at it?
– Of course. – All right.
Chum, you want to go give H.P. a call?
– Yeah. I’ll be right back.
– All right, hang out; we’ll be back in a little bit, okay?
– Awesome.
I’ve got the guys interested. I mean, that’s half the battle.
Now I just need the expert, hand them a bayonet, and have them charge up the hill and close the sale.
– Hey, what’s up Mark? – Hey, Corey, Chum.
How you doing? – Hey, how you doing?
– How’s it going? Good.
– How’s the beard? – It’s working.
– So this is what I called you about, a Broadside.
– Yes, it is. – And Corey had some concern, because it’s in kind of good condition to be a couple of hundred years old.
– Yeah, it is. – And we rarely see something that’s this old in this good of condition, right?
– Well, no, I’ve seen quite a few.
– We all don’t work in museums.
– Well, that’s part of– that’s true.
Do you mind if I take a look?
– Of course, go ahead.
– Oh, this is a nice one.
This is called the “Bravery of the King’s Troops.” – Wait, this has a name?
– Yeah, this is a known Broadside.
Because it was the first one that is printed of the Battle of Bunker Hill, the battle that actually started the Revolutionary War.
And of course this is an interesting piece.
It’s a wonderful piece, because it’s early disinformation.
He was overtly lying in this as a way of downplaying what had happened to tell the British, “Oh, look at how wonderful your troops did.” He’s saying, “Here is what I saw, but not quite.” We wouldn’t see that, of course, today.
– I think we see it all day every day.
– That’s right. But it’s a wonderful piece.
I mean, there’s some damage.
You’ve got a corner missing here; you’ve got some water damage down here.
But it’s also kind of nice, because you’ve got a nail hole.
This is how it would have been put up on a wall or a post of some sort. This is a wonderful piece.
– Do you think this is an original from the time period?
– Yeah, absolutely. I have no question about that.
What we talked about today as acid-free paper, 6hat’s what this is, but that’s because this was printed before we had modern paper.
So this was printed on paper made out of rags.
A Colonial Era document like this will last better than, you know, your newspaper from this morning.
– I get all of my information online, Mark.
– Of course you do.
– Well, Mark, I appreciate you coming down, man.
– Not a problem. Good to see you.
– Thanks a lot.
– Well, the beard has spoken. – Yes.
So what do you guys think?
– It’s really, really cool.
I just– I got to make money too.
– Sure. – Would you do 5 grand?
– I mean, you’ve got to imagine how rare and important this is.
You know, I mean I love this thing.
You know, you’ve got to come up some from there.
– What are you thinking?
– I mean, I thought 8 was fair.
I mean, I’ll– I’ll go down to 7.
– And I’ll go up to 6; how does that sound?
– Oh, my gosh.
Who is going to win this battle?
I know they didn’t do this in the Revolution, but can we make a compromise?
Can we got at 65 halfway maybe, – Your dad probably would like this too.
♪ – You know what? I’ll do 65. Chum, you want to write him up?
– All right. Well, it looks like we got a deal for 6,500.
I’ll meet you over there.
– Sounds good. I’ll head over there. Thanks.
Negotiating them was definitely a battle, but I wasn’t going to retreat on this one.
– I’m in Pennsylvania on a work trip, and I’m taking a look at a Brown Bess wall gun from the 1770s.
– Hey. – How you doing?
– What’s going on? – This is the gun, huh?
– This is Grandpa’s Brown Bess. – Pretty cool.
Brown Bess, what, 1772? – About that. – Yeah, this is a pretty cool gun. I mean, very, very heavy. Not the kind of gun you could fire holding.
It’s got the horseshoe mount right here, and this would’ve allowed it to be mounted on a wall.
It’s pretty big.
I mean, I can see why you wouldn’t want to put this on your shoulder and fire it.
– I have a Brown Bess wall gun, which is a really old flintlock gun that was mounted on the wall of a fortress back in Revolutionary War days. The Brown Bess was always at my grandparents’ house, and my grandfather always told us stories how his father brought the Brown Bess back from England when he was a little boy. I’m looking to get $7,500 for the Brown Bess wall gun.
– The thing looks pretty cool. It’s kind of considered one of the first modern firearms, you know?
Of course, you had to load it with the ramrod, which is right here.
Is this the original ramrod on it?
– It is, and it’s in firing condition.
– That’s pretty cool.
You don’t see that a lot with guns this old.
A lot of the time, those will get lost.
It has a crown marking here.
Where’d you get it? – It was my grandfather’s.
Me and my brothers grew up playing with it.
His father brought it over from England eons ago, and then my uncle Mickey inherited it, and he gave it to me. – Have you ever fired it?
– I fired it when I was a young kid.
We used to fire it in my grandfather’s backyard.
– Well, the gun looks pretty good. How much are you looking to get for it?
– I’d like to get $7,500 for it.
– I can see that, actually.
It’s probably somewhere in the ballpark of that, for sure.
The gun, obviously, it’s got some age on it, but it looks to be in pretty good condition. You’ve got the original ramrod there and the mount, so when you have those kind of things original to the gun, it does increase the value a little bit.
I have Alex coming, my gun expert, and, yeah, he’ll be able to authenticate it.
He’s gonna be here any minute.
– All right, great.
– Chumlee called in an expert to come in and authenticate the Brown Bess, and hopefully it will validate the price I’m looking to get.
– Hey, Alex. – Hey, Chum, how are you?
– I’m pretty good.
So this is what I called you about right here. – Wow! – Firing order.
– Is it? – Yeah.
We used to shoot it when I was little, swear to God.
– As a kid? – Yeah.
– This thing is a beast, whoa.
– So I noticed some markings right here.
There’s some type of crown right here with a little arrow and stuff.
– Yeah, so that’s King George III’s cipher.
So it dates this to the reign of King George.
He was the king for the American Revolution.
He lost America for the British.
So this is his cipher.
– Yeah, now I see why they mount it on the [indistinct].
– Yeah, so it’s on a yoke mount, and so this would be called, like, a rampart gun or a wall gun.
The idea is that if you have a fort, and you’ve got a wall, that you would sit this right into the wall really easily, and also it takes the recoil out of this.
And the ball that it shoots is about 30% larger than a traditional musket ball.
You want to see how big the balls are?
– I do. – Wow.
– Look at that thing.
– Oh my God, that’s heavy, too.
– Yup, solid lead.
So this pattern gun was developed in 1738.
This is an updated version, and these are rare.
You do not see these, especially ones that are as complete as this.
It does have some worm.
That’s not uncommon, but it is a detractor.
– Well, I definitely want to fire it.
– All right, before I fire it, I’d like to see if it functions well, and then I’ll tell you what I think it’s worth, okay?
– All right, you do your magic.
– So let me just take this rod out.
Oh, yeah.
– It is original, would you say?
– Yeah, you can tell by the way this is formed up here that it is the original.
– All right, just making sure it’s empty right now?
– Yeah, so the good thing is, the rod goes all the way back, which means there’s nothing in there.
– Okay. – So that’s really good.
So I can put the rod away. All right.
I got a target that I made up. It’s in my truck.
I’ll grab it, come back, load it, and shoot it, okay?
– All right. Always prepared, this guy.
– The weapons expert wants to fire the Brown Bess, and hopefully that will increase the value of the gun.
– So these are clays.
We hit one, it’ll explode.
– Well, let’s load her up and see how she fires.
– All right.
Ooh, this is about a hundred grains of black powder.
So here’s that almost golf ball-sized lead ball, then a little bit of toilet paper.
What this does is it basically keeps the ball and the powder down in the chamber, because the idea is it won’t ignite unless the powder’s all the way at the bottom, but you also want the ball to travel the whole length of the barrel because it’ll fly straighter.
[upbeat music] ♪ Perfect.
All right, so I’m gonna put it on half-cock.
– All right. – You ready?
[tense music] ♪ – Whoa!
– Yes! Look, I got it!
– You got two of them! – Yeah!
That thing is–look how big that hole is!
– You know what, I couldn’t have done better myself.
– You want to try it? I’ll reload it.
– No, I think that’s good. It works.
– Whoa!
– That’s all I need to know.
I don’t want to put any extra wear and tear on it ’cause I might actually get a chance to buy it.
– That’s true. I mean, that is fun.
Thank you so much. – So should I give him the 7,500 for it? – I think you should give him the 7,500 because I think it’s worth 20,000.
– Yes! – [laughs] – Why do I call you, again?
– Look, these are–you just don’t see them.
– Well– – You really don’t.
And it works well, and, look, it has condition issues, and I’ve factored that in, and it’s still worth about 20,000, so…
– Well, maybe I can get it for a good deal and make plenty of money anyway.
Can I give you a call, and you can help me ship it back to Vegas?
– I will ship it back for you, I promise.
– Cool, because I don’t think they’re gonna let me on the plane with this.
– Yeah, it might be a tough sell.
All right– – Appreciate it, thank you.
– Nice to meet you, Brad. – Likewise, thank you.
– Well, you wanted 7,500. I’ll give it to you.
– Well, how about 20,000?
– That’s not gonna happen.
I gotta have some good room for profit here.
Would you take 10?
– No way. How about 15?
He told you how rare it is. It fires.
– $14,000 and we’ve got a deal.
– I’ll do 14.
– 14,000?
All right, let me go make a phone call back to Vegas and we’ll figure out how we’re gonna get you paid.
– Okay, great. – All right.
Now that I got the sell, I’m gonna go take some shots of my own in New York City. – I came out looking for $7,500. The Brown Bess fired off, and I doubled my money.
– Hey. – Hey, how’s it going?
I have an indentured servant document, a contract from 1703.
– Oh, that definitely sounds cool.
– Yeah. – Let’s take a look.
Oh, these things are so hard to read.
“Something years of our reign of our…” “By the grace of God…” There’s so much stuff in this, ’cause the lawyers were paid by the word.
– If it’s paid for by the word, then this must be a fortune.
[both laugh] [cash register rings] – I’m here at the pawn shop today trying to sell my indentured servant document from 1703. The fact that it is from 1703 and not being able to read too many of the words in there I think makes this really a fascinating document.
I think there’s probably some really cool discoverable things in there. I’m hoping to sell the document for $600. – So you think it’s for an indentured servant?
– Well, that’s what I was told when I purchased it from the New Orleans Public Library. – Okay.
In 1703, indentured servitude was very common.
It was all throughout the New World.
There was different degrees of indentured servitude.
Some of it was forced, some of it was voluntary, but still wasn’t great.
Some, if you were poor and whatnot, you really hoped that you can get your kid to be indentured.
The worst type of indentured servant was convicts.
Most of them were brought to ports of the southern states for hard labor in the fields.
And each one of these guys would have a contract.
I think 14 years was generally the max for these types of contracts. So the owners of the contracts were little bit more lenient because they wanted their servants to last the full 14 years.
As opposed to an indentured servant for only three years, you’re gonna work them to the bone.
– Right. – And many of those people ended up passing away.
Let’s try and read some of this.
Um…
♪ “£100 of lawful money…” Do-do-do-do…
I can’t read. – [laughs] ♪ – Okay. This is a lease for a set period of time for some property.
– It is? Not–not person as property.
– No, not person, because it’s also for £100.
The cost of an indentured servant only averaged between £8 and 20 at most. But it’s 1703, which makes it really cool.
And since it says “parish,” I believe it’s probably from New Orleans, which would make it pretty damn rare, because in 1703, there was next to no one in New Orleans.
It’s pretty cool. I mean, do you wanna sell it?
– I do. – How much you want for it?
– $600.
– I’ll give you, like, 300 bucks for it.
♪ ♪ – I was hoping to get a little closer to 600.
– I would go 400 bucks on it ’cause it’s really interesting, and, uh, I might actually play with it for a while before I sell it. – Do you think we can meet in the middle at 5? – I’ll go 450.
♪ ♪ – I’ll call that a deal. – Sweet.
– Yeah. – Great deal.
I’ll meet you right around the corner, and we’ll do some paperwork. – Great. Thank you.
– I might just have bought the deed to Bourbon Street.
[laughs] – [Rick] Hey, how’s it going?
– Good.
How are you doing?
– Good.
What can I help you with?
– I’ve got some bone dice here from the 1700’s and they’ve got King George III’s Stamp Act stamp on them.
– Let me see, we have a GR there.
It’s really cool.
You rarely see these anymore.
Most of them are in collector’s hands and never come out of them, or they’re in museums because this really is what started the Revolutionary War.
It was a really interesting time period.
It would have been really cool to live back then because it was an intellectual age.
There was a lot of arguments, all night long, in bars, where they would drink, play dice, and talk about politics.
(laughter) – I’ve got these dice.
They were in a whole bunch of items that were in my garage.
I could go down as low as $150 but I’m going to be asking $300 for them and I think they’re worth every penny.
– I absolutely love these things because the Stamp Act was one of the precursors to the Revolutionary War and that was because you had to actually have a tax stamp for everything.
And this was the insane thing: A pair of dice, the tax?
That cost 10 schillings.
So literally, the tax on this dice is like a common person’s wages for six weeks.
– You’re kidding?
– The English parliament enacted the Stamp Act of 1765 to help payoff all the debts that were incurred during the French and Indian Wars.
The problem is if you tax something to death, they’ll figure out a way around the system.
Now, you see how these are stamped right here, those are big and bold and 100%, and these right here look faded and yucky?
That’s because those are fake tax stamps and those are real.
The funny thing is?
These are worth just around the same as those.
(laughter) And the reason why is they’re so cool that they’re fake.
This was done, fair of taxes, and this is what the American people did.
They faked it.
It’s a funny thing.
It’s one of those rare things where the fakes are worth as much as the reals.
– [Alan] That’s interesting.
– [Rick] So, how much you want for ’em?
– Well, I’m asking $300 for ’em.
– [Rick] Can I give you $250 for ’em?
I mean, it’s right around what they’re worth.
Because, like I said, they’re rare but they’re not that rare because everyone played dice.
– [Alan] How about $275?
– You know what?
They’re really cool.
I’ll give you $275.
– [Alan] Okay.
– Meet you right up front here.
– With the $275 I got today, I’ll probably just take my friend to a really nice dinner.
♪ – I can’t worry about the shop right now because a very good customer of mine who usually sells me extremely rare books and documents, apparently he has some unique finds he wants me to check out, and one of them is supposed to be a handwritten letter by George Washington about the Whiskey Rebellion. I cannot lie, I love anything about the OG, GW. Wow. Adam!
– Hey, Rick, how’s it going?
– I’m pretty good. I love the vault door.
I mean, did they keep the Holy Grail in here at one time?
– It was actually in 9020, but I lost the key to that box.
Speaking of holy grails, I brought you three holy grails, three real treasures.
The first one is a painting from a medieval book of hours from about 1430.
In the 19th century and the 20th century, the miniature paintings inside were recognized as true works of art in and of themselves.
– I know the book of hours was probably the most popular book in the Middle Ages.
Religion was very, very important, and it was also a status symbol just having a book because they were literally done by hand.
– And they were so prized and revered, they were even given as dowry gifts.
– It’s so rare to see illuminations like this.
– This one is really well-executed.
– So the big question, how much you want for it?
– I was going to ask $12,000.
– Well, maybe there’s a package deal to be done.
[both laugh] – Okay, I’ll show you the other stuff.
♪ So this is the book of games by Edmond Hoyle.
It’s printed in Philadelphia in 1796, and that makes it the first book on card games printed in America.
– Here we have whist, quadrille, piquet, backgammon, chess, billiards and tennis.
So 4/7 of it I know.
– Well, I’m not going to lower the price on you just because you don’t know what piquet or quadrille is, I can tell you that. – Okay.
– Just like the leaf, $12,000.
– I am assuming you’re leaving the best for last.
– I am.
So this is a very important letter signed on September 15, 1792, in George Washington’s hand, having to do with the Whiskey Rebellion.
– Whoa, okay.
Most people in this country don’t know about the Whiskey Rebellion, which is like a really important part of American history.
I mean, George Washington’s in office.
All of the sudden, Congress passes attacks on whiskey.
The people in Western Pennsylvania really thought it was unfair.
Got to the point where people were dying over it.
There’s one tax collector that they tarred and feathered.
And George Washington ended up massing 12,000 troops.
– They saw the show of force, and he was able to suppress the uprising, just because of that show of force.
This proclamation to enforce these taxes, he had to get it to Jefferson as quick as possible as Secretary of State to sign it.
– So has this been repaired?
– No, this has not been repaired.
I mean, it would have been originally folded and then, you know, flattened out.
– It is in rough shape. Here’s the big thing, how much?
– 45,000.
– Okay, I do love it.
There’s a lot of cool stuff going on here.
That condition really scares me though.
The reason I chose today to come down here is because I knew Stuart Lutz was going to be down.
You’ve met him before, right? – Yeah, I have.
– This is what he does. – Sure.
– So let me go give a call and get him down here.
And we’ll go from there. – Okay, you got it.
– Right, right back.
– I’m hoping that the expert goes bonkers over this unusual letter in Washington’s hand. I mean, with the prices of things on the market and auction today, maybe he’s going to say more than $45,000.
– Neat item. And so who’s William Gray?
– So William Gray was actually George Washington’s weaver.
He obviously entrusted him with, you know, some important duties.
So he was writing a proclamation for the Whiskey Rebellion in hand, and he needed Jefferson’s signature, and he told Mr. Gray with some urgency, “Get this to Jefferson to sign.” – Okay, I did bring along an example of a George Washington letter so I can compare the handwriting on this to the handwriting on this item.
George Washington had the greatest handwriting of any president, so if we look at it, it’s definitely in Washington’s handwriting.
One issue with this, Rick, is obviously, you can see that the G and W have eroded on here with water staining and age.
The signature is not that strong in the letter.
The other unusual thing is the size of the paper.
Usually, he used paper that was much larger.
So I don’t know if he just was looking for a scrap of paper or if this was cut down from something larger.
– So that’s George Washington’s signature, correct?
– Yeah.
– In his handwriting, and in not too good a condition.
– Correct.
– So you put that in the blender and the price is?
– With other similar Washingtons that I cited, I think something like this, a fair market value would be about $20,000 on it.
– Hmm, that’s a little disappointing to hear.
– Well, thanks, Stuart. You’re the best.
– Nice seeing you again. – Great to see you.
– Good luck with it, Rick.
It’s a great piece of American history.
– All right, I’ll talk to you soon.
– All right. Thanks, Rick.
– Okay. All right.
– Down to the numbers. – Down to the numbers.
The Washington letter, it’s pretty amazing.
It’s really cool.
I just–for my customers it’s too rough.
– Mm-hmm. – It really is.
Okay, so I’m just going to pass on that.
– I’m really surprised. Wow.
– Okay, we have these two right here.
The illuminated leaf and the book, best prices.
– I’ll give you them both for 20.
– I think 8 and 8 is much better.
16,000 for the pair, for the two.
– What about 19?
– I think 18,000 is a fair price for the two of them.
– You know, I tell you, I’m going to agree to it, Rick, but this time, it’s really reluctantly.
These are real treasures.
– They’re definitely treasures.
So $18,000, we got a deal. I’ll send you a check.
And when you get it, you can send me these.
– Okay.
– Like always, man, it’s a pleasure.
– Okay, well, thank you so much.
You know, I love selling you things.
You appreciate them. So all good.
– Okay, cool.
And you did check all of these, right?
– I’m not going to tell you the one with the diamonds.
Get out of here. [both laugh] ♪ RICK: Hey, how can I help you?
MAN: I got an old Swedish carriage strongbox.
RICK: Where in the world did you get this?
Found it at a farm auction in Sweden, actually.
So what were you doing in Sweden?
Chasing blondes.
[laughter] [music playing] Came down in the pawn shop today to try to sell my 1787 carriage strongbox.
I’ve had it for 10 years, and I’m just tired of looking at it.
I figured I’d see if I can sell it and get some money for it.
I paid almost $800 for it.
I’d like to get that out of it.
RICK: So do you know anything about it?
It’s called a fardskrin in Swedish.
They were the strongbox for their day.
RICK: You put it on the back of a carriage.
It does look the period.
It’s the right kind of metal work.
They made them out of iron.
They had steel back then, but it was a good 20 or 30 times as much as iron.
It looks like someone upper middle class would have bought this thing.
Back in the day, people traveling by horse and carriage had to deal with highway robbers, even in Sweden.
So go keep people from messing with their stuff, they kept their valuables in a strongbox.
It was basically one step below a safe.
It’s steamed wood.
They’d use a steam box and lay the wood in there to make it really, really bendable.
JEFF: Flexible.
RICK: And then they would put it around a mold.
Hand hammered rivets– they would make the rivets and then they would hammer them cold.
You can’t hammer them hot in something like this.
Otherwise, it’ll burn right through it.
JEFF: Burns right through them.
RICK: This strongbox is really cool.
It looks like something you would see strapped to a stagecoach in the Old West.
The only thing that’s got me a little cautious– it’s Swedish.
And people don’t collect a lot of things from Sweden.
OK. Now how much you want for it?
I’d like to get the $800 back I’ve got into it.
RICK: I would have paid you that years ago.
The market has changed these days.
I understand that.
You know, I’m thinking, like, $400 bucks.
We’re in the United States.
People like to collect stuff from the United States.
That’s just sort of the way things are.
Could you do six?
RICHARD: Looks like an old pine trunk, son.
Do three.
RICK: [laughs] JEFF: No offense, but this is the age that it is and it’s a rare piece.
Can we settle at five?
RICK: Yeah.
I’ll do five on her.
OK.
JEFF: It’s yours. RICK: All right.
I’ll meet you right up front.
We got to do some paperwork.
I feel bad the guy lost money on this deal.
But you know what?
I don’t feel that bad.
Store’s got to make money.
– What do we have here?
– Appears to be a rifle of some sorts.
[laughter] – It’s a gun. It’s not a rifle. – Okay.
– A rifle actually has rifling in it and it screws down the barrel so that when the ball comes out, it spins, it goes straight.
This a smoothbore musket. It’s a carbine.
Carbine is just a musket or a rifle with a shorter barrel.
Muskets were never really accurate during the Revolutionary War. They never said, “Ready, aim fire.” They just said, “Ready, level, fire.” And just hoped it went in the right direction.
[laughter] – I am looking to sell my antique gun today. It looks very old, possibly pre-World War I, but I don’t know. I’ve had the gun for probably two years and it’s been sitting in a garage, collecting dust. I’m looking to sell it today for around $2,000. If I make a sale today, I’d love to take my girlfriend possibly in a nice trip not involving work.
♪ – This is interesting. So where did you get this thing?
– I travel a lot for my job, and I walked into a random antique shop and saw this.
– Okay, this carbine, it’s got a saddle ring in it.
So, this would go on the holster on the horse.
And then, you would have a piece of leather strapped to the horse, so, that way, if you dropped your gun, you wouldn’t lose your gu.
Model of 1843. This was super high-tech for 1843.
– Really? – So there was a guy named John Hall. He invents this cool, little process.
It’s a lot easier to load it right through here than lifting it up, everything going through here.
– Yeah. – Okay.
This got–it even has a Vegas connection.
– Okay. – When the Civil War broke out, the government wanted, like, a standardized .58 caliber musket for the infantry so everyone can have the same bullets and everything else like that.
This was a different caliber. It was smaller. – Okay. – So, this guy named Eastman, he buys, like, 5,000 of thee off the government for $3.50. And then, it cost him 75¢ to get them reboard.
He made the barrel slightly larger to take the ammunitin that they were using during the Civil War and immediately turns around and sells it back to the government for $22.
– [laughs] – Smart guy. Good deal for him.
– And the general involved was a General Frémont.
We got a Fremont Street downtown.
– Oh, wow.
– It was in every newspaper in the United States about the– the Hall Carbine Affair.
– I had no idea this had so much history behind it.
– I think it’s in good shape.
So, how much do you want for it?
– Considering it’s from the Civil War, 2,000 would be cool.
– Um…
That might be right.
I just really gotta call a guy in because I don’t know enough about it.
I mean, you know, in this business, when you don’t know a little bit about something, it’s a dangerous thing.
So, I’m gonna call my buddy. I’ll be right back.
– Cool. Thank you.
– Yeah, I’ma give Alex a call and let him take a shot at it.
– Oh, nice! – The infamous Hall carbine. – Hall-North carbine.
Well, I mean, there’s a big difference actually.
Do you mind if I pick it up? – No, please. – Okay.
Oh, yeah.
So, it’s called a Hall-North because Hall came up with the original rising breech block, but North perfected it.
On an original Hall light rifle, there’s a hook on the bottom.
And you would pull back on the hook and push up, and the block would rise.
The thing about the hook is, it got in the way.
It actually hooked on things.
It really wasn’t that efficient.
So, Simeon North came up with this idea.
You pull this lever out to the side a little bit to get past the locking area and you push up.
Now, one thing that’s really cool is, it was designed to come apart really easily, and I’ll show you what I mean.
– Just glad somebody is handling it and knows what they’re doing.
– Okay.
This comes out.
Now, the reason behind this design is two-fold.
One, as you can take this apart so easily, it’s much simpler to clean.
You can also make repairs.
And you could load it, conceal it, and if someone came at you, you could fire it at close range.
– Wow. – Yep.
– It’s like the first James Bond gun.
– Right. – Pretty cool.
– And it’s a total self-defense weapon.
All right, I will put this back together.
The gun actually looks to be in really nice shape.
It is marked here “S. North” for Simeon North.
Middletown, Connecticut. 1843.
So, this is an original configuration, so that’s actually very good.
– All right.
So the big question: what’s it worth?
– I think if it fires, it could be worth about 5,000.
– [mouths] Nice!
– Okay. – Here’s what I’d like to do.
I know you like to see things fire.
I was hoping we might be able to take it to the range.
I’d like to fire it as a–as a full carbine, but also, I’d like to take the breech block out and try to fire it as a pistol. – All right, do you know where the gun range is in Boulder city?
– Yeah, I can meet you there. – All right.
It looks like we got a plan. – Cool. I’ll bring my stuff.
– I definitely like 5,000 more than 2, and hopefully it shoots and we can get anywhere near that number.
Alex. – Hey, Rick.
How are you doing? – I’m pretty good.
So, you’re gonna shoot this thing, right?
– Yeah, I am. So, I set up two targets today.
First, I’ll shoot the full-length carbine at the glass vase with blue-colored water.
Then, I’m gonna remove the breech from the carbine and use it like a pistol, and I’ll shoot it at the balloon.
So I’m gonna do a slightly smaller load of black powder than what they would normally have used, just out of safety concern.
Powder goes in the breech, a little bit of grease.
Put it on the ball.
– Did they do that back in 1860, or we’re just doing that today for today’s sake?
– We’re doing that today for a little bit of– a little bit of safety. – Okay.
– I’ll give you 50/50 odds.
♪ [gunshot] [laughs] – Got it!
– First shot! Wow!
– This carbine is mechanically perfect.
It fires brilliantly, and it’s super easy to load, which was the point of the design.
So, now I get to fire this breech block pistol, but really close to a very threatening, large red balloon.
Here we go. – I’m definitely standing back.
– Stop being negative. – [laughs] Any last words? – I’m gonna stand behind you.
– Yeah, I’m gonna get closer because this would have been in, like, somebody’s pocket.
You know, the idea is, like, you’re within a couple of feet of somebody.
♪ [gunshot] Yeah!
– It worked. That one worked.
– It works great!
♪ – All right, super cool. I’ll give you that. Everything works like a champ. – Yeah.
– So he wants $2,000 for it.
What do you think I can get for it?
– I think he’s being generous.
I think you’d get 5,000 for it.
– Retail? – Retail.
You’ll retail it for 5,000.
– Okay, all right. Thanks, man. I’ll tell you if I get it.
– Thanks, Vinny. – Thank you so much.
– All right. That was fun.
– So what will you take for it? You still want 2 grand?
– [laughs] ♪ – So, what about, like, 3,500?
– I mean, the best I can go is $3,000.
I mean, I’m gonna retail it for 5, but I got to pay everybody and, like, there’s 1,000,001 expenses.
– I’ll tell you what, the fact that– that you brought me out here and we got to fire it and have a lot of fun today is worth it.
I’m cool with the 3. – All right. Cool, man.
Bring the gun down to the pawn shop.
I’ll have Alex clean everything up and I’ll get you paid.
– Thanks, man. – All right. Cool, man.
– I’m happy we took a shot and came out here and saw that it worked.
RICK: Hey, how can I help you?
I have something here that might interest you.
RICK: Paul Bunyan’s sock.
[laughs] OK.
This is a British nautical telescope– RICK: OK.
WALT: –from about the mid-1800s.
RICK: This is cool.
You know, I’m just a nerd about this stuff.
WALT: The reason I like it is because it’s brass and I’m naturally attracted to brass.
[laughter] RICK: OK.
WALT: Well, I’m a diver and I like anything that has to do with ships.
I’ve seen it sold up in the $600 range.
I really don’t think I’d take less than $400 for it, because I’m kind of in love with the brass.
[laughs] RICK: So where did you get it?
WALT: Well, I was in Buenos Aires and I went to this little antique shop.
And there was this guy who claimed to be a retired admiral.
[laughs] WALT: And he had this guy, shining and glimmering there.
And I bought it.
RICK: OK.
I’m not wearing my glasses, so does this say?
WALT: It says “D. Filby,” who was the importer.
And he had a nautical instrument shop in Hamburg.
And then this here says, “Day and Night.” RICK: OK.
That is definitely cool.
You rarely see a night telescope.
If you look through this telescope, it doesn’t have a lot of magnification, OK?
The way the lenses are arranged, it gathers a lot of light, sends it to the back so everything is really bright back here.
So at nighttime when you are sitting in the mast of a ship and you’re looking around for other ships, you’ll go across like that and you’ll see a little twinkle of light you wouldn’t have seen before, because it gathers extra light.
This is 19th century’s night vision.
[laughs] RICK: I mean, it’s really interesting.
But this is a little bad.
WALT: Yes.
This is lens separation.
WALT: Really?
RICK: It’s not a crack.
That’s actually the lenses glued together.
And you get a lot of that separation because the glues they used weren’t really made to last 200 years.
OK.
That explains why I couldn’t get it off.
[laughter] RICK: Old nautical items are really collectible.
They’re popular because of their history, and people like to use them for decorations.
But this telescope does have some condition issues, and it’s gonna affect its value.
What do you want for it?
WALT: Well, I’d be happy with maybe getting $400 out of it or something.
Could I give you $300 for it?
Because for $300, you can get a much better telescope nowadays.
[laughs] Yeah, I know.
How about $375?
Um– WALT: That’s palatable.
RICK: Um– [laughs] I’ll tell you what.
I’ll give you $360.
Oh, now we’re down to nickels and dimes.
$370?
Yeah, what the hell.
OK.
OK.
All right, cool.
This is– This is great.
Let’s go do some paperwork, man.
OK.
I could tell that he liked it, so I said aha.
Ching-ching.
I think he might have come up even more if I had fought it out with him.
– What do we got here?
– We got a G.O. Blake’s advertising sign from the turn of the century.
– It’s a little odd for American advertising, ’cause they’re trying to make their American whiskey look extremely English.
We have, like, this English guy here with the world’s longest pipe.
– I’d say so. That’s about 2 foot.
I have a G.O. Blake’s whiskey tin advertising sign that I’m hoping to sell today. I’ve had this sign for a couple of years hanging on my wall. This is not really one of my highlight pieces. But I thought if I could get some money, I’d upgrade, get something really nice. I’d like to get $1,500 for the sign.
– I like it. Where did you get it?
– I bought it at a flea market in Chicago.
– Okay. It’s definitely pre-Prohibition.
G.O. Blake, that was George O. Blake.
He was in the whiskey business his whole life.
He was down in Louisville, Kentucky, the whiskey capital of the United States.
In 1872, he formed a company called Adams, Blake, and Taylor.
They made a bunch of different whiskeys.
This is G.O. Blake’s Blend, and the reason why it was a blend was, because it only had to be 20% whiskey.
[laughs] – And what was the other 80%?
– Like, neutral spirits and food coloring and a little bit of this and a little of that.
He broke, like, the cardinal rule of whiskey in the United States with this whiskey.
He tried to make it sound Scottish.
W-H-I-S-K-Y. – Right.
– Only the Scots get rid of the E.
– Right, okay. – Okay, that’s Scottish whisky.
American whiskey is E-Y, and Irish whiskey is E-Y.
It’s in decent shape.
You haven’t tried to clean it up at all?
– No, no, I haven’t. I just wiped it off.
– Okay. I mean, there’s some damage to it.
We got this right here.
How much do you want for it?
– I’m thinking 1,500. – You drink a lot of whisky?
– Yeah. I did last night.
– I’m thinking you want way too much for this kind of shape. – Ohh.
– You know, this hung on the wall in a bar, okay, and then when the bar closed because of Prohibition, the thing probably got thrown in a garage somewhere.
I’ll give you, like, 300 bucks for it.
– 3? – 300 bucks. It’s a tough sell.
It’s in bad shape, and it’s a brand no one knows about.
– Yeah, well, it’s got a bottle of whiskey on it.
– And cheap whiskey at that. – Yes.
– [laughs] – What about 750?
– No, I couldn’t do it. I mean, I’d go, like, 325.
– 400. You’ll make some money on it.
– No, I won’t. – All right. Well– – I’ll tell you what, I’ll go 340 bucks.
I shouldn’t even pay that much for it.
♪ – Yeah, I think it’s worth a few more bucks than that.
– Okay.
If you change your mind, come on back.
– Thank you. I appreciate it. – Have a good one.
– You too.
– I’m definitely a really good bourbon guy.
What do we got here?
We have some vintage glass target balls and a vintage clay target.
RICK HARRISON: Nice.
Before they had, like, the targets, generally, they just used live pigeons.
[laughter] That wouldn’t fly today.
Oh, yeah.
[gunshot] [bird squawks] BILL: I came down to the pawn shop today to sell my vintage glass and clay targets.
I really want to make room for some rarer target balls.
For the whole lot, I’m hoping to get about $2,000.
Do you know much about them?
BILL: That one’s from Germany.
This one’s from France.
And this is the Ligowsky clay target.
This is the clay target that put the glass balls out of business.
Back in the early 1800s, target shooting was a big thing.
RICK HARRISON: It’s really neat that they made these to throw up in the air and shoot, I mean, especially when they made them so beautiful.
Well, you know, the early ones were smooth.
And they wouldn’t catch the shot.
So they had to make them more ornate to break better.
RICK HARRISON: Glass targets were only used for a couple of decades from the mid- to the late- 1800s.
And since they were made to be destroyed, they’re really rare now.
So this is a picture of Annie Oakley with him throwing them up in the air?
BILL: Yeah, that’s where they really got popular was in the Wild West shows.
They’d stuff them with feathers and sawdust.
And when they’d shoot them– [gunshot] RICK HARRISON: That’s cool.
Annie Oakley use target balls just like these.
Even though these aren’t tied to her directly, it’s the kind of historical info that helps sell something.
So what did you want to do with them?
I’d like to sell them.
OK.
And how much did you want for them?
Well, that one’s a little more rare.
I think, probably 1,500 for that one.
Mm.
This one is more common of a ball, so probably $200, and this Ligowsky clay target, probably $200.
This clay target looks so incredibly fragile.
It’s gonna get broke in my store.
That scares me.
OK.
RICK HARRISON: For this one, this is sort of pricing me out of the market.
OK.
RICK HARRISON: The blue one would probably sell in my store.
I mean, it’s the right price point.
That being said, I’ll give you 100 bucks for it.
Well, since it’s not a bulk deal anymore, I think that should raise the value of the single ball.
[sigh] I’ll give you 100 and 1/4.
How about 150?
100 and 1/4 would be it, really.
[sigh] I’ll go 100 and 1/4.
RICK HARRISON: OK.
This guy definitely knew a lot about antique target balls.
I’m glad he was able to back down on his price a little.
It was a great buy for the shop.
– What do we got here?
– We have a velocipede, which is a small toy horse from the 1800s made in France, and I’m looking to see if you’re interested in buying it from me.
– Okay, I’ve ridden horses but never this small.
[both laughing] [horse whinnies] – I’m at the pawn shop today to try to sell my 1800s French velocipede. This was donated to an organization that I helped run. When I first received this, I thought initially that it was an antique, so I didn’t want to sell it at the yard sale. If I make the sale today, we’re donating it back to the foundation. I’m hoping to sell this for $1,000.
– This is cool.
In the 1800s, they called them velocipedes or velocipeds.
This is a pretty cool little toy.
I’m guessing it could’ve been desid for a doll or something, since the real versions were so popular.
Velocipedes were basically bicycles before we came up with the term “bicycle.” I don’t know why they started calling it the bicycle, but velocipedes started getting really popular.
Early 1800s, there was velocipedes.
It had wheels, and you would run along the side of it, get going, jump on top of it, and coa, go down a hill, things like that.
And in the 1860s, they came up with pedals on the fr.
The problem with those things were the roads sucked.
You know, there wasn’t, like, asphalt roads, and they didn’t have rubber tires.
Remember they weren’t practical, so there was a lot of things that had to come together before a bicycle became suitable for everyday use.
Literally, by 1900, it wasn’t the automobile that was putting the buggy makers out of business.
It was the bicycle, believe it or not.
The thing is, when you own a horse, you still gotta feed it and everything when you’re not riding it. [laughs] – That’s right, that’s right. [laughs] – A bicycle you don’t have to feed.
It looks in amazing shape.
[sighs] So it was just donated to you?
– Yes. – All right.
So this particular thing right here, I’d be willing to offer nothing.
– Aw.
– You’ve gone to a nice furniture stores where they knickknacks sitting around that look like antiques?
– Yeah.
– This is a knickknack made to look like an antique.
It’s brand new. – Oh, really?
– You have pieces here that are supposed to be moving individual parts that are cast together.
This is what they do in modern manufacturing for a display piece.
It’s just not for me.
– Well, I’m glad I didn’t buy it.
– It’s–look cute sitting in your house somewhere in a corner, but like, besides that, it’s not antique, it’s just a knickknack. – Got it.
– So have a great day.
– Thank you, you too. – All right.
Sometimes customers bring in things, and I just have to say… nay.
– What in the world do we have here.
– This is an 1865 food chopper.
Produced by Starrett.
– Alright, um. A food chopper.
Was it Ron Popeil?
– Ron Popeil, no no. (laughs) Today I’m bringing in a Starrett’s Food Chopper.
I purchased the food chopper from an estate sale.
I’d like to sell the food chopper today because I need the money.
I’d like to get $900 for it, but I’ll see what they give me.
If I sell today, probably reinvest it and try to make some more money.
– [Corey] So what do you know about this thing?
– It was produced by a guy named Laroy Starrett, was his second invention he had, it was put out the patent in 1865.
– [Corey] Okay.
– [Michael] So he actually made two different versions.
One was a bigger version for the restaurants, to help with that.
This one is actually a home version.
– It’s one of those inventions that’s as old as time.
Pre-Industrial Revolution, you might eat at a restaurant once in your life, if you were lucky.
It just wasn’t something people did on a regular basis.
After the Industrial Revolution comes, we’ve all of a sudden got multi-millionaires, we’ve got people with disposable income, we’ve got people eating out at restaurants.
We need ways to, basically make food really fast.
– [Michael] Yeah, yeah.
– I’d really like to see it get used.
Cheryl, do you have a…
Is there anything here I can cut with this thing?
It’s like an old-school food processor thing.
– [Cheryl] Let me go check my… see what I got.
– Okay.
Food choppers like this one became really popular in the kitchen in the later half of the 19th century.
This would cut food prep from hours to minutes.
And even though it’s not really revolutionary today, I’m curious to see if it really works.
I’ll let you do it.
That way if you break it, I don’t have to buy it.
– So let’s see.
– I mean, hell, it works pretty well still.
So what are you looking to do with it, man, how much do you want for it?
– Well… How about $900?
– I’ll give you 400 bucks for it.
– 400.
– [Corey] Realistically, that’s what it’s worth to me.
– [Michael] How about $750?
– It’s a food processor, man.
We’re not talking about the first steam engine here, we’re talking about a food processor.
I’ll give you 500 bucks. That’s pushing it.
I really can’t go any more.
– That’s really painful, but… Alright, I’ll do it.
– Alright, deal.
Alright, meet me over here, we gotta do some paperwork.
– I’m settling on the $500 for the food chopper because I need the money and I think it’s a reasonable deal.
Hey, how’s it going?
Good, how are you?
All right, what do you have here?
Well, this is an 1800 stroller.
OK.
You sure it’s not a really old rickshaw for a small person?
I personally wouldn’t pull my kids around in one of these strollers.
I would love to get $500 for this thing.
I’ve seen them go up to $5,000 on the internet.
All right, yeah, it’s definitely different.
CHUMLEE: Looks dangerous.
It’s almost like a wheelchair and it folds up into nothing.
Pretty simple, actually.
This thing right here, then just goes down like that.
I was a heavy baby.
That might have folded on me.
Well, you know, I think you might be able to fit in it.
This has to be rare.
I have never seen one of these before.
Strollers are really collectible.
Some of them go for like $5,000.
Wow, today must be your lucky day.
Hold on.
We don’t know if it’s a stroller.
The first baby strollers came out in England in the early 1800s.
Old strollers can be really collectible, but this one is definitely a mystery.
Do you know for a fact that this is early 1800s?
We don’t know.
No.
Early 1800s, there was some baby buggies like this where you pulled around, but they were built different.
The construction’s not early 1800s.
It’s got nuts and bolts on it.
We have rubber on the tires.
You know, I get a real feel for right around 1900, late 1800s.
So I’m sort of baffled.
It just doesn’t look like a baby buggy.
I mean, a baby couldn’t sit in it.
A friend of mine said, you know, well, maybe it’s from back in the polio days because it’s got these little wheels back here, you know, like a little wheelchair you pull around or something.
I’m assuming it’s one of those things where there just wasn’t a lot of them made and that’s why we don’t know about it.
This thing looks more like a prop from a horror movie than a the baby carriage.
I actually like it, but that doesn’t mean it would be an easy sell.
Man, how much do you think this thing is worth?
You know, I don’t know.
Good, how are you?
RICK HARRISON: How much did you pay for it at the auction?
All right, what do you have here?
Well, this is an 1800 stroller.
You really want to know?
OK.
You sure it’s not a really old rickshaw for a small person?
I’ve already said.
I paid $2.50 for it at the auction, all right.
Every once in a while, I run into this.
I personally wouldn’t pull my kids around I just get completely baffled and I don’t even in one of these strollers.
know who to call.
I would love to get $500 for this thing.
I have no idea who would be interested in this.
I’ve seen them go up to $5,000 on the internet.
I’ll give you $10.00.
How about $30.00?
I would think, you know, something like this being as unique as it is, if you looked it up on the internet, you won’t find anything exactly like it.
I’ll give you $20.00.
Deal.
All right, Chum.
Don’t break it.
You stroll this creepy thing over there and I’ll write you up.
This thing is worth something to somebody.
Now I just have to find that somebody.