EXPENSIVE Sunken Gold & Historic Heirlooms | Pawn Stars

I got a gold bar I want you to look at.
COREY: All right.
Oh, wow.
Hey, Pops.
You want to come and look at this?
Where in the world did you get this?
Grandma just passed away a few months ago.
We were cleaning things out, and we found this thing.
Did Grandpa happen to be a jewelry store robber or anything?
[laughter] [siren blaring] MATT: I came to the pawn shop today to see if I could sell my old gold bar.
This bar kind of really surprised us.
I never really heard about it, and nobody else had.
So I thought, we gotta go get this looked at and see what it’s worth.
Maybe sell it, get some money, and split that up among the family members.
COREY: What do you think, Pops?
Um, it’s gold.
It’s a big chunk of gold.
You got approximately $24,000 worth of gold here.
Wow.
When you’ve been a pawn broker as long as I have, you know real gold when you see it.
And judging by the weight of it, there’s a lot of it.
Before 1971, it was against the law to own this.
You weren’t allowed to have more than, I think, 5 ounces of gold in your house, period.
It was a federal offense.
It was called the Gold Confiscation Act.
FDR in the Depression bought all the gold off everybody in the United States for $20 an ounce.
And it was up until the ’70s when Nixon took us off the gold standard that we were allowed to own gold again.
There was a lot of people in this country who hid it because they didn’t want the government taking it away.
During the Depression, FDR made it illegal to own gold.
You could own a little bit of jewelry, a little bit of coins, that was it.
The reason he did this is he wanted to devaluate the value of the dollar, hoping that would spur the economy along.
The weird thing about it is the markings on it right here.
What the XX means, I have no idea.
So what’s the deal with this white stuff on there?
Sometimes they cast this in a mold that’s called investment.
It’s like plaster of Paris but different.
And you’ll have crustations like this in it.
But it’ll flake right out with your fingernail.
And this feels like it’s actually like coral or something.
I mean, it looks like shipwreck stuff, to tell you the truth.
You mean like buried treasure?
It could be, yeah.
Was your grandfather a diver or anything like that?
I don’t know if he was or not.
He was down in the Caribbean for a while.
And I don’t know if he came across something there that he’d never tell anybody about.
RICK: I buy gold from people every day, but I never have gold bars from a shipwreck walk into my shop.
This thing might not be worth its weight in gold– it might be worth way more.
So what did you want to do this?
You want to sell it?
Yeah, I want to sell it.
I would like someone to take a look at it.
This could be off a ship just because of this right here.
So I’ll find out if it’s treasure for you.
That’d be great.
OK?
Thanks.
I’m president of Big Blue Wreck Salvage and a marine artifact expert.
I’m passionate about the pursuit of history and information.
Well, what are your concerns, Rick?
RICK: What the XX means, I have no idea.
And it looks like there’s some crustation on the back of it that’s not from casting.
MEL: Well, what you’ve got here are the fineness markings.
These particular stamps I recognize from the 1500s.
And even at that time, gold was evaluated on a 24 scale.
It’s marked as 20 karat.
I could see with my own two eyes that that’s more gold than 20 karat.
Well, they had taxes in the 1540s and 1550s also, so if you can get it marked for less, you can avoid some of those taxes.
I think it’s pretty funny that even back in the 1500s people were trying to cheat on their taxes.
MEL: Modern testing would bring this in at probably 22 or better.
OK.
So you think it’s off a ship?
MEL: Well, what you have is definitely coral and crustation.
Coral will attach itself to something harder to grow.
That would have taken, oh, decades to have attached itself.
This thing was underwater for a long time.
And this is definitely– shipwreck treasure.
RICK: OK.
Sweet.
[laughter] There are two sites that have yielded bars of this type.
One is from the coast of Texas.
The 1554 Spanish fleet was wrecked there.
And there’s a site in the northern Caribbean.
So how much do you think it’s worth?
Melt times two is what you’re talking about.
RICK: OK.
What does that mean?
Remember earlier when I said $24,000 in scrap?
Yeah.
Scrap is melt. It’s just like a trade term.
So you’re telling me that’s worth $48,000?
In that neighborhood.
Yeah!
That’s what I’m talking about.
I’m gonna start melting down wedding bands and stamping XXs on them.
If you can get the coral to grow on it.
I got a fish tank.
[laughter] All right, thanks for coming in, Mel.
My pleasure.
RICK: There’s probably not a lot of people out there willing to buy this thing.
But here’s the deal– the people that are are willing to spend a lot of money.
Trust me, a lot.
So now that we know, what do you want to do?
Still want to sell it.
OK.
And how much would you like for it?
Well, if it’s worth 48, I want 48.
Um– yeah, if money talks, we’re talking different languages at the moment.
44?
Uh, no, because if I put this in an auction, they’re going to charge me 20%, OK?
All right.
I mean, I’ll go, like, $32,000 on it.
Come on.
You gotta give me more than that.
It’s worth 48.
Hmm– um, I’ll give you $35,000, and I don’t even want to pay you that.
Cash money.
All right.
35,000.
Let’s go do some paperwork.
MATT: I’m totally pumped to get $35,000.
That was a lot more than I expected, so I’m pleased as punch to get that.
RICK: Hey. How’s it going?
Those are some fancy boots.
[laughs] Thank you very much.
And that’s a fancy piece of wood.
We have a pistol grown into a tree.
TOM: We have a pistol grown into a tree.
OK.
[laughs] TOM: I found this piece at an Old West collectibles auction.
I think it’s worth more than money to someone that wants it because you can sit around and talk about it and wonder what it’s about.
I’m going to ask $18,000 or $20,000 for it.
RICK: I’m guessing 1858 Remington.
If you’re in the Civil War, this was a great thing to have.
These things weren’t issued to you.
You had to go get one.
You were issued a muzzleloading rifle, OK?
I mean, you got one shot, and it’s done.
I mean, you were carrying around two of these.
You got 12 shots.
You could shoot all day with this thing.
A lot of guys had them in the Civil War because if you carried one of these with you, there’s a lot better chance you’d live.
Is it loaded?
TOM: Supposedly, there is a bullet in the chamber.
I honestly don’t know.
RICK: Let me– hold on one second here.
Let me find a piece of barbed wire.
That one’s empty.
That one’s empty.
Can I take it out of this?
You know, I’ve never taken it out.
I– [laughs] RICK: Oh, that’s neat how it grew right into the barrel.
TOM: Mm-hmm.
And, yeah, that’s loaded.
The one in the chamber, you’re never going to be able to figure out.
Every once in a while, people bring in buried or sunken treasure.
But a gun that a tree actually grew into, I don’t even know where to begin.
I’ve definitely never seen anything like this.
So this is a hell of a quandary.
[laughs] What in the world is it worth?
TOM: I want $18,000.
I don’t think it’s worth that much.
But I have a friend who I really want to show this to.
I want to get his opinion on what it’s worth.
Hang out a few minutes. I’m going to get him down here.
I want him to look at this, OK?
Yeah, perfect.
RICK: This thing is just way too cool to let it walk out the door without finding something more about it.
Even if I just take it home and put it on my bookshelf, I’ll make an offer.
Here we go.
CRAIG: OK, I’m ready.
Aw.
[laughter] CRAIG: Wow.
RICK: It’s actually loaded.
Man, just– this is crazy.
How did this get here?
Nobody’s going to ever know, right?
No. No one’s going to know.
Well, there’s a piece of wiring sticking out the end over here.
Wait a minute.
Wants to come out. That’s weird.
I just would love to– it sounds like it’s in the barrel.
RICK: So maybe the guy was cleaning his gun when this all happened.
There’s just a million things with this.
We have no idea what’s going on.
Not that it really matters, but do you know what this gun is?
Well, I believe it’s a Remington.
CRAIG: It is.
This is a Remington New Model Army.
They made them roughly from 1862 to 1875.
This is a gun that competed with Colt.
And, in fact, if it wasn’t for the Colt fire that destroyed the factory, this gun probably wouldn’t have been produced in as great a quantity as it was.
Colt was out of business for a little while, and Remington stepped up to the plate.
And this became the most popular pistol for the Union during the Civil War.
Really, really interesting.
If there was a mint condition Remington New Model Army here or this, what would you rather have?
RICK: I mean, this one’s cooler. This one’s got a story.
Oh, I’d take this any day. Oh, yeah.
I mean, that’s the whole thing.
I can’t figure out a price on this thing.
And I’m going to tell you something.
This is the one time when you’re going to ask me what it’s worth that I’m going to tell you I don’t know.
There’s nothing else like it.
It’s one of a kind, OK?
So you’re not buying a Remington here.
You’re buying the chance to talk about this gun.
It’s just– I don’t know.
RICK: It’s the world greatest period.
I’ll tell you what I’d pay for it.
I mean, that’s all I can say.
I’ll tell you what I would pay for it.
I’d pay $3,000 or $4,000 no problem.
No problem.
OK.
I guess it’s a starting point.
[laughs] Thanks, man.
Rick, thanks.
OK, I knew you would love to see.
Oh, I love it. Thanks for calling me down.
And, man, you showed me something I’ve never seen before, so– – Thank you.
–that’s awesome. Thank you.
This gun transcends the whole gun thing.
It’s gun based, if you will.
But this is more of a conversational artifact.
Remington made a hundred and some odd thousand New Model Armies.
This is the coolest one on the planet.
OK.
So this is one of those few things that I would buy off a customer that I would not put it in my showcase.
I’d bring it home, I mean, because I really want this for myself.
I think this is the greatest thing in the world to pull out at a cocktail party with your friends and talk about it.
I’d give you $4,000 for it.
[laughs] TOM: No.
I’m going to pour myself an adult beverage, and sit around, and tell stories about it, and listen to other people tell stories.
It’s one of the neatest oddities I’ve ever seen.
If you change your mind, I don’t know why it’s so– I know it’s– would you take $5,000?
No.
$5,000 cash for a gun that’s basically ruined?
[laughter] No.
OK.
I mean, what would you take?
$15,000.
[sighs] It’s really cool to talk about for $5,000, not for $15,000.
Thanks for bringing it in, man.
Really, this is– – Thank you.
You really got a treasure there.
Thank you.
If you change your mind, bring it straight back to me, OK?
TOM: Thank you.
RICK: I hate having a cool piece like this walk out the door, but sometimes, the cool factor and the asking price just don’t match up.
For now, I can just hope he changes his mind and runs back to the shop.
RICK: So what have you got?
I’ve got something here that is more valuable than anything, I guarantee, you’ve ever seen in this shop.
Have a clump of rupees that were minted in 1702 by the son of the man who built the Taj Mahal.
Man’s name was Mohi-ud-Din Muhammad Aurangzeb Alamgir, otherwise known as Emperor Aurangzeb.
That took you a while to remember that, didn’t it?
Yeah, it did.
This clump of treasure coin is known as the Taj Mahal treasure because it truly is the only sunken treasure related to the Taj Mahal dynasty.
The reason why I’m here today is because I had these in an auction here, and it did not sell, so I’m coming over to see the guys here.
And hopefully, they’ll open their wallets.
So what can you tell me about these?
They were minted in Surat, India.
They went to the bottom of the ocean in 1702, and were recovered by Arthur C. Clarke and his dive partner.
RICK: Didn’t he write a few books about it?
Yeah. He wrote two books about it.
In fact, before he really started writing heavily about science fiction, he was an avid scuba diver.
And when they discovered it in 1961, Clarke and his dive partner, Mike Wilson, swam over the edge of a reef, and here, this shipwreck and all these silver coins were laying out all over the bottom.
RICK: This is one of the most well documented treasure discoveries in history.
I’ve read books about this wreck.
Ever since I started working in the pawn business, I’ve wanted sunken treasure.
And this is the motherlode.
I mean, I’ve had a few individual coins come in, but nothing like this.
They were minted in Surat, India, and then were headed on to the Orient, along the spice route, but they never made it there.
They were wrecked in a typhoon and wound up on a shipwreck there, and they sat underwater for that long.
The reason why they’re in such good shape is because they were laying up against some iron object, most likely a cannon, and the cannon oxidizes faster than the silver does, just like a sink on your boat does.
So that’s why the coins aren’t touched.
The natural electrolysis in the water went through the cannon instead of the silver first, so the silver is perfectly preserved.
So how did you come in possession of them?
Well, I did a documentary with Arthur C. Clarke in 1993.
His family consigned it to me, and we’ve been trying to sell it.
You got paperwork on them, right?
Yes, signed by Arthur C. Clarke.
Everything he’s telling me about this adds up with everything I’ve read.
It’s authentic.
It’s the real thing, and I cannot believe it is sitting in my shop.
I know it’s worth a fortune, but the question is, what does he consider a fortune?
One of the things that still gives me a shiver up my spine is that these coins were minted 30 years before George Washington was born.
These were worth a lot of money, back in those days, because they were silver.
The coin of the realm, for the common folks, were copper or bronze.
By weight, it’s a little over 25 pounds.
And at 25 pounds, it averages out to about 750 coins in here.
Can I buy it for silver scrap?
No.
No, you can’t.
What makes these so valuable is that they are still in clumped form.
99% of treasure coins are always reduced down to individual coins and sold off that way.
RICK: It’s extremely rare to have a treasure collection this large.
It’s even more rare to have them naturally fused together like this.
This is unique, and unique usually cost money.
The fact that it’s all clumped together now and hasn’t been disassembled makes it much more valuable, as I’m sure you understand from some of the things that you sell here.
So how much do you want for it?
I’d like to get $700,000 for it.
It’s a lot of money.
It is a lot of money.
And because we know the rarity, there were only three of them in the world.
Now there’s only two.
Originally, there were three clumps of coins.
The one that’s here in the US, one that’s in the Clark family archives, and a third that was in a museum in Colombo, Sri Lanka.
But when the 2004 tsunami hit, the sea reclaimed that clump of coins and they’ve never found it.
So now there’s only two of them in the world.
RICK: I really, really want this.
I mean, this thing is truly incredible.
But tying up 3/4 of a million dollars in one item, it could bankrupt this shop.
I’d love to have it.
It’s a cool item.
I mean, I would love to have it in my shop.
But I’m not going to spend that kind of money.
If I buy this off you, I got to put it in an auction, and it might take 5 or 10 years.
Right.
Which means my money’s tied up for a long time.
It’s an investment.
No, it’s a gamble.
My biggest problem here is this guy has already told me it didn’t meet reserve at auction.
I have to buy this thing at a price where I can sell it quickly and make a profit.
All I can do now is make an offer.
Kind of want to give you $200,000 for it.
200?
Yeah.
No.
I mean, that’s– I go a little bit more, but it’s not going to be much.
That’s what I can do.
I mean, there’s some things even too expensive for me.
I respect that.
I got to hold out for more.
But, hey, thanks very much.
Thanks for your time.
All right. Sorry I couldn’t do business.
I mean, it’s just– you just got to look at my perspective and it’s a lot of [bleep] money.
That it is.
RICK: I knew it was a long shot, and I’m really disappointed.
I wasn’t able to buy the treasure.
But at the same time, I’m a little bit relieved.
Because if I had to tell The Old Man I shelled out a quarter of a million dollars, he would have kicked my ass.
(Rick) Hey, how’s it going?
(Jack) Pretty good.
I have an interesting old rare book I’d like to sell.
Okay.
This is the Treaty of Amity, Commerce, and Navigation, otherwise known as “Jay’s Treaty.” But what’s special about this is this is Thomas Jefferson’s personal copy.
Whoa.
Um…
This is absolutely amazing.
Anything out of Jefferson’s library is really rare because his original library he sold to the Library of Congress, and then he went home one day and says, “Damn, I ain’t got no books.” [laughs] (Jack) My great-great-grandfather amassed a fairly formidable collection of rare books.
The book is mine entirely.
I had actually offered it to the Library of Congress, but they already had a copy, so I felt free to do with it as I wished.
This is really, really great.
Thomas Jefferson, he was a person who loved his books.
He loved to read every night.
Incredibly educated. He was an inventor.
Where in the heck did you get this?
My great-great-grandfather worked in the Senate, and he bid at the estate auction of Jefferson’s retirement library.
He bought that along with a number of other books.
This all the books he bought or…
These are all books he bought.
This is the only one that’s still left in the family.
And you can that he paid 15¢ for it.
Really? [laughs] I’m gonna ask a little bit more than that.
Okay.
That is pretty damn amazing.
I mean, you got the receipt.
You can’t really get better proof than this right here.
[laughter] Jay’s Treaty was a very unpopular piece of legislation, but it was really significant because it was our first major treaty with another country.
So if this book actually belonged to Thomas Jefferson, we’re talking a lot of money.
So the treaty was probably only a few pages long, so the rest of this is commentary on it?
– Yeah. – Okay.
And there’s actually something else very interesting about this book.
I believe that this written in here “by John Beckley” is in Thomas Jefferson’s handwriting.
This is super exciting.
I’m assuming you want to sell it.
Is that why you’re here?
– Yes. – Okay.
And how much are you looking to get out of it?
I’m looking for 75,000 for this.
Okay. Um…
I’m gonna call a friend of mine.
I think he’ll actually pee himself over this thing.
[laughter] Hang on a few minutes.
I’m gonna go give him a call, if that’s all right.
That’s fine.
And hopefully we can make a deal.
– Good. – Okay?
Thank you.
I’m maybe a little concerned that the expert might not know exactly what this book is, and if he expresses an opinion with which I disagree, I won’t hesitate to set him straight.
♪ Ah If this is what you said it is, I’m gonna be very excited, personally.
Well, no, this is the great thing.
He’s got the receipt.
That’s pretty amazing.
[laughs] After the British burned Washington during the War of 1812, all the books went up in smoke, so Jefferson sold his private library to the Library of Congress.
If this is truly from Jefferson’s Library, it really could be an American treasure.
So let me get this straight.
So after he sold all of his books to the Library of Congress, he started buying up new books to fill his library again.
Yes.
He really hated the idea of Monticello being empty, and that was the called the Retirement Library which was sold in 1829 after he died and was in debt.
If I can just flip through the book a little bit more…
Jefferson had a secret way of marking his books.
He would go and he’d find the I page, and he put a T, his first initial T, in front of the I page.
So…
That is what they should look like there.
Thomas Jefferson was one of the most important founding fathers.
There are very few of his authentically owned books out there, so when one comes up, it really is a special time.
There’s also a name written right here.
We don’t know if it’s in Jefferson’s hand or not.
John Beckley was actually important in Jefferson’s life.
He was one of his early campaign managers and a friend of Jefferson and an early ally.
I’ve sold a lot of Jefferson materials and seen a lot, and that…
looks like Jefferson’s delicate handwriting.
Okay. Good to know.
Yeah, that’s kind of neat.
That is an awesome piece of American history.
Okay, now the big question is, what do you think this would go for?
Jefferson to this day remains very popular among autograph collectors, book collectors.
If I were offering this one of my good clients, I’d probably put a price of $75,000 on it, so…
Um, okay.
It has inflated from 15¢.
That’s good.
Thanks, man. I appreciate it.
All right, thanks a lot. Nice to meet you.
Good luck with it.
Thomas Jefferson is really high among collectors.
He’s one of the blue chip American names, along with George Washington and Abraham Lincoln, so if Rick does buy the book, I don’t think it’ll be that hard for him to find a buyer for it.
[exhales sharply] What’s your best price?
Well, 75,000 is my asking price.
Okay.
I’m a buyer at $40,000.
I know that seems a big stretch from 75, but I have to make some money off it.
I don’t know if I’m gonna sit on it for a week.
I don’t know if I’m gonna sit on it for five years.
Okay.
I could take it down to 60,000.
I couldn’t do that.
I will go 47, and I am skittish at that, because there’s so few people in this world that have that kind of money to spend on a book.
And there are so few books in the world like this.
Yes.
50,000. That’s it.
50,000.
You can have it for 50,000.
I’ll walk out of here.
Let me have it for 48.
No, it’s got to be 50.
It’s got to be 50.
Oh, my God.
I can’t let go below 50.
– Deal. – Sold.
Okay. All right.
Um, I own a really expensive book.
You do. Congratulations.
All right, let’s go do some paperwork.
– Okay. – All right.
– All right. – Cool.
It’s hard to see how my great-great-grandfather could be anything but pleased.
I’m very pleased to have gotten $50,000 for it.
I would have sold it for less than 50 grand.
– Hello. What can I help you with?
– This is a gold and coral rosary from a famous ship wreck, the 1715 Fleet.
– That’s cool.
Coral was really, really popular and inexpensive around this time period, because they realized that if you take a few cannons and start blasting coral reefs…
They weren’t exactly environmentally friendly back then, okay? – [laughs] [explosion] I buy and sell relics and artifacts from different famous ship wreck sights. And I got this particular piece almost a year ago from one of my colleagues. If I sell this rosary today, I would use the funds to buy the golden box that this particular rosary was found in. ♪ – This is really cool. So, this was from the 1715, um…
– Fleet. – Okay.
Treasure was the hottest thing on the market 20 years ago.
Some royal coins from the shipwrecked 1715 Fleet went for 275,000 apiece.
But not everything they found has that kinda value.
By 1700, thousands and thousands of ships were going back and forth from the New World.
Back then, you would never sail the Atlantic between, like, June and November.
Those were the months with the hurricanes. But Spain said, “We don’t give a damn.” And there has been a fleet of ships that needed to bring as much gold and supplies they could back to Spain.
and they ended up wrecking off the coast of Florida.
So, how much do you want for this? ♪ – I’d like to get 75,000?
♪ – [sighs] If you had this in, like, 1987, you could’ve got $150,000 for it, and that’s because there was hardly any ship wrecks found.
But nowadays, they’re constantly finding new ship wrecks.
The market is flooded with treasure.
I mean, I’d give you, like, 12 grand for it.
♪ – Yeah, I couldn’t do that.
Um… come down to, like, 48?
– I mean, literally my highest price would be 13 grand.
– Ugh. You’re killing me.
♪ Well, thanks for looking at it.
– Okay. – I appreciate that. – All right, well, have a good one.
– Okay. – If you change your mind…
give me a call – Okay, will do.
♪ – Yeah, I didn’t think that ship would ever sail.
[laughs] Oh, my god.
So what do we got here?
What is this?
This is a propeller passed down to me.
It was a gift to my grandmother that was given to her by Charles Lindbergh.
Hey, Rick?
That matches your head.
[laughter] [whirring] [ragtime music] I’m coming into the pawn shop today to sell my Charles Lindbergh propeller that’s been in my family for years.
It’s been a treasure to them.
And now it’s no longer a treasure to me.
So tell me the whole story.
The whole story to this thing is that it was a gift to my grandmother from Charles Lindbergh for selling war bonds during World War II.
RICK: I imagine she sold a whole lot of them.
DAVID: A whole lot of them.
RICK: Do you know what kind of plane this is off of?
Or– – No.
It– the story I have is it was never put on an airplane.
Back in the day, there was superstars, heroes, whatever you want to call them.
Lindbergh was one.
When it comes to American aviation, the three biggest names are the Wright brothers, Amelia Earhart, and Lindbergh.
It’s those three, and no one else.
This looks like it’s in perfect condition.
The wax is crystallized on it from age.
DAVID: Right.
But you clean this thing up, you can put it on a plane.
RICK: Yeah.
Right here, it’s even got the original manufacturer specs– 160 horsepower, 1,850 RPMs.
The engineering on these things was amazing.
They had to be perfectly balanced.
You could literally take a pen, put the propeller on top of it, and it would be perfectly level and perfectly balanced.
There’s just one problem.
What?
RICHARD: What’s it worth?
RICK: I have no clue.
Me either.
I don’t know if it’s worth $10 or $10,000.
You got any paperwork, any documentation on this thing?
I don’t have any documentation.
That I’m still working on.
RICK: This propeller is beautiful on its own.
But if it was a gift from Charles Lindbergh, that changes everything.
It’s definitely cool, and I definitely like it.
And I really want an expert to check it out.
Sure. OK, great.
Thank you. RICK: All right, thanks.
– Hey, thanks a lot, guy. – You too.
Thank you.
I’m the administrator of the Howard W. Cannon Aviation Museum at McCarran Airport, so I’ve worked with a number of historic propellers in the past.
If this can be connected to Charles Lindbergh, it would be a valuable piece from a collector standpoint, because they would want that associative, you know, connection with Charles Lindbergh.
I can tell you it’s probably pre-World War II.
The fact that it’s this particular serial number, that’s a civilian serial number.
It doesn’t have a– Most propellers in the 1930s were wood.
They weren’t all wood though.
They were using steel.
They were using aluminum.
They were beginning to try new materials that would last better.
You said that Charles Lindbergh supposedly gave this to your grandmother?
That’s correct, for selling war bonds.
That’s the information I am.
And do you have any documentation of Charles Lindbergh giving this to your grandmother?
No, I don’t right now.
We had documentation of a newspaper article, and it was lost over the years.
OK.
I would guess that the first thing that people would think about is, is it off the Spirit of St. Louis?
No. RICK: No.
It’s not.
That’s an absolute.
The Spirit of St. Louis used a steel propeller.
This is wood.
Doesn’t fit.
Charles Lindbergh, before World War II, was in a group called America First.
It was an isolationist group.
He was against the war.
And he tried very hard to keep the United States out of World War II.
There were a lot of people, including President Roosevelt, that really didn’t trust his motives.
They thought maybe he was a closet Nazi.
They thought, you know, he was way too ensconced with the anti-war forces.
But when we went to war, he worked on behalf of the United States.
And so he changed their minds with all the work that he did on behalf of the United States, but he didn’t do a lot of work with bond drives.
There’s no way of saying for sure unless you have some kind of documentation– – Right.
–from the time.
And that is something that you could probably find in the newspapers at the time.
A presentation from Charles Lindbergh would be in the newspaper.
Right.
That would have been reported.
My grandparents and my parents said this is real.
I can’t dispute that, because they wouldn’t lie to me.
Why would they lie to me?
My first guess would be that it was a different pilot that might have presented it.
There are a lot of very famous pilots that did work with the bond drives.
Thanks, Mark. I really appreciate your time.
Not a problem. Thank you.
Thanks, Mark.
RICK: Even though Mark couldn’t verify this propeller for us, it’s still an antique, it’s still in great shape, and it’s still worth money, just not nearly as much.
Since I can’t tie it to Charles Lindbergh, I’m sort of torn here.
What we do know is we have a pre-World War II propeller that’s in pretty good shape.
I would give you $1,000 for it.
I’ll overstep my son.
I’ll go up to $1,500.
Now my recommendation to you is you take the damn thing home, you try to find the documentation.
If you do, I’ll probably take and pay $2,000 or $3,000 for it or maybe a little more than that.
Well, I think I’ll do the research on it.
– OK, no problem. – Hey.
All right.
Hey, the offer stands.
I think this guy made the right decision.
If he can find paperwork that proves this propeller was associated with Charles Lindbergh, he’s going to make a lot of money.
So what do we got here?
Oh, this is my antique chest.
RICK: You get it off a pirate ship or something?
I wish.
[laugh] [music playing] [cannons firing] DICK: Coming in the pawn shop today to try to sell my antique chest.
I’m looking to sell this chest because we’re redecorating, and it doesn’t match anything.
I paid $2,000 for it.
I’m hoping to at least get maybe double my money.
RICK: So do you know anything about it?
Not really.
To me, it looks like it came from a ship or a stagecoach.
I think this is what they called a bullion chest, where they transported gold and silver.
They were extremely heavy so people couldn’t run off with them, and they were locked very well where people couldn’t break into them.
OK.
I can tell it’s old.
It’s hand-wrought iron.
It’s hand-hammered rivets.
And the rivets are wrought iron.
They’re not steel.
The moment I saw this chest, I started drooling.
I’ve never seen anything like it.
It is super unique.
Was there anything inside it?
I haven’t been able to open it.
RICK: Have you had a locksmith look at it?
‘Cause you got a key right here.
Yeah, I had a couple try to open it, but nobody was successful.
Did you try and shoot it often?
[laugh] No comment.
‘Cause it’s got a little hole here and a big hole in the back of it.
I’ll be honest with you– I’m intrigued.
I wanna know what’s inside that damn chest.
I mean– especially if you paid that much money, you wouldn’t want to put a crowbar on it.
No way.
I’d really like to know what’s in it before I made you an offer.
To be honest, I’d like to know what’s in it before I sell it.
Before we negotiate, we have to know what’s inside.
Because if there’s an important coin or document, it could make it worth a lot more money.
I have one guy I think can get into this.
Let’s give him a call, let’s see if I can get him up here, and– We’ll go from there.
We’ll go from there.
That’s all I can tell you.
Sounds fine to me.
OLD MAN: I’ve been in this business for many years, and I don’t think I’ve ever had anything come in here that could be as valuable as this chest.
But it depends on what’s inside.
Oh, man, this is the chest.
Yeah, this is it, man.
I’m an expert in antique arms and armor.
And I’ve been collecting since I was 10, and I’ve been dealing professionally for over 20 years.
So what are your concerns?
Yeah, I just need to get it open, and you can tell me how old it is and what it’s worth, and maybe we can make a deal.
I just– we’re baffled.
We’re in a fog right now.
Normally, when someone brings in an object, we know what they have.
In this case, we have no idea because we don’t know what’s inside the chest.
And none of us want to start throwing out numbers until we know.
It definitely predates the 20th century.
This is not even 18th century.
This would be early 17th century, even late 16th century.
This was the typical form for the strong boxes.
Because they didn’t have a banking system back then, this is a real treasure chest.
This escutcheon plate on the front was to deter a would-be thief to try to break into this.
But this was false, completely false.
Just as a kind of a fooling technique.
And I can also tell just by the patina that this wasn’t a recent bullet hole, OK.
RICK: OK.
SEAN: It may not have been from the 17th century of the 16th century, but it’s definitely a musket ball hole.
Not only is this thing real, but the hole was made by a musket ball.
And that’s the kind of thing collectors dream about.
You know, your mind kind of goes crazy wondering how that got there.
Was there a guy that was trying to break into this thing?
Did he pull out his flintlock pistol and shoot it out of frustration?
Were they traveling with this treasure chest and maybe being chased by highwaymen?
I don’t know.
But the mystery is there.
So you think you can open it?
Well, now granted that this is a working key, and I’m hoping that it is, chances are I’m gonna be able to get it open.
But there’s only one way to find out.
This key is going to operate a very intricate mechanism that’s contained within the lid of this chest.
I’m not going through the front.
This is the brilliant part.
And how they made this and came up with this idea back then is just mind boggling.
This is actually where the key goes.
And this is a little hidden, by a spring.
The key would go into the top, OK.
Now this may or may not work because you need a lot of strength to open these things.
OK.
Lift up.
OLD MAN: It’s empty.
Yeah.
No pirate scrolls or anything.
Well, not what I was hoping for.
A little disappointing.
I know everybody was let down once we opened this thing and there was nothing in it.
But the chest itself still is very, very valuable.
It’s very rare.
And the fact that this is in wonderful condition– hasn’t been cleaned, hasn’t been restored– it’s still a very valuable item.
Well, if you can see the mechanics of this.
One key turns and moves all these locking bolts that lock it underneath this lip.
The technology in this box was so far ahead of its time.
The designer had one key motion to affect eight bolts.
I mean, it’s just– it’s mind boggling.
Watch your fingers.
So how much is this thing worth?
50, 60 bucks?
It would be worth– There’s not a lot of these out there.
How many still exist?
I don’t know.
In an auction setting, anywhere from, say, 7,000 to 12,000 is conservative.
And the fact that it’s got a bullet hole in it, that adds to the flavor.
Realistic street value, I would say anywhere from 5,000 to 7,000 is realistic.
Well, thanks for coming in, Sean.
Absolutely.
Any time.
Hell, I’m tired of pussyfooting around with this chest.
It’s time to negotiate.
OK, what do you want for it?
I understand that could get as much as 7.
Maybe 5 or 6, and we can negotiate that?
I’d give you like 4 grand for it.
It’s 4,000 cash.
Go a long way, my friend.
I don’t disagree with that.
And I really don’t want to bring that back home.
Well, if you don’t want to bring it back home, I’ll give you 3,000.
I’ll bring it back home for 3.
I refuse to go higher than $4,000.
The street value on this thing is $5,000, and that doesn’t leave a lot of room for profit.
Like I said, I just really want to– I just want to cut to the chase, and that’s what I can give you for it.
If 4,000’s a firm offer?
Firm offer.
All right, we have a deal.
All right, let’s go up here.
We gotta do some paperwork.
Honestly, I’m really happy with the deal.
The chest is amazing, and I got it for a really good price.
Now I just gotta go put some gold in it.