THOUSANDS of DOLLARS for Antique Statues?! | Pawn Stars

– So these are a pair of hand-carved stone statues from China. – Okay. This guy looks like he had a little too much to et for lunch.
– The first one looks a little bit like you.
He’s chilling.
– He is pretty beautiful. What can I say?
♪ – I’m here at the pawn shop today to sell a couple of Chinese statues. My wife and I bought them at an estate sale. We think they’re over 200 years old. They’re agate alabaster. They each weigh over 350 pounds. I’m hoping to get 15,000 for both, and I think that’s reasonable based on the research that I’ve done.
– Okay, that’s pretty cool. Hand-carved stone goes back to one of the oldest art forms in China. They were hand-carving these stones for a long time. You would find carvings like this in palaces or in temples or even given out as gift.
A lot of these would have been tarred by slow abrasion from foot-powered laves, and that’s how they would get a lot of the finer lines and stuff in it.
And it looks like what they may have done here, but I can’t say for sure.
Typically, these would be carved out of jade, malachite, amber, maybe a few other stones.
Do you know what these are?
– I think they’re carved out of agate alabaster.
The stone looks like agate alabaster, but to be honest, I’m not entirely sure.
– And how old did you say these are?
– You know, as far as I can tell, maybe 200 years old.
– Okay, well, they look– they look pretty well carved.
They look to be in good condition.
You can see some patina on ’em. I’m seeing a little bit of wear and tear and kind of some scratches on it, but I’m not really finding any chipping or anything like that on there, so that’s really good.
It looks like they were taken very well care of.
So, what are you looking to do with these?
– I’d like to sell them.
– And how much are you looking to get for them?
– Ideally 7,500 apiece.
– So 15,000 total?
♪ I have no idea of the value.
I do know that if they’re 200 years old, they definitely have some good value to them. If you have some time, I’d like to have someone come down, examine them, tell me his thoughts on them, how much he thinks they’re worth, how old he thinks they are, and to see if they’re actually hand-carved.
And then, we can talk about the $15,000 that you’re asking for.
– Sure. – All right.
Give me just a few minutes. I’ll be right back.
Do me a favor, don’t move these anywhere.
– That’s not gonna be a problem. I’m hoping the expert can tell us a little bit about what they’re made of and hopefully give us a value, maybe something more than what I’m asking.
Hey, Bob. – Hey, Chum.
How are you doing? – I’m good.
This gentleman brought these statues in here.
– Hi there. I’m Bob. – John.
– John, how are you? – Apparently, these are 200-year-old hand-carved statues.
– Wow. 200 years ago, that would be the Qing dynasty, so one of the last imperial dynasties of China.
In China, they’ve been using stone to make ornaments and offerings and things for their gods for thousands and thousands of years.
– They look well-carved to m. Take a look and tell me what you think.
– Okay.
This stone is banded alabaster.
You can see some of the banding in the stone. Some of the things that I’m looking for, to see if it really is from the Qing dynasty, I wanna see the quality of the carving.
So, some of the things that I’m noticing, right here, I’m seeing series of little nicks in the ston.
To me, that’s not a good sign of age, as I’m seeing markings on the stone that look, to me, like it was created with a power tool.
So, right here, Chumlee, you see all these little marks?
– I do. – Yeah.
So, that’s a power tool that is grinding at the stone, creating these lines.
So, if this were Qing dynasty, I would expect these surfaces to be very smooth.
And then, I look at the patina. The patina, to me, looks like it’s been applie.
There are dots here. There are blotches.
So, I think somebody has worked a little bit to make them look a little bit older than they are.
– So, you would say that they’re definitely not 200 years old?
– I would say, more likely 75 years at most.
– Okay, do they still have some value to them?
– Still collectible.
A lot of people love these decorative Chinese stone pieces.
I would say $1,000 apiece.
♪ – All right, well, not what he wants to hear, I think, but it’s what I needed to hear, so thanks for coming by.
– So sorry. – No, that’s okay.
Thanks, Bob. – Of course.
– All right, I’ll see you next time.
– You got it. Bye.
– So I’m gonna– gotta be honest with you.
They’re big, they’re heavy.
They’re going to be several hundred dollars each to ship.
I’m gonna have to pass on them. – I gotta be honest, I had a heck of a time getting them in that door.
Would you give me 1,000 bucks for them?
– I’ll tell you what, I’ll do 600 bucks for the pair, 300 each.
– How about 750?
– 600 is gonna be the best I could do.
– 650.
– 600.
♪ – Well, considering I don’t want to throw out my back getting them out of here, I’ll take the 600.
– All right, I’ll tell you what, go ahead and meet me over there at the desk and I’ll come write you out.
– All right.
He carved me down to $600, but at least I don’t have to haul them home.
What do you got?
KEVIN: I have three antique wood decoys.
Where did you get these?
They were my grandpa’s.
RICK HARRISON: Can you do a duck call?
KEVIN: No, I can’t.
[quacks] I came to the pawn shop today to sell my duck decoys.
I’d like to sell the ducks today, because they’re just sitting on my shelf.
I hope to get $450 and, you know, the least, maybe $100 each, $300 total.
RICK HARRISON: Some of these decoys can be really collectible and really valuable.
You ever go duck hunting?
Yeah.
RICK HARRISON: So what makes a decoy a good decoy?
RICHARD HARRISON: The one that drew the ducks in where you could shoot them, son.
[laughter] RICK HARRISON: All right.
Well, tell me about these things.
KEVIN: They were produced by Ken Harris, you know, in the ’50s.
They’re hand carved and hand painted.
RICK HARRISON: I really like it.
I mean, it’s a uniquely American art.
Pilgrims and the original settlers to the United States learned this from American Indians.
No one ever thought they were going to be collectible.
And then suddenly, right around the late ’60s, people decided that they were art.
I know that a few years ago there was one decoy that sold for $600,000 maybe.
KEVIN: Oh wow, yeah.
RICK HARRISON: These decoys were designed by a guy named Ken Harris.
He was an insurance salesman who quit the business back in the 1960s so he could focus just on the decoys.
His designs got really popular.
And they’re still big with collectors today.
I mean, there’s definitely a market for them.
We do have some condition issues with these right here, though.
The older ones do generally have a little bit of damage to them.
But this one’s pretty bad.
KEVIN: With the condition issue, though, I think it gives them character.
I think it shows that they were used.
They were hunted with.
RICK HARRISON: I love it when people tell me that the damage gives them character.
Because look, like if you had a pristine ’61 Corvette, could I hit it with a hammer and say, well, it gave it character?
Right.
Right.
RICK HARRISON: These old duck decoys are really cool.
But any collector who comes in and wants one is going to want them in the best shape possible.
If they’re old and beat up, it just makes them harder to sell.
Now, what did you want to do with these?
KEVIN: I want to sell them.
All right, and how much did you want for them?
KEVIN: $150 a duck, $450 total.
OK.
I’ll take these two.
KEVIN: $450.
RICK HARRISON: No, no, for $150 a piece.
KEVIN: So why not $450 for all three then?
That– that’s their price.
RICK HARRISON: Because this one has been through the war.
It’s really scuffed up.
KEVIN: $400 for all three of them.
RICK HARRISON: I’ll tell you what, $380.
KEVIN: $390 and it’s a deal.
[sigh] Split the difference.
RICHARD HARRISON: Don’t lose them for $5.
All right, $385.
OK.
Thanks.
RICK HARRISON: Even though one duck is in bad shape, these will look great in the store.
I shouldn’t have a problem selling the other two, so it’s a win-win.
RICHARD HARRISON: What do you think about this, Chumlee?
CHUMLEE RUSSELL: About what?
RICHARD HARRISON: It’s a duck decoy, dum-dum.
When I was a kid, son, me and my father went duck hunting all the time.
RICK HARRISON: Earlier I bought some duck decoys and ever since, the old man has been yapping about the good old days when he used to go hunting ducks with his dad.
RICHARD HARRISON: It takes some skill to shoot a duck on the fly, son.
COREY HARRISON: It’s a shotgun.
How accurate do you need to be?
RICHARD HARRISON: It’s not as easy as you’d think.
Back in the day if I wanted a duck dinner, I had to shoot it out of the sky.
The only way these spoiled little brats will eat duck is if they order it off the menu.
Let’s go trap shooting, and I’ll show you guys how in the hell it’s done.
RICK HARRISON: You want to go out shooting, we’ll go out shooting. RICHARD HARRISON: All right.
We’ll go shooting and whoever loses buys the duck dinner for all of us.
CHUMLEE RUSSELL: I like beating you guys.
So I’m in.
COREY HARRISON: I’m not losing, so it really doesn’t matter.
All right.
It’s a bet.
This is going to be easy.
RICHARD HARRISON: Yeah, right.
RICHARD HARRISON: Damn Corey, you don’t bring a damn assault weapon to a skeet shoot.
It’s a shotgun, isn’t it?
I can’t believe Corey and Chum bring like home defense shotguns to shoot trap.
It’s just ridiculous.
RICHARD HARRISON: We each three shots.
Whoever does the worst has to buy a duck dinner for everybody.
CHUMLEE RUSSELL: I don’t like duck dinner.
RICHARD HARRISON: You’ll eat it.
CHUMLEE RUSSELL: Pull.
[gun shots] [buzzer] Pull.
[gun shots] [buzzer] Pull.
[gun shots] Yeah.
[bell ding] One out of three sucks.
That was horrible for me.
I’m next.
I think their dumb as a board for bringing out assault weapons.
Pull.
[gun shots] [buzzer] Pull.
[gun shots] [buzzer] Damn it.
Pull.
[gun shots] [bell ding] Bullseye, One out of three ain’t bad.
One out of three is not good.
COREY HARRISON: All right.
I’m next.
Yeah, good luck hitting anything with an assault shotgun.
COREY HARRISON: Pull.
Ah, [bleep] [buzzer] Pull.
[gun shot] [buzzer] [bleep], damn it.
Pull.
[gun shots] [bell ding] Nailed it.
Looks like we’re tied.
[inaudible], guys.
All right, pull.
[gun shot] [bell ding] Pull.
[bell ding] Pull.
[gun shot] [bell ding] Pull.
[gun shot] [bell ding] Pull.
[gun shot] [bell ding] Pull.
[gun shots] [bell ding] Pull.
[gun shots] [bell ding] I got three out of three, like I said I would.
And just to show off a little bit, I got seven out of seven.
You know, sometimes you just have to take kids to school.
All right.
Someone’s buying me dinner.
I was actually using a gun for trap shooting.
[chuckling] RICHARD HARRISON: You two figure out who’s paying.
RICHARD HARRISON: Hi, boys.
I brought in duck dinner.
Corey, you and Chumlee’s got to pay for it.
I ain’t paying for no duck dinner.
I don’t eat duck.
Yeah, you’re on your own on this one grandpa.
I don’t eat duck either.
We made a bet.
Whoever did the worst at the shooting range had to buy everybody else a duck dinner.
I won.
And these guys had a three-way tie for last place.
So all I know, I’m not paying.
Dad, this is chicken wings.
Ain’t no difference.
It’s the same thing.
RICK HARRISON: Yeah, there is a difference.
RICHARD HARRISON: OK.
You don’t have to eat them.
I’ll eat them all.
Not bad.
CHUMLEE RUSSELL: I like chicken wings.
COREY HARRISON: All right, I want some, too.
How much do I owe you for them?
RICHARD HARRISON: You ain’t getting none.
Neither is Chumlee.
I’m going to eat what I want and spit on the rest of them.
COREY HARRISON: Chum.
RICHARD HARRISON: You [bleep] bring my chicken back.
What in the hell’s wrong with them?
RICK HARRISON: What in the hell’s wrong with you?
RICHARD HARRISON: Eat your chicken wings and be quiet.
ANNA: Hi.
Hi.
What do we have here?
I would like to sell this table.
RICK: OK, I’m assuming this is a Scotsman right here, and this is his kilt.
ANNA: Yeah.
Do you have the other half?
Unfortunately, no.
It’s just a half.
[laughing] ANNA: My table is handcarved.
I’d like to sell the table because I don’t have the room to have it.
I’m hoping to get $1,500, it’s what I paid for it.
RICK: Well, I’ll tell you what, it’s definitely different.
[laughs] Do you know anything about it?
ANNA: I got it from a guy that was a gambler here in Vegas, and probably is from the early 1900s.
I mean, the way it’s been carved, the shoe laces, the socks, not even my boyfriend has that kind of legs.
[laughs] RICK: Some custom carved furniture can be extremely valuable, but it’s not always easy to tell between one that was handcrafted and the ones that are mass-produced.
So I’ve got to take a closer look, because the devil is in the details.
Does this come off? ANNA: You can lift it.
RICK: I’m not going to get surprise if I lift this up, am I?
ANNA: No.
[laughing] It’s really heavy.
RICK: OK.
You have no idea how old it is or anything like that?
ANNA: I assume it’s probably 100 years old.
And how much are you looking for it?
$1,500.
I truly don’t think it’s that old, just the way it’s finished in here.
Older furniture, before the advent of a lot of power tools, it was just really expensive to finish a piece of wood, and why do it on a piece of furniture where you’re never going to see those parts?
And this right here is very inexpensively put on there.
Good furniture, you do not use nails.
It just gives the vibe to me as something really new.
So I was thinking more like $50.
ANNA: $1,500 is what I paid, and I felt like I was ripping the guy off.
RICK: I truly believe you overpaid.
I mean, it looks like a really inexpensive piece.
It was probably made in the past 10 or 15 years.
I believe it’s pretty old.
RICK: I, I– to tell you the truth, I really don’t want it.
I’m sorry.
Thanks for bringing it in though.
No problem.
I don’t agree when he says that my table looks kind of new, because if it was new, anybody could have a table like this.
Someone who appreciate arts, you know, would really love to have this table in their house.
What are these?
Well, I know what they are, but what are these?
[laughs] DENNY: Well, well I got some old antique carousel horses I’d like to sell.
RICK: Cool.
DENNY: All I can tell you my man, my good friend Dynamite Dick Durbin, they call him the Tattooed Terror from Tulsa.
Uh-huh?
DENNY: He told me it was a two for a nickel, bicycle riding, incomprehensible, bonafide substantial fact without a doubt.
You’re not going to find any finer wood carved horses in the world today than what we got right here.
RICK: Were you in the carnival business or an auctioneer?
DENNY: I worked in the auction business for a long time.
I learned that from an old auctioneer.
I’m bringing in antique carved wooden carousel horses.
They’re intricately carved.
They need to be repainted, but they’re just hot looking.
I want $4,000 apiece, $8,000 for the pair.
RICK: Where did you get these?
DENNY: A friend of mine passed away and they were in an estate.
RICK: OK.
DENNY: He told me they were carved by a French carver in the 1920s, but he couldn’t think of the name, and that was shortly before he passed away, so I have no history.
RICK: There’s a great history with carousel horses.
One of the things they used them for was military training.
You know, they would mount a wooden horse on a merry-go-round like thing and they would practice shooting a spear, doing sword work.
Because you don’t want to take a real expensive horse and put a guy who has no idea what he’s doing on it.
That’s true.
RICK: By the late 1800s, the carousel had transformed into the carnival ride we know today.
They eventually made their way to the US, where emigrants start setting them up at fairs and carnivals.
There’s two basic styles of carousel horses.
Like this right here is more what you’d see on a European carousel– more prancing, dignified.
And then you have the American Mustang style that looks like it’s running through the desert of Nevada or something like that.
The European ones can go for a lot of money.
The American ones can be worth a fortune.
Some carousel horses have gone for over $100,000.
Oh.
RICK: Do you mind if I take a closer look?
DENNY: No, help yourself.
RICK: We have a new tail.
Someone started painting this thing, quite frankly, very badly.
This is where a kid would be holding on.
This stuff would been worn down.
We’ve got some weird stuff going on here.
Looks like there’s no hole for the pole to go up and down.
It was never actually on a carousel, I can tell you that.
It didn’t go up and down.
The more I look at this thing, the more problems I see with it.
So what do you want to do with them?
DENNY: I’d like to sell them, and I’m asking like $4,000 apiece for them.
RICK: This is my big problem with them though.
I’m damn near positive these are reproductions.
I think they were probably made in the ’80s, and they were probably sold as reproductions.
DENNY: Well, can you make me an offer on them?
Are you interested in them at all?
RICK: Unfortunately, these are new and they’re really great.
Someone will buy them off you, they’re just not my kind of merchandise.
Very good. That’s what we’re gonna do.
– Thank for coming in, man. – Thank you.
RICK: Carousel horses have always been collectible, and they really took off in the 1980s.
But once something gets popular, along come the fakes.
That’s why I always look closely before I put my money on a horse.
[laughs] – What do we have here?
– It’s a lion’s head chair that was in my family since I was a kid.
– Okay. Well, it’s interesting.
It looks like the most uncomfortable thing in the world.
[both laugh] [lion roars] – I’m here at the pawn shop today to sell my hand-carved lion’s head chair. I’ve never seen a chair like this. It’s made entirely of wood. There are no screws or nails in it. It’s very intricately carved. I’m looking to sell it because I really have no sentimental value for it. It’s a beautiful piece, and somebody might enjoy it. I’m asking $1,000 for the chair.
– Do you know much about it? – I don’t really.
It was handed down from my grandmother to my father to me.
– Okay. So chairs like this, they sort of became popular because of a guy named Raymond Gantt.
In the ’30s, he traveled all over the South Pacific and Hawaii, eventually moved back to California, opened up a tiki bar in LA, and he called it Don the Beachcomber.
So the tiki thing became real popular.
At that time, carved furniture was very, very expensive.
It was done by American or European craftsmen.
So we started importing a lot of chairs like this from the South Pacific and Hawaii.
The craftsmen over there were incredible.
They could do this very, very quickly and sell them very inexpensively.
People fall in love with it. They thought that was great.
You know how it is in the 1950s.
It was a cool thing to have a little bar in your house, and they’d all have a different little theme.
And then by the 1960s, they just went out of style.
So how much did you want for it?
– I would like $1,000.
♪ – I would like to get $1,000 for a chair like this.
[laughs] The fact of the matter is just, in the 1950s, it was cool.
It is not cool now, and it’s gonna be tough to sell.
If I did buy it off you, it would sit in a corner for years and years, taking up valuable real estate in my place.
So good luck with it. Maybe put it online.
Maybe donate it.
Maybe you get a tax deduction. That’s what you need to do.
[laughs] Have a good one.
– Unfortunately, I didn’t make the deal today. I’m not sure what I’m gonna do with the chair, but I guess I’ll just sit on it.