Vive La Deals! Top 6 Finest French Rarities | Pawn Stars

– Hey, how you doing? – Good, and you?
– Pretty good. What can I help you with?
– I brought you a special sword.
– What’s so special about this sword?
– Well, this is the best Napoleonic swords ever made.
It’s an Imperial Guard sword.
This would’ve belonged to a dragoon.
– What’s a dragoon?
– Mounted artillery.
– I’m gonna call my boss “dragoon” from now on.
– [laughs] – You dragoon!
[unsheathing sword rings out] – A Napoleonic Imperial sword is a sword used by Napoleon’s elite regiments. I have many swords, and I’m trying to simplify a little bit. I would like to sell this sword today, and, if I’m able to sell it, I would like to take the proceeds and take my wife for a European vacation.
– It looks cool.
– And if I could pull it out? – Yeah, go ahead, take it out.
♪ So this is an Imperial Guard sword, huh?
– This is an Imperial Guard sword.
– The Imperial Guard is one of the most famous forces ever in Europe.
– You could compare them today to the–our Special Forces.
That’s what they were.
– Yeah, Napoleon, he was known for having his Imperial Guards stand around him.
You could–You would always know where he was because you could see the formation of Imperial Guards moving around, and, um, I know some of them were so loyal they even followed him out when he got exiled.
– Yeah, yes, they did.
♪ – Mind if I look at it? – Yes.
♪ – So what are these markings right here?
What’s that say? S&K?
– That’s S&K. S&K is the maker.
Schnitzler and Kirschbaum.
And it was made in Solingen, Germany.
So the Germans were actually enemies of Napoleon.
– So Napoleon’s enemies were making his weapons, huh?
– Yes, and this sword is very well-preserved.
The scabbard, for the leather, for being over 200 years old, is very well-preserved.
– Yeah, that’s– For 200-year-old leather, it does look pretty well-preserved.
I mean, I’ve seen hundred-year-old leather falling apart, cracking. – Yes.
– How much are you looking to get?
– $5,800.
– Okay, um, I would like to have someone come down and take a look at it and see what they have to say.
They can talk about the condition and whether or not they think this is a Napoleonic sword.
You don’t strike me for a liar, but, hey, you never know.
– [laughs] – I gotta have my guy come down and–and tell me what this is.
– Absolutely. – All right, give me just a few minutes. I’m gonna make a phone call and see if I can get him down here.
– Thank you.
I am not worried about the expert because I’ve been collecting Napoleonic swords for many, many years, and I am actually an expert myself.
♪ Wow. – Yeah, this is what I called you about.
– That’s beautiful.
You don’t often see the entire scabbard.
– Right, right, right. – You see them cracked or folding down here. – Yep.
– Just smashed and flat at the end.
May I? – Yeah.
– Okay.
♪ Ah, so, this sword is a cuirassier’s, or a heavy cavalry officer’s sword, and it’s a presentation sword.
This was probably given to somebody after they did something or when they were promoted or something like that.
I like the fact that it’s got the S&K mark on that.
– Yeah. – And that’s the maker, and they were a German maker that just made excellent blades.
What I would’ve loved to have seen on this was the bluing. – The bluing.
– Was the bluing just, like, a finish or something?
– Yeah, like gun bluing. – Mm-hmm.
– So it has this beautiful blue sheen that just makes the gold pop out, all the etching in the gold pop out.
But this is in beautiful condition.
And look at that.
– Look, I mean, look– look at the way that thing fits.
– That’s like a jeweler’s fit right there.
– Yeah. – And that’s what you wanna see.
You wanna see these– Everything fit, no wonkiness, no looseness. – Mm-hmm.
– Now, this sword is definitely the real deal.
– Okay, so what price would you put on this particular sword?
♪ – What you have with this one that makes it a really nice piece is you have the complete scabbard in excellent condition.
The only thing that I would– I would love to see on this blade better is that bluing on the blade…
– Sure. – And a little bit less of that rust, so I’d say maybe 39.
– All right, well, thank you. – All right, thank you.
It’s a beautiful piece. It’s in wonderful condition. And these Napoleonic pieces are some of the most highly collected swords.
– What do you think about 2,300?
♪ – No, this is the best sword that was ever made for– for the Grand Armée.
I cannot part for this less than $3,700.
– I’ll tell you what. Let’s be a couple dragoons.
2,700. – I can’t.
– Okay, um, 3,000 is firm where I can be.
– I’ll do 3,300, but it–I– I don’t even feel right doing 3,300.
– I don’t wanna make you do something you don’t wanna do.
– Yeah. – So, if we can’t come to a deal for 3,000. – We can’t, we cannot.
– I appreciate you…. – We cannot, no.
– Bringing it in, and it was… – Thank you.
– Very cool. – Thank you.
– All right, have a good day. – You too.
I will put this sword back in my library and display it and remember my dragoon friend, Chumlee.
RICK: What do you got?
I’ve got a very special bottle of wine I want to sell today, one of the best in the world.
1970 Pétrus Pomerol.
Looks fancy.
And women say it’s a real turn-on, from what I read.
RICK: OK.
STEVE: I came to the pawn shop today to try to sell my very good and rare bottle of wine.
Found it in my dad’s office.
Average world price is about $2,500.
I’m not a wine connoisseur.
I need the money.
RICK: It’s a Bordeaux wine.
All that basically means is it was made in the Bordeaux region of France, just like Burgundy isn’t Burgundy unless it’s in the Burgundy section of France.
Quite frankly, I can’t tell the difference between a $40 bottle of wine and a $1,000 bottle of wine.
If you pop that cork, I’ll bet you can.
There is as many different wines, son, as there is cars.
RICK: Oh, I know.
There’s a million different wines, there’s a million different ways to age them.
What makes a good wine is a good grape.
You gotta have the climate.
You gotta have the soil and the proper amount of rainfall.
So, apparently, this particular wine and region had perfect conditions.
OK, and that’s why you have some years that, you know, this year is great, this year isn’t.
STEVE: Right.
RICK: Just because of weather conditions and everything else, some years the grapes come out perfect, some not as perfect.
A good wine is improved with age.
I wish the same could be said about my son.
He gets worse the older he gets.
RICK: And how much did you want for it?
At $2,500 world average price, I don’t think you can go wrong at 1,600.
There’s not a collector out there worth his salt if he doesn’t have one of these in the collection.
Um, yeah, my only problem is the city won’t let me buy it anymore.
It’s just, I can’t buy wine because I’m not a liquor store.
It happened a while ago.
We tried to explain it’s collectibles.
They said no.
I wasn’t aware of that regulation, but as a private citizen, I don’t see any problem in you buying that.
I could.
As far as me buying it, personally, I ain’t never spent 1,600 bucks on a bottle of wine, and I never will.
You can’t go out to the back and buy a bottle between friends?
RICK: No.
That’s a gray area, sir.
I won’t jeopardize my license for anything.
I’m not going back with the wine, so I’m asking you to try to figure out something for me.
Private citizen, you can buy it.
I just can’t buy it myself.
Thanks for coming in, man.
All right.
Total waste of time, total waste.
I’m gonna end up drinking it myself.
Got some old pistols here.
CHUMLEE: Sweet.
Were these like a judge’s pistol?
What’s the mallet for?
RICK: It’s not a gavel for a judge.
[tapping] Order in the court.
Order in the court.
Oh, you don’t want to listen?
I’ll make you listen.
[laugh] [gunshot] MIKE: Coming down to the pawn shop to try to sell some dueling pistols that I have.
I don’t know the history behind them.
The reason I’m selling them, I don’t collect guns, and I really could use the money today.
I had hoped to get about $1,000 for them, but the minimum I’d take’s probably $400, $500.
RICK: Where in the world did you get these?
MIKE: My mom had a blanket chest from my grandfather.
It was wrapped up in a blanket and was in the bottom of it.
CHUMLEE: You’d be bad ass if you had those on your hip.
RICK: Well, first off, you wouldn’t wear these on your hip.
They started wearing guns on their hip when they were six shots.
This was more or less one shot and toss it.
But I don’t think they’re for dueling because they’re percussion cap, which means they’re probably made after the 1830s.
You would take a cap.
You would put it on there, pull the hammer back, and bam.
It would shoot fire through the hole and lit everything on fire inside the barrel.
For hundreds of years, dueling was considered an honorable way for two gentlemen to settle their differences.
But by the time these were made, after 1830, dueling had become completely out of fashion.
They’re beautiful guns.
The engraving is really, really nice.
The woodwork is beautiful.
The design on the barrels.
I can tell these are old.
1830 to 1870, that’s what I can tell you.
If they were an American gun, I’d know about them.
These are maybe German or French.
They’re European, anyway.
Right.
These pistols are in amazing shape.
They appear to be in the original case with all the original accessories.
But I just don’t know enough about them to make an offer.
What do you want to do with this?
MIKE: Well, I’d like to sell them.
RICK: OK.
What were you looking to get out of them?
Well, they look pretty nice.
I was looking about 1,000.
OK.
I think we might be able to do more than 1,000.
OK. – OK.
Well, I don’t know nothing about them, so.
I could pay you the 1,000 bucks.
I’d just feel bad about it.
I know they’re worth a lot more than that.
How much more, I don’t know.
So let’s have someone look at them.
We’ll get a price, and we’ll figure it out.
Does that sound good to you? MIKE: Sounds great.
RICK: All right.
MIKE: I’m really eager to hear what the expert has to say about the pistols because it could be worth more than 1,000.
This is it.
SEAN: Oh, cool.
My name is Sean Rich.
I own Tortuga Trading Incorporated.
And I specialize in antique arms and armor.
So what are your concerns, Rick?
What are they worth?
What exactly are they?
Well, the first thing is, is that people, when they say, well, here’s a pair of pistols in a box, they assume dueling pistols.
That’s not to say that these couldn’t be used in a duel, but these were more target pistols.
RICK: OK.
The dueling pistols, the majority of them were smoothbore, where the ball can just kind of wave and go all over the place.
These have rifled barrels, OK.
That means that the ball is gonna spin, keeping it in a tighter pattern.
The accuracy is greatly improved.
And these date to about 1840, 1850.
The maker I’m not familiar with.
Just the form tells me that these are either Belgian or from France.
And the mallet’s for taking it apart, right?
SEAN: Actually, when you were loading these things, if you really wanted to create a lot of breech pressure, you use that mallet and tap the end.
I’ve seen this type of pistols before, but they are scarce.
Who knows how many of these things have survived over the past 100 years?
Guys, these are in such nice condition, I bet you these things could be fired right now.
Yeah, I’d like to take Corey to the range and show him what’s up.
You mean have a duel with him?
Exactly.
That could be arranged.
So what does something like this go for?
Because this is in such nice condition and complete, you’re gonna see these probably in that 5,000 to 8,000 range.
They’re hard to find.
Thanks, Sean.
Absolutely.
I was really happy to see the condition of these guns.
These were really exceptional.
All right, so hearing all that, you still want 1,000 bucks?
No, I’ll take a little more.
2,500 bucks?
I’d like to have at least 7.
You’re crazy.
He said between 5 and 8.
Yeah. MIKE: Yeah.
Well, 8 was on the high side, so I’ll go with 7.
No, no, no.
That’s what it might bring in an auction.
OK.
I’ll tell you what, I’ll go 3 grand, and that is the top dollar I’m gonna offer.
I have to make some money.
You couldn’t go 4? RICK: No.
3,000.
It’s a fair offer.
I don’t know if this is gonna be here a week.
I don’t know if it’s gonna be here two years.
OK, I’ll take it.
3,000.
RICK: All right, 3,000 bucks.
Chum, go write him up.
MIKE: I’m happy with the deal of $3,000.
That was three times what I wanted.
It gives me a little money in my pocket to go spend and have fun.
OK, guys, here’s the deal.
These pistols were more target pistols, but you could still have a duel with these.
So this is gonna be as close as we can get within the safety realm to a real duel.
We’ve got a target set up downrange.
You’re gonna be 15 paces away from your target.
And you have to imagine that that guy’s got a pistol as well.
You’ve got one shot.
If you miss, chances are the opposing shot’s gonna hit you.
So this has really gotta count.
Ultimately, in a duel, if you follow the rules correctly, and if the guns were loaded properly, it’s all about the individual, and if he can use his skills and aiming to hit the opponent.
Let’s see what you got, Chum.
CHUMLEE: Hasta la vista, Big Hoss.
[gunshot] SEAN: That’s a kill shot, guys.
You’re dead, Big Hoss.
I gotta admit, Chum, you did good.
You hit me right in my bulletproof vest, dude.
Yeah, ’cause they had bulletproof vests in 1839.
That’s an excellent shot.
Awesome.
All right, Hoss, your turn.
You know where to shoot him at, son.
[gunshot] Damn it.
[groan] [laugh] You got the thickest part of my thigh, bro.
So who do you think would die first?
It’s gotta be Corey.
He got it center mass, right in the gut.
I’m afraid Corey’s not gonna make it.
You have a survivable wound.
All right.
But it needs to be attended to.
CHUMLEE: I’m going to the doctor.
[laugh] [gunshots] You are gonna walk funny for the rest of your life though.
I’m gonna be riding a horse.
[laugh] – Hello, how can I help you? – Hey, well, I have this incredibly beautiful perfume bottle.
– Well, let’s take a look at it.
Ybry Paris. And it looks like Baccarat?
– Yes, it is. – So where did you get it?
– I got it outta my grandmother’s basement.
– If I rub it, do I get three wishes?
– I’m at the pawn shop, and I hope to sell my Baccarat perfume bottle from the 1920s. The current condition of the perfume bottle is very good. I’m asking $12,000. I have no idea if that’s what it is worth. I talked to a friend, and that was the price that they gave me. If I’m lucky enough to get some money today, I’m gonna repair the shower that’s leaking for my son.
– This is cool.
Baccarat comes from a town in France named Baccarat.
They are known for making the best crystal in the world. They would make things for royalty. A king would have their table set in this, or nobles would have pieces in this. And they have just really cemented their place as the finest crystal in the world for over 200 years.
So on the bottom, you have the Ybry Paris stamp.
And it makes sense that Baccarat would team p with Ybry, whose model was something like the most expensive perfume in the world.
– Oh.
– They did a couple different collaborations of different perfumes over the time.
It wasn’t around till the 40s in the United States, but it suffered heavily after Great Depression, and it just couldn’t keep up.
And they just never recovered.
I don’t think they’re around anymore today.
It looks at being really good condition.
One tiny little scratch right here.
You barely even notice it.
It looks like it’s missing the Baccarat sticker right here.
It’s very common the sticker’s missing, but it’s still unfortunate.
They will fetch a better dollar with a sticker on there.
What are you looking to do with it?
– I wanna sell it.
– And do you know how much you’re looking to get?
– 12,000?
– Glass is actually one of the few things that I still collect.
I can tell you it’s not worth anywhere close to $12,000.
I have seen these listed on websites for 6,000, 8,000.
Never seen one sell over 2,000.
I’ll tell you what.
I love the bottle, and I’m comfortable at $1,000.
– Well, it is low.
I know that I’m supposed to barter.
– You’re at a pawn shop.
– You know, I would like to have a relationship so that I can bring things, particularly now knowing that you like glass.
I’m gonna go $1,010.
– You drive a hard bargain, but for $10, I don’t think I can pass on it.
We got a deal at $1,010.
All right, that’s the money dance?
– Yes. – I’ll meet you over here at the counter, and we’ll write it up.
– Thank you so much.
Well, I think that this was a sweet deal. Smelled good for both of us, and now I can renovate my son’s shower.
RICK: Hey.
What do you got here?
We have a pair of saber bayonets from the Franco-Prussian War.
I got them from my father.
He was a surgeon, and some of his patients couldn’t pay for services.
So they paid him in kind.
RICK: OK.
I thought you were gonna say that he used these for surgery.
LISA: Oh yeah.
[laughter] [hear rate monitor beeping] I’m coming here to the pawn shop today to try and sell a pair of bayonets.
They have been sitting in my closet for decades.
I have no real use for them.
I’m hoping to sell the pair today for $500.
RICK: So you say these are from the Franco-Prussian War.
Do you know anything about them?
LISA: No.
RICK: The war was about some disputed territory between France and Prussia.
It lasted like a year, and I think it was right around 1870.
OK.
RICK: This war basically led to Prussia turning into what became World War I Germany.
The French developed this kind of bayonet.
And it basically was really revolutionary.
Now you had a bayonet that was also a knife, that was a sword, that was really multipurpose.
There’s been many improvements in bayonets over the past 400 years.
But what makes this one special– it doubled as a sword.
They could easily detach, so if you suddenly got the urge to go all Zorro on somebody, you could just pop it off.
[laughs] They’re not in great shape, but you have it all here.
There’s no major dents or dings.
This engraving right here– LISA: Yes.
RICK: Those are the armories they came from.
And a lot of times they’ll have a date with them.
This one has 1873.
LISA: Yes.
And this one is dated 1871.
RICK: These right here, you can tell they were manufactured after the war.
It would have been really cool if these were from the Franco-Prussian War.
But when it comes down to it, there’s a huge collector market for antique bayonets.
I actually buy and sell them all the time.
What were you looking to do with them?
LISA: I’m looking to sell them.
RICK: OK.
And what were you looking to get out of them?
I’d like $500 for the pair.
That’s a little pricey for these.
LISA: OK.
RICK: They’re very common.
LISA: OK.
It was really, really a good design, so they made a lot of them and used them for a long time.
I’d give you like $125.
Is that for both, or one?
RICK: That’s for both.
LISA: For both. $125.
OK.
Can you go $150?
[tense music] I’ll go $130.
That would be it.
They generally sell, in this shape, $100.
That’s what I get out of them.
LISA: OK.
[tense music] OK, you have a deal. – OK.
All right, you wanna go write these up?
This isn’t the best deal I’ve ever made, but they’ll definitely look cool in my display case.
And I will make some money off them.
– What do we have here?
– A poster by Toulouse-Lautrec.
– Okay. Where did you get it?
– At a thrift store, leaning up against the wall.
The proverbial $5 buy.
– It never happens to me.
I got to thrift stores all the time.
I don’t find anything.
♪ – I’m at the pawn shop today to sell my 1893 Toulouse-Lautrec poster. The poster’s in great condition. It’s never been removed from the frame. And the frame itself is very old. I think I want to sell it because it might be quite valuable, and I could use the money. I’m hoping to get $12,000 for my Toulouse-Lautrec poster.
– This is really cool. It is Toulouse-Lautrec. I mean, he was an amazing illustrator.
He did some of the original posters for “The Moulin Rouge.” He ended up passing away really young.
He was in his 30s. He drank too much.
He had a thing for ladies of the evening and got certain medical conditions from them that ended his life very early.
That’s the best way to put it. [laughter] Divan Japonais.
This basically means “Japanese couch.” Okay? And… – Okay.
– This was in Montmartre. This was in an area of Paris where you would walk down the street, there would be five or six different cafes where they would have music, where they would have artists exhibiting their art.
And everybody was putting out a different poster every week or two and that was almost exclusively how they advertised all these cafes.
It was word of mouth and the posters.
Have you ever had this checked out by anybody?
– No, I haven’t but I’ve spent 30 years in the printing arena, and I knew it was old.
It wasn’t just a reprint.
– The thing is it’s Toulouse-Lautrec.
I mean, the most expensive one is Moulin Rouge.
Those are going for like, well over like, $200,000 now.
– Oh. – The really large ones, yeah.
But still, it’s Toulouse-Lautrec.
It’s really, really rare that you have one by him because these were never meant to be kept.
– Yeah.
– How much do you want for it?
– I’d like to get 12,000, please.
– Okay, does not sound like a crazy number.
– Okay.
– But there is some condition issues.
I mean, it looks like there’s some water damage along the bottom. Okay? – Okay.
– This right here, that’s mold.
– Ouch. – It can be worked on.
It’ll never be back perfect, but it can be worked on.
If you don’t mind, I have a friend who is in the poster business.
I’ll get him down here. He’ll tell if it’s real and tell us what they’re going for right now.
– Cool. – Okay, I will be right back.
– Perfect.
♪ – Favorite French food? Toast.
♪ Andrew, how’s it going?
– Hey, Rick, how are you, sir?
– Well, this young lady has brought in Toulouse-Lautrec. She bought it at a thrift shop.
Um, I have no idea if it’s real or not.
– Excellent.
Well, thrift shop doesn’t always help the provenance, but I’ll do my best. It’s a fabulous piece.
It’s clearly Lautrec, which is fantastic.
This piece is only a couple of years into his poster career ’cause “The Moulin Rouge” was in 1891, his big, most famous poster.
This is 1893, so it’s a couple of years later.
It’s for like kind of the concert, cafe, cabaret, you know, the hotspots.
And this is an awesome piece kind of just detailing what Lautrec was known for, encapsulating famous people– friends of his– in this case Jane Avil and Yvette Guilbert.
The lady on the stage were two friends of his.
This is what you would expect when you’re at this cabaret.
You’re going to rub shoulders with celebrities.
It puts you right in the audience.
Excellent piece.
What are your questions about it, Rick?
– So I just don’t know if it’s real.
– Hmm. That’s a good question.
You’re not talking about anything that kinda gets swept under the rug usually.
In the posters, the fact that he only did 30 or so imags makes them even more desirable because you don’t have that many to choose from.
– So what does something like this worth if it’s real?
– I’ve seen them in really good shape go for just over 30,000.
– So what do you think?
– Well, I mean, it should be pretty easy to tell.
I’ve handled this piece a number of times in person.
It really only comes in the one size.
That should be about 31 inches tall by 24 inches wide.
Would you mind if I measured this?
– Oh, yeah, fine. – Thank you.
A little tape here.
♪ Like I said, it doesn’t really vary more than half an inch or so.
This one does appear to be significantly smaller than it should be.
So this unfortunately is a reproduction.
♪ – Well, Andrew, thanks. And hopefully next time.
– Yeah. My pleasure as always. Have a nice day.
– All right. Thank you.
– Well, don’t stop your travels to the thrift shops.
Eventually, you’ll probably find a treasure, so I’ll see you next time.
– Okay.
– Have a good one.
– Thanks.
– So I guess that is a Toulouse-faux-trec?
[laughs]