Anyone out in Vegas? Who watches Pawn Stars?

The video has been removed now (probably because of Rick's legal team),but there was one clip that really made Rick look bad.

The customer in this clip brought in a real-deal,documented 1959 Gibson Les Paul. This is one of the Holy Grail guitars,most have disappeared to Japanese collections,much like cues.

Rick offered 15k at first,and went up to 50k. Dude brought up that the guitar was valued conservatively at 750k 30 minutes before he brought it in,and berated Rick for being so cheap,and even told him that he was there to make Rick uncomfortable.

I'm waiting on someone to come in with a South West,and see what they offer since they are made locally. Tommy D.
 
Scott Lee said:
desertshark...I saw that episode too, and Rick, imo, WAY overpaid for that stuff. It's MOSCONI, btw...not Masconi. :D

Scott Lee
http://poolknowledge.com
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If there was a cue in the packaged used by Mosconi (Thanks for that I thought it was wrong Scott! lol), it would have sweetened the package. I did like the seller saying he was willing to take 6-700 and when Rick asked him what he was looking for it, he dropped to 500 off the bat and settled for like 425.

Would have made a good pool room piece, but not at the resale price ;)
 
ddadams said:
I haven't seen anyone go in there offering any cues. I would love to hear/see you on the show one season offering a Szamboti and being told its maybe $4K and being offered like $1500.

Some of these prices are ridiculous and the people aren't even biting back.


BUT in one instance tonight as a redeeming quality this lady had NO idea what she was selling and asked for $2K, he laughed and said he couldn't because he has a conscious and said I'll give you $15,000. She then asked for $17K but my thoughts on her after that may get me banned for the language I'd use.



Anyone else watch this show? Ever see any pool cues?
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i saw that episode, it was a spider jewlery or something, from the same maker that makes the eggs, FABRGE or something
 
trinacria said:
i saw that episode, it was a spider jewlery or something, from the same maker that makes the eggs, FABRGE or something
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Yeah, it was Faberge. I enjoy the show because I get sucked into the history lessons and background stuff, but this item sort of shows how set up it is. Any reasonable person would have had a hint of what is was since it didn't require a jeweler's loupe to at least have a suspicion it might be made by Faberge - because it said so right inside the lid of the box.
 
Whoever mentioned it is probably right. Rick most likely has a network of collectors that he can call on to see if there is a market for some of the items.

So its a safe bet that he knows he has a good chance of getting rid of his high dollar collectables before he pays for them.

The use of the Internet has been a huge help these days in determining the market price for many items.

Before that, it was a few Blue Books (coins etc) catalogs and flyers.

People would go to a place like Home Depot, for example. They would apply for a Home Depot credit card. How some of them qualified, I'll never know.

Then they would buy one or more of the most expensive tools at the Depot. Then they would come in and pawn them. Sometimes they would pick up the item and sometimes not.

If people made the small CC payments to Home Depot, then they had a high dollar tool that they could use to pawn once or twice a month if they did it right.

A pawn shop can only take in so many bread makers and sets of golf clubs before they know they are going to be stuck with them for a very long time. So, the average shop has to be careful on many items.

They want to be able to know that they can get rid of them in a timely fashion.

In the old days, pawn shops could make a killing. Not so much these days.
Small digital cameras can be had so cheap that it doesn't make it worth your while to take one in unless you are getting it for almost nothing, and that goes for many items.

Once in a while when I am downtown, I will make a sweep thru the pawn shops in search of cues and cases.

I've never found anything better than Cue Tecs and low end McDerrmotts.

I stopped in a pawn shop in Calgary once on a trip. They did have many fairly high end Predators in a case. They also knew what the value was so
there were no real steal of a deals to be had. In that instance, the difference between used and new was so little, I may as well have bought new. If they had have been cheaper, a guy could have made it worth his while to flip them. Probably would have lost money on these ones.

In my area, we have a lot of Native Indians. Many, are very talented artists. We used to get a lot of Indian art work. But it does hang on the wall for long periods unless you can find someone who collects Native art.

In the end, its a money making business and one has to be able to separate your emotions from wanting something because it looks great and how quick you can turn it around and for how much.

Thats why we had to train people properly other wise we'd have guys buying up everything willy nilly. Its easy to do when its not your money you are investing.
 
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Gypsies?

Blue Hog ridr said:
I watch Pawn Stars. I find it entertaining altho the items brought in are most deffintely rigged. It would be a boring show if they featured what people usually bring in.

Contractors bringing their tools, tools, tools, and more tools.

Video game boxes and games, TVs, stereos, vcrs, dvd players.

Guitars, Cadillacs and Hill Billy Music. Hey, just had to throw that one in for Dwight Y.

Tons of jewelery, crappy art work and just about any other piece of crap that someone thinks they can pawn.

I used to manage a Pawn shop for a friend. Its a freakin joke most days.
People bringing in absolute crap thinking that its worth a million dollars.

Someone brings in a banged up broken down piece of crap Skil Saw and they want 40 bucks for it. Hey bud, you can buy a new one with warranty for 40. If I give you 40 for it, what am I supposed to sell it for.

Duh, I dunno.

The Gypsies, they were fun to mess with. When a band of Gypsies would pull into town and they would send in a couple of hot women with rings all over their fingers and they would want to look at the jewelery trays.

One would flirt with you and try and distract you while the other one would try and do a switcheroo on ya. I used to get going and talk dirty to them. See how far I could push it. In a charming way of course. They had to put up with it in order for them to try and pull the scam.

Yeah, its a total set up. No way in heck they get that much cool stuff in all on one day. Just doesn't happen. Once in a Blue Moon, you get something good. Still a fun show to watch.
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Gypsies are an ethnic group that has been discriminated against for centuries, including by the Nazis. They don't need anyone reinforcing stereotypes about them.
 
master_cueist said:
I worked in a pawn shop for quite awhile and to answer your question this is how it works. You bring in an item, for conversation sake let's call it a pool cue, they will then usually consult a blue book (for all applicable items that have a blue book printed) to get a general idea of what something is worth and to get any clues to determine authenticity, signatures, determining marks etc. Then they will do an internet search, they usually start with Ebay and use others such as Amazon, Craigslist, and other sites as well to find out what a similar item is actually selling for NOT what is being asked, they want to know how much people are actually paying for items. Then depending on quality, rarity, customer dependability, etc...They will offer up to 50% of what it is selling for on Ebay on items in pristine condition and 50% is actually usually only for brand new items still in sealed packages. The reason they offer 50% of what it is selling for on Ebay is because they then turn around and will sell it for slightly less than it is selling for on Ebay, that is how they keep customers coming in and not buying predominantly online. Now, keep in mind, great customers who have came in before, pawned a lot of things or high dollar items and have never been late can usually expect a little leniency on prices for items being pawned and not sold to the shop because they can rely on them to pick the item up and they don't have to attempt to re-sell it. As far as the T.V show goes, the shop is real as most people know and the guys who work there that you see on the show are the real owners and do put in a little time at the shop but they own others businesses as well in the Las Vegas area. As far as the customers you see on the show, totally fake. They are paid actors and every item you have ever seen come in the shop on that show, they already own it, whether the "customer" said no on the show or not. The way they get these high dollar items is putting out ads to other pawn shops, thrift shops, or just general ads to get them to bring in unique items. Obviously since the show has came on they pretty much stopped that because it was no longer needed as the show gave them all the publicity they want and sometimes you can expect to wait outside for hours just to get inside the shop. Just my educated 2 cents.
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Holy wall-o-text batman! Use the Enter key more so I can read your posts.
 
Gypsies are an ethnic group that has been discriminated against for centuries, including by the Nazis. They don't need anyone reinforcing stereotypes about them.
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Yes, They do a good job of that on their own.
 
Hardcore pawn I would think is a more realistic show. Some people are just plain stupid and ignorant. I went to the Pawn stars place last summer. Very disappointing. It is just a tourist curiosity.
 
Someday ???

They use my book in the shop, and they have my contact info.

I told them I would fly to Vegas at my own expense if they ever get a really good cue and need an expert...................
 

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