Mosconi on Pawn Stars

JB Cases

JB Cases

www.jbcases.com
Silver Member
Just saw an episode of Pawn Stars this morning where someone brought in a large wooden display case with Mosconi memorabilia in it. Rick says, "what do you have" and the guys says something like, 'some stuff signed by Wille Mosconi, the 9 Ball champion". Rick says how did you come by it and the guy says he used to live in Philly and got Mosconi to sign several items.

The old man, Rick's dad, his eyes lit up at the mention of Mosconi's name, like someone mentioned Babe Ruth or Michael Jordan. In fact Rick offered up his ususal tidbit of history and said Willie was was the Michael Jordan of pool in his day with 15 or so world titles. I was surprised Rick knew that which makes me wonder if the show is scripted enough for him to have researched it before the encounter or if he really knew it off the cuff.

Anyway the guy said he was looking to get $1200 before going in. When he was asked inside he said $600 and I think Rick bought it for $450.

Was kind of cool to see something about pool show up on Pawn Stars. I think someone out in Vegas should take a real Bushka in and see what Rick does with it. Will he call an expert in and if so who will he call? Does he have a Blue Book of cues? (surely he does)

Or even funnier take in an Adams Bushka with someone trying to get $20,000 for a "signed" Balabushka.
 
JB-

My friend was on the show last year. They do TONS of research before the airing. From the time he contacted them to the show being aired was months, and they know exact details of the item, with many pictures, before its recorded.

That's how they sometimes seem to know a little more than the everyday pawn guy.

Cool show, I don't think I've missed an episode.

Kevin

Ps...for anyone wondering what item my buddy had, it was an original program from the first nfl Super Bowl. It had fire damage and he still got $2700+ iirc.
 
I think the show is scripted, things are set up to come in the door and are researched to so the guys can convey some history to the viewer. That's sort of what the show is about. It's kind of a cross between history and trivia. Even Junior seems to know more things about more stuff than he should at his age and length of time in the business.

As far as the $20K Adams Bushka, Rick never pays that kind of money for anything without authentication.
 
pawn & Pool

I like that show wish I saw the episode.
Yea bring a $20k Cue to Rick wonder who he would call to look at it.
That would be fun to see.
MCP
 
4b93e1a6-6b56-3905.jpg
 
Love the show. Hope to catch this episode at spome point.

I reckon that even a real Balabushka would be an unlikely purchase on the show. Not that rare and not really a novelty item. In addition, these guys in the pawn shop never spend a lot without bringing in an expert, so there's no way they'd be fooled on the Adams Balabushka.

Mosconi memorabilia, however, is exactly the soprt of thing that lights them up.

I hope to visit their pawn shop next time I am in Vegas, as a purchaser, not as a seller.
 
Anyone that lives in Vegas can attest that before the renovation (the first 2 seasons of the show) you would have been shocked how small it was. Guy I play poker with was on the show and its very very scripted he was the guy trying to sell the autograph quilt for 50k
 
Sweet... I remember that episode. I think the old man acted pissed he spent that much.

Kobachi said:
JB-

My friend was on the show last year. They do TONS of research before the airing. From the time he contacted them to the show being aired was months, and they know exact details of the item, with many pictures, before its recorded.

That's how they sometimes seem to know a little more than the everyday pawn guy.

Cool show, I don't think I've missed an episode.

Kevin

Ps...for anyone wondering what item my buddy had, it was an original program from the first nfl Super Bowl. It had fire damage and he still got $2700+ iirc.
Click to expand...
 
I found one teeny tiny picture of the Mosconi memorabilia from Pawn Stars. It has a caption that says this: Also, a pool player visits the Pawn Stars and tries to sell his collection of signed memorabilia of pool champion Willie Mosconi.

It's a nice display. I have that book in the upper left of the photo. I wonder if it's worth anything. I also have Mosconi's autograph that I personally got when he came to my area and did an exhibition. I don't think I'd sell it, though. I kind of like having it hang on my wall. :)
 

Attachments

  • 278px-Pawn-stars-0342-Willie-Mosconi-memorabilia.jpg
    278px-Pawn-stars-0342-Willie-Mosconi-memorabilia.jpg
    19.3 KB · Views: 1,369
Live news is pretty much the only thing you'll see on TV that isn't carefully planned, manipulated and scripted.

Never fails to amaze me people believe what's on TV. It's not called the idiot box for nothing...
 
JAM said:
I found one teeny tiny picture of the Mosconi memorabilia from Pawn Stars. It has a caption that says this: Also, a pool player visits the Pawn Stars and tries to sell his collection of signed memorabilia of pool champion Willie Mosconi.

It's a nice display. I have that book in the upper left of the photo. I wonder if it's worth anything. I also have Mosconi's autograph that I personally got when he came to my area and did an exhibition. I don't think I'd sell it, though. I kind of like having it hang on my wall. :)
Click to expand...

I have a couple of things, a 5 x 7 photo that I think may have been signed by his wife through the mail and one or two others I got signed in person, including a Billiards Digest issue.
I saw the show, interesting.
 
Pushout said:
I have a couple of things, a 5 x 7 photo that I think may have been signed by his wife through the mail and one or two others I got signed in person, including a Billiards Digest issue.
I saw the show, interesting.
Click to expand...

He got his wife to sign his autographs? Top delegating, that...
 
I love how Rick has an expert for everything.

"Let me call in a friend to authenticate this, he's an expert on left nostril inhalers that glow in the dark and have the state moto on them."
 
JAM said:
My brother said there's now a line going out of the place, as if it's a tourist stop. They can only let so many people in at a time because of fire regulations. :embarrassed2:

I love this show and must have missed the Mosconi purchase, but I have On-Demand TV, so I will find it. :wink:

It is uncanny how many pawn shop TV shows there are now: Cajun Pawn, Hard Core Pawn (my favorite), Combat Pawn, and Pawn Stars.

My Aunt Effie used to own a consignment shop called the Family Bargain Center in Centreville, Virginia, and it was a similar environment as this pawn shop, only not as fancy. It was much smaller, and so every inch of the place was filled with items for sale.

I used to go down there and hang out with Aunt Effie and my birth mother, Ruby, when I was a kid. Places like this help people in Rural America sometimes when they need cash quickly, but things are bought at 10 to 20 percent of their worth most times. One thing for sure is you never do know what's going to come in that front door. It was a fun place to work.

I wish I had known about pool cues back then. I wonder if they got anything pool-related. Here's my birth mom, Ruby, manning the cash register. She got a lot of nice jewelry while working there. I just scanned this photo this morning to see if I could figure out how to scan using my new all-in-one printer. Man, it came out GREAT! RIP, Ruby.
Click to expand...

Look's like you got your mom's smile. Very pretty.
 
that show was 1 &
a half years ago. i called the shop for a price $7.000 its a very cheap cue its like a $10 cue.at best
 
dnixon said:
that show was 1 &
a half years ago. i called the shop for a price $7.000 its a very cheap cue its like a $10 cue.at best
Click to expand...

$7,000 or $700? They expect a profit of 30-50% over what they buy the item for. Expecting anyone to pay $7,000 for an item that they have themselves on TV buying for only $450 makes no sense. I think you have your numbers wrong or they quoted you a price on the wrong item.
 
JAM said:
I found one teeny tiny picture of the Mosconi memorabilia from Pawn Stars. It has a caption that says this: Also, a pool player visits the Pawn Stars and tries to sell his collection of signed memorabilia of pool champion Willie Mosconi.

It's a nice display. I have that book in the upper left of the photo. I wonder if it's worth anything. I also have Mosconi's autograph that I personally got when he came to my area and did an exhibition. I don't think I'd sell it, though. I kind of like having it hang on my wall. :)
Click to expand...

I have an uncle who has the same book, personally autographed to him by Willie back in the early 80's. My uncle was the President of the local Italian Americans Association that year, and was a good player but huge fan of the game. He had a 9' GCI at the time in his house. Every year, the Italian American Association selects a celebrity spokesman who travels the country visiting the local Associations. That same year, Willie was selected, and traveled to Lafayette, LA where he was welcomed and introduced to the city by my Uncle and a couple of other Assoc. members. They ended the evening leaving dinner at a local restaurant to go back to my aunt and uncle's house to hit some balls. My uncle already had a copy of the book at his home and Willie autographed it for him. My uncle as stated that he intends to will the book to me. He also as a hard bound copy of the pre-published "99 Critical Shots in Pool" by Ray Martin. He and Ray know each other, and Ray had him review the book and provide feedback on grammar, etc. before the First Edition was published. I hope I get that one too. Sorry if this derails this thread.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top