Even those trips to Subway are all spur of the moment, huh? :dubious:
And the people involved are probably much less likely to agree to appear on camera.
Is there something in particular about a trip to Subway that you find strange? I only vaguely remember a Subway trip. Trips outside the shop are always going to be less spontaneous than they are made to look on the show. Are you suggesting they got sponsor money from Subway? Maybe. I don’t think that would really kill the shows credibility.
I think the time they told the Old Man they sold his car when they were actually having it restored was staged. I don’t think there’s any way they could have kept that a secret and in fact if he was that attached to the car it probably would have either been in his name or at his house since he’d know that anything on the lot was fair game.
According to the article linked to above, the Old Man retired from the Navy around 1980, became a realtor and made and lost a fortune through the 1980s while living in San Diego, and moved to Las Vegas to open a Pawn Shop in 1988 when new pawn shops were legal again for the first time in many years. (There was a city ordinance claiming LV could have no more pawn shops til their population topped 250,000, and that happened in '88; the Old Man had been waiting for years and calling weekly to get his license.) Rick by that time had worked in casinoes as a busboy and in other jobs and sired Corey (in his teens) in order to get LV residency.
I’ve noticed Subway in a few episodes (cups in the shots, Chumlee mentioning it, him bringing Subway for Hoss when he had to work a night shift, etc). To be fair, there might be a Subway across the street for all I know.
I like the show because you actually learn stuff on it. I also think a lot of the experts come in because they genuinely get to see some things they don’t get to see very often, plus they are friends of the Pawn guys and want to keep them from getting ripped off. Third by staying friends with the Pawn guys and helping out, they probably get the inside info on stuff they may like and probably get a discount for their “service” if they want to buy. It may be that they normally wouldn’t come in quickly, maybe set up a time a few days away, but I certainloy think that if you have been in the business 20+ years you have scouted and found experts in all sorts of fields.
Virtual Boy guy sounds like Ernie Anderson doing an impression of Comic Book Guy.
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Like the episode with the key gun. They all know that the weapons are as likely to blow up in their hands like an M80, as they are to fire.
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The key gun was an item I’d love to know the specific history of (not that there’d be any way too without spending 100 times what is worth and maybe not even then). Whoever would have thought that was a good idea?
I’m guessing it wasn’t to a jail because there’s no way you’d have time to get a round off before you were overrun. I’ve tried thinking of what function or occupation would benefit from having a half-key/half-gun and wondered when watching it if its purpose was to make the key unusable (i.e. a self destruct feature).
The items that he’s bought I’d most love to have include the Revere spoon, the ship’s announcing cannon (that’s not what it’s called but it’s basically a cannon for noise making to let other ships know “Ship here!”) and the treasure chest (that was, not surprisingly, empty, but I’ll bet it has a story to tell and it was cool that it had a fake lock). There’s lots of horror story material in that pawn shop- I’m sure there’s a horcrux in the back room somewhere.
Key gun kit (well, sort of).
I watch Pawn Stars for the same reason I go through antique shops - it’s interesting and I learn stuff. It was especially interesting after I read a book about the history of pawn stores and why they have a ‘seedy’ reputation (a combination of racism and ‘those poor people can’t handle their money’). Pawn stores really do (and have since they started) provide a service for the community, which they’ve commented on before (and I wish they would do more).
I think Pawn Stars is good in that regard because it makes pawn stores look better. For example, they’ve mentioned that they have customers that use the pawn shop as a garage for their bikes and such during the off season because it’s cheaper that renting a garage. But they probably get a lot of repeat pawners that may not want to agree to be on TV.
I disagree with Sam Stone about pawners being more desperate - look at all the people selling stuff to pay for weddings, school, etc. For a lot of people pawning stuff is just a way to get credit, because they can’t get it other ways. There is a limit on what interest they can charge (in Nevada it’s 10%) and if all you need is $500 why not pawn that expensive ring for what you need instead of what it’s worth? I would imagine it’s that there is less of the haggling, less need to bring in experts (if you bring in the same pocketwatch, for example, every two months they don’t really need to reappraise it). Pawning is just less interesting. It’d be like watching people go to the bank.
I agree a lot of the stuff is, if not staged, heavily edited (which I get the impression they’d admit very readily.) I get tired of Rick saying the same things over and over again (‘if it’s real, it’s worth a lot of money’). I also don’t like how every vehicle they get fixed up comes out with flames, but that’s more of me being sick of seeing flames on every custom car. 
Here is a clue: notice how all the Subway logos are ‘randomly’ turned toward the camera.
I have no problem with the show being sponsored by Subway, but such product placement always strikes me as someone is taking me for a chump.
(note: chump, not Chum :D)
mmm
The old man surprised me by buying that Alchemy book supposedly from Issac Newtons library. He paid several thousand for it.
I think it’ll be tough finding a buyer. 1. no one reads Latin anymore 2. The book cover is pretty beat up 3. I’m not sure the average buyer cares that Newton owned it.
Would I buy a book for almost 10 grand? What would I do with it? Stick it on a shelf to collect dust? There’s a lot cooler stuff in that pawn shop for less money.
I bet he had an eclectic buyer in mind.
I like the show.
SOme fun stuff, the gamblers kit was pretty cool, and the guys wanted it bad. The seller kept it.
Chumlee seems to like explosions, maybe he earns differential pay for his work with the firearms?
He took that kids scooter for a spin, knew what he was doing, or at least knew the strength of the steel it was made of.
I wonder if they have an online store?
They do sell some stuff on ebay.
For one thing, my mom collects old science books. Her prized possession is one written by Faraday. I don’t think it was actually owned by Faraday.
Data point: some of the comparable (but inferior) rare books I’ve worked with in the Cleveland library were purchased for around $4,000 – thirty+ years ago!
There’s a high-powered market for that book. He will have no trouble doubling (at least) his $7,000 upfront investment.
I’m quite sure Subway paid some product placement for that stuff. Nothing wrong with that.
One quibble I do have is that nobody seems willing to say the e-word: eBay. If somebody wanted to really work a higher-end item for more than Gold & Silver is willing to shell out, eBay is such an obvious option that it’s getting to be irritating that no one brings it up, even by allusion.
They allude to eBay all the time – they refer to selling things “on the internet.”
Why would editors leave any mention of eBay in the show? The way I see it, since it would appear that most of the clients they do show are not there for quick gambling money, that eBay is G&S’s biggest competitor. No reason for the editors to remind any potential clients that they could be selling their shit on eBay instead of bringing their interesting items on to the show (er, to the pawn shop).
I’m sure people mention eBay all the time and I’m sure the editors delete it. This isn’t raw footage of a day at the pawn shop.
One thing I wish is that they would follow up on some of the items to see if they sold and for how much.