hey Tabby...you go to "pawn stars"?
 

so i watched Pawn stars on discovery (or tlc... one of them) when are we gonna see Tabs pawnin' the spoons?

watched it last night, was an interesting show.

Tabs is a Pawn Star.

Was a pretty good show. Seems the guys were buying and planning on keeping the items and not redeem them. I have never pawned anything so not sure.

Never would Pawn anything.


I know all the major Spoon auction houses in the USA, England, NZ and Australia. I even know most of the secondary auction houses in the USA.

I know what they sell best and negioate commisons fees on the selling side.

For example if I have high end Pensylvania rifles to sell I take them to Julias in Maine. If I have modern military collectables I would take them to Rock island in Moline, Il. I have not used RI because their commission schedule is too high (so far). If I have Colt SA or Winchester Lever actions Little Johns in Anaheim is the guy to see.

On ordinaary stuff I used to use Gun List and was successful with it. , however I am now trying to use Gun Broker with mixed results.

On the buying side I use them all. Sometimes the item is not well described or is in the wrong auction house for the item to get top $$$. You might say it falls through the cracks.

I was kinda surprised the old man in the show misappraised that Carson City Morgan Dollar. I guess there are still deals to be found in pawn shops. Did you hear that kid's used car salesman pitch on the Rolex? How could anyone not be insulted by that BS?

When I was livin in LA, I used to frequent Abels auction house every week. As such I got to know quiet a few of the west side antique dealers as well as some very wealthy people.

From that source I was acquainted with the owner of a high end consignment shop in Brentwood (his biggest purchasers were interior designers). Well known people would consign things they no longer wanted or needed. They would never tell me who the person was that consigned the items or even the items that belonged to them. From conversations I had with the consignment shop I suspect that I came by several items that belonged to Baba Streissand (whoopee). Other peoples items that they handled were Walter Matheaus estate and George Hamiltons defunct Cigar shops decor.

I liked the shop because you got great stuff for a reasonable price for what it was. Because I knew him from Abels he would dicker with me on price.

The kid was kinda of a snot but then he is a young pup.

Interesting show. Loved the Cannon!

Saw the show, twas alright. I remember the days when my old man was the pawn shop connoisseur, but he never pawned things. There were 7 or 8 stores he would frequent on Saturdays and he'd drag me along. Those were good times. It wasn't until a few years later when I became aware he had mastered the coding on the items in each of those stores. He knew what they had in them, and went from there. He's bought some really nice items from pawn shops for dirt cheap.

"my old man was the pawn shop connoisseur.......He's bought some really nice items from pawn shops for dirt cheap."
That's what it's all about on the 'retail' end of the business. If it's not a good deal you might as well buy it new.
The other problem is getting buyers (people with money in their pocket; there's no shortage of the other kind) inside the store. I'll often make a newbie a killer deal on something in hopes they'll tell their buddies about it. Or at least come back on their own.
I hope your dad wouldn't be dissappointed to find no coding on my items, the only things with even a price tag are my long guns. The guy I bought out used 'bankruptcy' as his code word but I didn't see much value in such a system. If you're interested in something you're forced to engage me in conversation to find out a price. There are some dis-advantages to this method also but it has been working for me.
Sorry I can't contribute directly to the topic, we don't have network tv at home. Perhaps someone could send me a recording?
Jim

I understand what it's all about, but having the knowledge of what they had paid for an item was invaluable when negotiating a deal. Golf clubs, guns, tv's, jewelery, he's bought it all. When presented with a price, he'd sometimes chuckle and tell them you only have $X.XX in it, work with me here. They'd make their money and he no problem with that.

Matt, I would gladly sell everything in the shop that is for sale (except the guns & gold) at my cost just to clear the place out for once.
Re de-ciphering the price code on an item, how would you know if 10 or 20% hadn't already been tacked on? Everyone knows what sneaky *#@^'s all pawnbrokers are.
Jim

Heck, I like cruising pawn shops now & then. It's fun. Picked up a McDermott cue & case. I thought I'd use a a trunk cue. Translation: A cue cheap enough that you carry it in your car, don't care about potential warpage damage. Bought it for $100. Then cleaned the ugly red chalk mess off the shaft, had John at the cue ball put on a lepro tip for $7. A plain Jane cue, made in the early 80's.

Cindy played with it once. Declared it to have a great hit.

Now I need to look around a pawn shop, see if I can find a trunk cue. :(

The cannon expert on the show said something to the effect that cannon's are not allowed to be made now...so no issues with it being a reproduction. A local guy here has a business making cannon's, so I wonder what the issue really is. I know here in Kentucky that there are a few places to use machine guns.

Just curious.