'Pawn Stars' guest brings Thor's Hammer and helmet — ends up getting an earth-shattering deal
Although Rick Harrison is known for razor-sharp instincts to spot valuable items on “Pawn Stars,” he can be terribly wrong at times. He has had to change his offers after expert appraisals, and once even lost out on buying valuable Pokémon cards. Chumlee may have been in the news for blunders on the show, but sometimes, he makes pretty good decisions that catch everyone by surprise. He did so when a guest came in looking to sell a Thor helmet and hammer, demanding $8,000 for them. But Chumlee bargained and bagged it for $2,000. Rick Harrison was concerned when he learned of this and immediately went to an expert to get them checked out.
Chumlee seemed pretty confident about the deal he made and even called himself a “specialist in Asgard memorabilia.” Harrison knew that Marvel prop replicas go for a lot of money, but he wasn’t sure about these pieces. So, he went to see Steve Johnston, owner of Rogue Toys, and asked what they were worth. Johnston noted that the items were made by EFX, a company that has exclusive rights to the Marvel movie props and made high-end replicas of the same.
Johnston eased a lot of Rick’s worries regarding these items as he said that they could easily get $6,000 as a pair. “I guess Chum did well,” he said after learning of this. The expert also stated that EFX only made 250 of each of the hammer and the helmet, which made them rare and highly desirable for collectors. That was also the reference Chumlee used when he bought these items for a seemingly high price.
He did a great job bargaining as well, starting at $700 when the guest asked for more than 10 times that figure. He had knowledge about the company EFX and the fact that they had access to the actual props of Marvel movies. All in all, Chumlee made up for all of the mistakes he has made.
In a different episode of the show, Chumlee went to see an old arcade video game called "Silent Scope 2: Dark Silhouette." While it might have been a great experience playing it, he ended up paying $700. He seemed quite happy at the time, but that feeling wasn’t going to last for long. Chumlee had not called in anybody and trusted his judgment about something he didn’t have much of an idea about. Harrison wasn’t convinced by the deal and asked his son Corey what the game would be worth. “$700 on a good day,” he said. This meant that breaking even with the game would be a struggle for the pawn shop. They might have ended up losing money.
Chumlee had suggested that they put the game in the shop so that people could come in and play, hopefully making them some money in the process. This idea was based on an earlier sale in which Corey had overpaid for a pinball machine and kept it in the shop for customers to pay and play. However, that only made them $80.
