'Pawn Stars' guest sells a fake Napolean letter to Corey Harrison — and it went as expected

Owners of America's most famous pawn shop on “Pawn Stars” are known to cut lucrative deals after providing an accurate valuation for artifacts, antiques, and memorabilia. But sometimes they end up getting a bit too excited after finding things considered Holy Grails, and end up making terrible decisions. In an earlier episode, a guest walked in claiming that he had an original copy of a letter written and signed by Napoleon Bonaparte. The letter also had a wax seal, which was widely in use at the time, and a Certificate of Authenticity.

One of the pawn shop owners, Corey Harrison, was impressed when he first saw it and decided to buy it right away instead of calling in an expert and having it checked out first. The CoA was probably the reason why he was so confident that this was the real deal. The guest initially asked for $10,000, but this was way too high. It was countered by $1500, which was way too low, and ultimately, both parties agreed that $2000 would be a good deal for the item.

Corey must have felt victorious as he believed he secured a rare and important piece of history for a relatively low price. He went to the back of the shop to show it to his father, Rick, and his grandfather, Richard. The two of them, however, seemed doubtful, although Rick knew that it was an incredible find if it was authentic, and could sell for up to $12,000.

“I’m not gonna sell something like this to someone for 12 grand and not know for sure it’s real. Why don’t you go down and see Greg at UNLV?” he asked his son, who reluctantly obliged. Corey had suffered some kind of injury to his foot and was on crutches at the time. “This is typical. They’re just going after me because I am on crutches,” he said. “Like lions going after an easy prey.” Corey went to UNLV eventually to meet with Gregory Brown, Professor of History at the university, with a specialization in the French Revolution. He was the perfect man to tell if this letter was authentic. Professor Brown revealed that the letter had been written by Napoleon after the iconic Battle of Austerlitz, considered to be one of the emperor’s greatest strategic victories.

“If you’ve got one of the original copies that would have been written out on the battlefield, that would be priceless,” he said. These letters were dictated by Napoleon after he had won the battle and written down by secretaries. The only problem was that this particular document was not one of those original letters.

“What we’ve got here is very clearly a replica of a very important document,” he said. Corey’s expression told the story, and he now had to face his father and grandfather, both of whom were ruthless. “Sometimes Corey’s ego gets the better of him, but it’s a lesson he’s gonna have to learn. Take the blow and move on. And while you’re at it, give me my two grand back,” Rick said.