‘Pawn Stars’ boss Rick Harrison brings a football icon to verify his own signature on memorabilia

One thing that the "Pawn Stars" boss, Rick Harrison, is a stickler for is authenticity. For that, he often goes to great lengths, and one time, he even brought American football legend Emmitt Smith to authenticate his signature. In the end, Harrison's $1,922 purchase turned out to be 100% authentic and valuable.  

In the episode, the stars of the show, Harrison and Chumlee, were on a tour to find valuable pawn items. There, they came across Chris, who was selling some football memorabilia. "An authentic Texas Stadium seat from the old stadium, autographed by Emmitt Smith, Michael Irvin, 'The Playmaker,' and Troy Aikman," he said, pointing to the first signed item. 

Harrison then asked about the signed picture, and Chris told him that it was of Joe Montana and Smith from a 1922 NFC Championship game. After looking at the items, Harrison, as a football fan, was intrigued. "Emmitt Smith, he's like, one of the greatest running backs of all time. He still holds the all-time rushing record, and it'll probably never get beaten, because this was a time when one running back would carry the ball for the majority of the game," the pawn boss noted. 

Chris shared that he bought the signed seat while he got the picture signed at a show. "And it's got Joe Montana's personal hologram stamp. But Emmitt's agent had run out of, uh, his hologram," he told Harrison. Harrison acknowledged that the hologram stamp was hard to replicate, so he had to authenticate only Smith's signature. When asked for the price, Chris told Harrison that he was looking to get $3,000 for the collection.  After some haggling, Harrison sealed the deal for the unusual amount of $1,922, because 22 was Smith's Dallas Cowboys jersey number.

The only thing left for Harrison to do was to get the signature authenticated. He then surprised his sidekick, Chumlee, with a meetup with the legend himself. "Chum, meet Emmitt Smith," he said. "You didn't tell me Emmitt Smith was coming!" Chumlee responded. 

Harrison then showed the items to Smith and asked if the signatures were authentic. "Well, this picture is one of my fondest memories of the NFC Championship game. Very first one. '92-'93 season. We're playing the 49ers, out there at Candlestick Park. And we win this game, we go to our very first Super Bowl and, uh, we go on to beat the Bills, so that is a special picture," Smith shared. 

He then examined the signature closely and noted the different elements. "And so, when I look at the signature, the signature looks fine to me, like a legit Emmitt Smith signature," he told Harrison. The pawn boss thanked the football star for taking the time out from his busy schedule to authenticate his collection. 

"Don't spend all your money in one place. Next time you want to buy some legit stuff, you can call me directly," Smith joked in the end. 

More on Market Realist: 

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