'Pawn Stars' guest gets angry after expert values signed record at less than half the asking price

The guest was expecting $22,000 for a Led Zeppelin album that was signed by all four members.

PUBLISHED 6 HOURS AGO

Screenshots showing the expert (L) and the guest on "Pawn Stars." (Cover Image Source: YouTube | Pawn Stars)

Some guests on “Pawn Stars” have been known to argue with experts, but usually, that is only after they say that their item is not as genuine as they thought it would be. It is rare to see someone arguing after their item is proven to be the real deal. Yet that is exactly what happened in an earlier episode of the show, which saw a guest bring in a signed vinyl of an iconic record.

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The record was Led Zeppelin I, the first studio album by Led Zeppelin. What made this record so much more special than the rest was the fact that it was signed by all four founding members of the band. Led Zeppelin is considered by many to be the pioneers of hard rock in the 1970s and even the greatest ever band in that genre. The band was formed by Robert Plant, Jimmy Page, John Paul Jones, and John Bonham.

Having all four of their signatures on a single record was truly rare to see, and the guest was justified in asking for a whopping $22,000 for it. The one thing about the signatures that was a bit odd was the fact that Page had signed his name at the front of the record while the others did it at the back. The guest said that he had purchased it from a private collection.

Screenshot showing Jimmy Page's signature by itself at the front of the record. (Image source: YouTube | Pawn Stars)

He claimed that the legendary guitar player had signed his name in the front since he was the leader of the band and refused to sign the back. The placement of the signatures bugged Rick Harrison, too, but the first order of business was to make sure that the signatures were genuine. So, he called in handwriting expert Steve Grad. He, too, believed that if genuine, this could be one of the rarest memorabilia related to the band.

Bonham had passed away in the ‘80s the rest of the members weren’t all that accessible. Thankfully for the guest, Grad confirmed that these signatures were indeed genuine after looking at them through a magnifier and comparing them with other examples. However, he also did not like the fact that all four members did not sign on the same side. So, he put a value of $10,000 to $12,000.

Screenshot showing the rest of the signatures on the back. (Image source: YouTube | Pawn Stars)

This was way less than what the guest expected, and he did not take too kindly to it. “I understand you are a signature person. You’re not really an appraiser,” he said. This must have struck a nerve, as the integrated that he had been doing this for 25 years. The guest, however, stood firm and again stated that the reason Page did not sign the back was because he believed that the record was his baby.

“I’m not actually discounting any of that stuff. I would tell you this much, that if you told that to the average person, they’re not gonna care,” Grad said before leaving. Obviously, no deal was made over the record as Harrison was not willing to offer anything over $8,500, and the least the guest wanted was $17,500.