'Pawn Stars' boss Rick Harrison slammed by disgruntled guest who didn't get the deal he asked for
The guest seemed confident about his exorbitant asking price but was quickly shot down.
July 25 2025, Published 2:45 p.m. ET
"Pawn Stars" boss Rick Harrison's tough negotiation often results in the seller simply walking away. But that isn't always the case, as some might feel frustrated with the pawn shop boss's approach. There have been occasions where what the seller wants is nowhere close to what Rick Harrison is willing to pay for an item. One guest slagged off the pawn shop owner and the expert after failing to strike a deal for a collection of old currency notes. His asking price was an exorbitant amount, but he believed that it was fair.
The guest had come in with a collection of 10 laminated currency notes from the Republic and the Government of Texas. Texas used to be a part of Mexico until 1835, when it had a revolution and declared itself a sovereign nation. Only a decade later, the United States annexed the land. During those 10 years of sovereignty, Texas had its own currency, something that is highly rare to find today.
Rick Harrison never doubted that what the guest had brought was rare and valuable. Notes from a nation that existed almost 200 years ago are surely collector’s items, and there would be a lot of interested parties. The problem was the asking price. The guest had nine Republic of Texas notes, which he wanted $25,000 for, and one Government of Texas bill, for which he had asked a whopping $650,000.
Harrison probably had never shelled out that kind of money to anything that had come to the shop in the past, and wasn’t going to do so without the opinion of an expert. In came Jay, owner of Americana Stamp & Coin Galleries. The best part about these notes was that they had already been authenticated and graded by the relevant authorities.
One of the nine Republic bills was a $500 one, which was worth $10,000 according to the guest. Unfortunately, that was not the case. The expert said that the retail value on the other bills was $300 to $600 each, and the $500 bill could be worth $2,000. The disappointment was clear on the guest’s face, but the expert hadn’t even come to the $650,000 bill.
While the Government of Texas bill was exceedingly rare, there wasn’t any past record of such items being sold for comparison. The collector market for such items was also quite niche, meaning there wouldn’t be that many buyers. Jay, therefore, valued that particular bill at $5,000 to $7,000, and on a great day, $10,000. Obviously, no deal was struck, and the guest wasn’t happy about it.
“Certainly, he doesn’t know enough about the Republic or Government of Texas to give an accurate number. This man just doesn’t have a clue what he’s talking about,” the guest said after the show.
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