'Pawn Stars' guest wanted $120,000 for his basketball cards — Rick Harrison wouldn't go beyond $25k

The guest had initially asked for a six-figure sum but Rick Harrison refused to go close to that.

PUBLISHED AUG 2, 2025

Screenshot showing Rick Harrison and the guest on "Pawn Stars." (Cover image source: YouTube | Pawn Stars)

Playing cards are among the most popular collectors' items, and they often make an appearance on 'Pawn Stars." One such pack of cards, made by a company called Action Packed, had all the basketball Hall of Famers. The best part about them was the fact that they had all been signed. While the sets were authentic, none were ever graded.

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The cards looked incredible and had some of the greatest players in NBA history among them. Perhaps the most notable of the lot was Bill Russell, who many consider one of the greatest basketball players of all time. The expert who had come in to examine the items said that the player was never into giving autographs. Having items that had been signed by him would be incredible.

The guest had initially wanted $120,000 for a total of 507 cards. Harrison was intrigued by the item and knew the market for card collections. Having signed cards from a company that went out of business in the ‘90s would be a big deal. The guest claimed that since the company had shut down before releasing these cards, they were absolutely unique. The problem with grading was the reason why Harrison had called the expert, but it didn’t help.

Screenshot showing a couple of the cards. (Image credit: YouTube | Pawn Stars) — Screenshot showing a couple of the cards. (Image source: YouTube | Pawn Stars)

The expert wasn’t sure of the valuation of the entire set either, as there’s not much one can compare it to when it comes to placing a value on it. There was also the matter of how the market would react.

Understandably, this worried the pawn shop owner, and he was not willing to offer a dime over $25,000. The guest tried negotiating it to $35,000, but it just did not work out. In the end, that was the deal struck by the two parties. Harrison had been caught off guard by cards in the past, too. Once, a “Pawn Stars” guest had come in asking $500,000 for some Pokémon cards.

There was no way Harrison was ever going to pay that kind of money, but a few years later, that same set of cards turned out to be worth a whopping $5 million. "I really don't understand why Pokémon is such a big deal but if something like a beanie baby can become worth a lot of money maybe these can - I just need to know a lot more,” Harrison had said at the time.