'Pawn Stars' boss Rick Harrison buys bones of elephant from millions of years ago for just $2,500
The weirdest things have turned up on "Pawn Stars," and that includes prehistoric remains. Rick Harrison has bought dinosaur bones, fossilized insects, and even the skull of a crocodile in the past. In an earlier episode of the show, he paid what seemed to be less for a set of bones that belonged to an elephant several million years ago.
The guest had brought a set of teeth and a tusk to sell. She said that it had been in her family for many years. Harrison was fascinated by everything on display and was undoubtedly interested in purchasing them. The guest said that she wanted $5,000 for it, but the pawn shop owner was not sure about the value. So he asked an expert to take a look at it.
Andre Lujan showed up shortly after, and he said that the bones looked amazing the moment he saw the set. He said that the species of elephant the bones belonged to lived in Africa, Asia, and Europe. Today, there is a small number of elephant species in the world. Several million years ago, there were a lot more of them. Lujan also revealed that this elephant’s tusks pointed backwards like those of a mammoth.
However, these bones did not belong to a mammoth. “The separation, the distance in these crowns, is a diagnostic feature of these types of elephant. I’m sure you have probably seen mammoth teeth; they’re flat, and Mastodon teeth have four little crowns, so the fact that these have these ridges across, that helps me identify this type of animal when it comes to fossils,” the expert said while examining the teeth. He also said that the creature lived 15 to 20 million years ago.
When the time came to place a value on it, Lujan said that the set was worth $4,000. This wasn’t as high as what the guest wanted for it in the first place. Harrison made the initial offer of $2,000, after which the guest asked for $2,500. This was agreeable for the pawn shop owner, and a deal was struck.
He might have secured the bones for a low price, but Harrison isn’t afraid of splashing the cash for the remains of prehistoric animals. That’s what he did on a different episode of the show in which he purchased the skull of a crocodile that lived 50 to 60 million years ago. The guest had initially asked for $8,000. After the expert’s valuation, the pawn shop owner paid $1,000 more than what the guest had asked for to get the skull.
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'Pawn Stars' boss Rick Harrison gets 60 million-year-old fossil for a lot cheaper than you'd think
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