'Pawn Stars' boss Rick Harrison fails to bag Olympic torch as he refused to pay over $1,000
The guest was not expecting the low valuation of his item given by the expert.
Oct. 12 2025, Published 9:45 a.m. ET
"Pawn Stars" boss Rick Harrison confidently negotiates deals for iconic artifacts and manages to buy them for a significantly lower price than what the seller demands. But that approach doesn't always work for him when the sellers put their foot down and stick to their terms. In one such case, his offer fell flat in front of the seller, who walked into the pawn shop with an Olympic torch.
There was no doubt that this torch was authentic, as the guest said that he ran with it in the 1984 Games that were held in Los Angeles. He even had a user manual and pictures of himself with it. “My dad got to choose three runners, and of course, being his son, I got nominated as one of the runners. I was 17 years old. It was the most phenomenal thing I’ve ever done in my life,” he explained.
He said that he wanted $5,000 for it, and the minimum that he’d be willing to accept would be between $3,000 and $3,500, which wasn't too high for a piece of history. However, Harrison wanted to be absolutely sure of its value before making an offer. So, he called in an expert who could take a look at the item.
The appraiser, Jeremy, was also smitten with the torch. When the guest said that he ran with it, the expert was even more impressed. There was no doubt in his mind that this was the real deal. However, that did not necessarily mean that it was worth a massive amount of money. The number of torches made for the Olympics depended on the year.
“This particular year (1984), there were 5,000,” the expert said, before adding, “Previous years, there’s as little as two dozen back in ‘52 in Helsinki. I think there’s around 15,000 in Atlanta. So, as far as scarcity goes, this kind of falls in the middle of the spectrum.” However, the expert also believed that one doesn’t usually see an authentic Olympic torch for sale when it comes to dealing with sports memorabilia.
Once all that was out of the way, Harrison got down to business and asked what this torch would be worth. The answer left the guest disappointed. “With this particular torch, being as available as it is, in today’s economy, they sell very consistently from around $1,200 up to about $1,700,” the expert said.
The guest felt that it was worth a lot more, but there was nothing he could do. Harrison at first said that he’d be willing to pay $800 for it, and then he increased his offer to $1,000. However, the minimum the seller said he’d take was $1,500, and unfortunately, no deal was struck.
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