'Pawn Stars' boss Rick Harrison lowballs too much for Apollo 13 relic that guest sought $50,000 for
People bring vintage items, collectibles or rare objects on "Pawn Stars" hoping to sell them for a small fortune, but a single lowball offer from Rick Harrison can dash their hopes. That’s what happened in an earlier episode of the show, which saw a guest bring in a part of the heat shield that was used in the Apollo 13 mission to the moon. The guest wanted $50,000 for it, but the pawn shop owner did not even come close to matching that sum.
The guest said that his father used to work at NASA and had received a part of the heat shield presumably as a gift. The problem with it was that the guest had no paperwork proving it to be a part of the Apollo 13 heat shield, nor did the object have any markings to prove so. It only made sense for Harrison to call in an expert who could shed some light on the matter.
If the item truly was a part of the Apollo 13 heat shield, it perhaps would have been worth what the guest had asked for. That particular mission is infamous for being perhaps the most dangerous space mission in human history. The Apollo 13 capsule was supposed to land on the moon like its predecessors. However, at one point during the journey, the oxygen tank exploded. Everyone involved had to scramble to make sure it made it safely back to Earth.
The astronauts on board should not have made it back alive, as far as Harrison was concerned, considering the damage inflicted in outer space. They had to slingshot around the moon, using its gravity, to make it back to Earth. Those on board had no clue if their heat shield was still functioning. If it weren’t, they would have been burned to a crisp by the extreme heat upon re-entry into the atmosphere.
The story behind the mission could make any item from it highly valuable, and that’s why the expert was called. In came Mark, the administrator of the Clark County Museum. Upon first glance, he understood that it was a part of the heat shield from the Apollo 13 mission. However, the lack of paperwork to prove it put him in a tough spot as well. If this truly was genuine, it would undoubtedly be worth a lot of money. However, there was no way of knowing at the time.
There was no way Harrison would offer $50,000 for the item. He said that he could do the deal for $2,000. Obviously, the guest was never going to agree to this. The lowest he was willing to go was $30,000. No deal was struck that day as a result. But if it was genuine, the pawn shop owner might have missed out on a great deal.
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