'Pawn Stars' boss Rick Harrison once paid $1,000 for a $1 bill — all because of a small detail
"Pawn Stars" boss Rick Harrison is known to be a tough negotiator who doesn't loosen his purse strings easily, no matter how fascinated he is by a collectible or vintage artifact. That's why it was surprising when he paid more than a thousand dollars to get his hands on a $1 bill. Of course, this was not an ordinary dollar bill, since it had the face of Martha Washington, the first ever First Lady of the United States.
The guest said that he found it in a book and hoped to get $1,500 by selling it. However, the bill wasn’t graded. If graded by a professional, it could have turned out to be worth five figures. The guest did not know about this, so when Harrison told him that what he had could be upwards of $20,000, he was pretty stoked.
In came US currency expert Peter Treglia, who said, “This is a 1891 $1 silver certificate,” before adding, “Well, the overall condition is pretty fantastic, actually.” He then took out a light used to detect anomalies in the bills. He said that, unlike coins, paper currency could be manipulated. Folded currency could be ironed out to make it look better than it was. However, there were no issues with this one.
“This is really high grade,” he said. “At first glance, appears to be flawless, and if so, could be worth upwards of $20,000. It is in absolutely awesome condition. The best a bill can be is ‘gem crisp uncirculated’. And the worst is a ‘poor’. This is kind of towards the top end of the range.” But upon further inspection, it turned out that the bill was not an uncirculated one.
“It does have a slight, very slight centerfold, which takes it out of the uncirculated category. It is not in the top range. As far as value, I would put a conservative retail value of around $1,500,” Treglia added. That might not be a five-figure sum, but it was what the guest had asked for in the first place. Harrison, of course, offered $800 at first. This was too little for the guest, and he bargained at $1,400.
After some time, Harrison had no choice but to come up to $1,100. That was the agreed-upon price by both parties. Currency is not rare on “Pawn Stars,” and the cast has paid big money to obtain some in the past. Sometimes, even a high five-figure sum is not enough to purchase a tiny coin. That’s what happened one time: a seller named Mark brought a 1867 Proof Shield Nickel. Harrison offered him $50,000 for it, but Mark was adamant that it was worth more.
More on Market Realist:
'Pawn Stars' guest brings 2 pages from the Gutenberg Bible and Rick Harrison paid a fortune for it
'Pawn Stars' boss Rick Harrison lets a 200-year-old gold coin slip by as he won't offer $1,000 more
