Rick Harrison stunned as 'Pawn Stars' guest walked in with the 'deadliest item' ever on the show
Rick Harrison had several doubts from the start, but they were all cleared later on by his friend.
July 4 2025, Published 10:46 a.m. ET
Rick Harrison has seen everything from lethal weapons concealed in crutches to missile systems on “Pawn Stars." Despite having doubts about the legality of owning such items, he does end up buying them for a low price. But one guest took things to another level by offering keys to weapons of mass destruction. “I think I have the deadliest item that’s ever walked through your door,” he said. The guest opened up a small box and revealed a couple of keys that looked funny. As per the guest, they were used to launch ballistic missiles.
An ICBM is an intercontinental ballistic missile, which is basically one of the deadliest weapons mankind has ever made. The keys were Russian, and the guest said that he had obtained them from a famous Russian who worked at the cosmonaut school. To think that a turn of these tiny items could destroy the world was an unsettling thought for everyone. “There’s a real creepiness about it,” the guest said.
“I’d say if these are real, there’s no question of their importance. I’m getting chills just thinking about it. One turn of these keys could destroy the world, and now they’re sitting in my pawn shop. And Chum’s got one,” Harrison said with a chuckle in the end. The keys could be worth a lot of money, but the 60-year-old was unsure whether these were the real deal. He even said that they looked like something he could make in his garage.
The guest said he wanted $10,000 for the pair. Harrison did not have any idea about the value of the items or if they were even real. So, he decided to call in an expert. In came Mark, the Clark County Museum Administrator. He immediately knew what the item was the moment he laid eyes on it. “These are nice,” he quipped. “They’re launch keys. They’re Russian.”
When Harrison said that he had an issue with the fact that it seemed like something he could make in a garage, the expert quickly corrected him. “If you made this out of titanium, you’ve got a bigger garage than the one I know, and you’ve got some really heavy machinery. Titanium is really hard to work with. They had to use titanium because of the amount of heat that was generated in their system,” Mark explained.
However, the expert also mentioned that they were not used for launching ICBMs. He mentioned that people often think that way, but it was not the case. “They were used for launching spacecraft,” he said. However, Mark also mentioned that spacecraft launch keys were rarer than missile launch keys, which could make them more valuable.
The problem was that Harrison had no clue how long his money would be tied up in this. He was not willing to pay anything more than $1,500. “It’s $1,500 and I’m taking a complete crapshoot here,” he added. The guest was not willing to agree to this low price and decided to keep the keys with him for the time being.
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