'Pawn Stars' seller wanted $50k for Kurt Cobain signature — but Chumlee’s offer wasn't enough

Not only was the signature authentic, but also rare, as it was a full autograph on a personal document.

PUBLISHED OCT 5, 2025

Screenshots showing the guest and Chumlee on "Pawn Stars." (Cover Image Source: YouTube | Pawn Stars)

Kurt Cobain is a man who needs no introduction, and even $10,000 was not enough to purchase one of his signed items on “Pawn Stars.” The guest had brought an unusual memorabilia belonging to the former Nirvana frontman, and wanted way more than ten grand to be able to part with it. Unfortunately, Chumlee was not willing to spend that kind of money, and a deal was not agreed upon between the two parties that day.

The guest owned a rare full signature of Cobain, but it was not on a regular piece of paper. The musician had signed his name on a piece of an insurance document for his car. This truly was an unusual find for the shop, and Chumlee knew it. The pawn shop employee believed that Cobain was the biggest rock star of his generation. However, he did not know much about its value.

Screenshot showing the signature. (Image credit: YouTube | Pawn Stars)

The guest said that he had purchased it from a big collector in Seattle and that he wanted $50,000 for it. This was a more personal document rather than a regular autograph, but Chumlee still had to be sure. So, he decided to call in an expert. In came Steve Grad, a principal authenticator at Beckett Authentication Services. Even he admitted that finding Cobain’s full signature on anything was exceedingly rare.

The Nirvana frontman was not a fan of signing autographs, and he only ever signed a few. Before Grad could place a value on the car insurance document, he wanted to make sure that the signature itself was authentic. He first put it under a magnifying device to see if it truly had been signed or just printed. Thankfully, there was clear proof of a pen being used to make the signature, so that was not a concern.

Screenshot showing the expert and Chumlee. (Image credit: YouTube | Pawn Stars)

Next up, it was time to make sure that the signature actually belonged to Cobain. To do this, the expert compared it with another full signature of the grunge rock icon that he’d done on a contract. There might have been some differences, but overall, the two matched enough for Grad to conclude that it was authentic. He then said that the document could bring in $20,000 at auction.

Screenshot showing the guest and Chumlee. (Image credit: YouTube | Pawn Stars)

This was quite less than what the guest had asked for, but he did not seem very disappointed. Chumlee then said that he would be willing to pay $10,000 for the document, but this was much too less for the guest. He said that he would be willing to sell it if he received $18,000. Unfortunately, the pawn shop employee was not going to go that high, and no deal was made.