'Pawn Stars' guest brings a rare statue for Rick Harrison — but there was one major problem

“Pawn Stars” isn't simply a place where people walk in to get a high appraisal for vintage items and artifacts from experts, before cutting a deal with the pawn shop owners. At times, fake items are also identified by Rick Harrison and his assistants. In an earlier episode of the show, a guest named Ray brought in an Apsara statue, which was supposed to be a rare sculpture from ancient India. For something that old, the one that Ray brought to the store was in surprisingly good condition.

That had already set the alarm bells off in Rick Harrison’s head. These statues at the time were made of sandstone, and it was exceedingly rare for sandstone not to deteriorate over such a long period of time. Even the ones in the museums have some sort of damage on them. This one, however, seemed to be in mint condition, and the guest claimed that it was from the 10th century, before he asked for $5000.

“It’s in amazing condition, and that’s the part that scares the hell out of me,” Harrison said. “Because, you know, sometimes it’s too good to be true.” The guest said that the statue had been stored away for a long time in a suitcase, where it was protected from damage. But if the statue really was from the 10th century, it’s a thousand years old and was preserved quite magnificently for that entire period. Harrison explained how India has been one of the most popular tourist destinations for more than a century. That gives the chance to locals to make replicas of these statues and sell them to tourists. The “Pawn Stars” host needed an expert to take a look at it. So, he called Dr. Phineas Kastle, an expert on ancient artefacts.

He, too, was impressed upon seeing it, but noticed certain things that did not add up. Firstly, it was too well-preserved to be a sandstone statue from the 10th century. Secondly, the statue did not represent the philosophy or belief behind it. “An Apsara is a sky angel. To indicate Apsara, you want to see it flying, and it usually has feet that are kind of crossed or going up like this as if it’s flying out of the sky,” he said.

In this statue, the feet were not sculpted, which Dr. Kastle found interesting. However, he busted it as a fake when he revealed that the face of the statue was Cambodian and not Indian. He had a picture of almost the exact same statue that was found in the Angkorian temples of Cambodia.“It was a replication done in Cambodia, and it’s probably like, around maybe 75 to 150 years old,” he said.

Ray could not ask for $5,000 anymore and reduced his asking price to $1,800. The expert had said that this statue could be valued at anywhere between $1,200 and $2,400. Rick, however, was not willing to pay a dime more than $800. The guest had no choice and had to accept the terms.