'Pawn Stars' boss Rick Harrison comes across tortoise shell guitar, narrowly avoids legal trouble
Fans of "Pawn Stars" have seen the weirdest things on the show, and this includes dinosaur feet and prehistoric fossils. Although remains of animals are not a new thing on the show, one guest brought something that could've landed the pawn shop boss, Rick Harrison, in trouble. It was a 'tortoise shell guitar,' and the seller, Jon, himself was not sure if he could legally sell it. When Harrison dug deeper, he was asked not the touch the item even with a "10-foot pole" as it could cost him more than $20,000 in fines and months of house arrest.
In the episode, Jon brought the item to Harrison, wondering if he could make money off it. "I have this guitar here and I wasn't sure whether or not I could legally sell it," he confessed to Harrison. Harrison, who immediately realised that the guitar was made of a tortoise shell, was taken aback at first. "Where in the world did you get this?" he asked Jon. The seller told him that he bought it from a pawn shop, and he later realized that it may be rare and possibly illegal to own.
"For centuries and centuries, people used tortoiseshell for everything. I mean, it was really prized for a long time. Tortoise shell was real popular back in the day for making combs, sunglasses, guitar picks, all sorts of stuff. It looks cool and it's incredibly durable. But some tortoises became endangered, so in the early ’70s the trade in tortoiseshell was banned. I mean, it really is beautiful—the way the light goes through it, browns and reds and oranges. But my problem here at the moment is I don't know if it's early ’70s or older, which would determine whether it's legal for me to buy this thing," Harrison explained. He then decided to call in his go-to guitar expert, Jesse Amoroso.
After walking in, Amoroso was immediately struck by the view of the guitar. "Wow! The sea turtle. Very cool," he exclaimed. He then explained that such guitars were big after World War II and the Korean War, as soldiers brought them back from the Pacific. "And I know they go for a premium. They go for a lot of money," he told Harrison. He noted that the guitar was really well made, and it would provide a great blue-grass sound as well.
However, coming to the legality of buying the item, Amoroso said, "This is kind of a tough one. Honestly dude, I wouldn't touch this with a 10-foot pole. There's people that have done 10 months of house arrest and paid like 20 grand in fines for selling this stuff illegally. That's what I’d be concerned with, you know."
After the expert's verdict, the deal was clearly off the table for Harrison. As he shook Jon's hand and sent him on his way, the seller didn't look disappointed. "Hey, thank you. I'm going to look at my options as to what I can and can't do with it. I've got two girls, and I don't want jail visits from them," he said in the end.
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