'Pawn Stars' boss Rick Harrison gets 60 million-year-old fossil for a lot cheaper than you'd think
"Pawn Stars" boss Rick Harrison is known for his ability to bag uber cool items for significantly lower rates than the asking price. One of the oldest among those was a collection of 60 million-year-old fossils, but that wasn't the only time prehistoric remains ended up in the pawn shop. He once paid $1,000 for a fossil belonging to a dinosaur, but it wasn't the biggest item that he bought. At the same time, this discovery made Harrison and Chumlee approach a paleontologist, who helped them make a bigger discovery.
The seller brought fragments of a dinosaur's bones, which she believed could be assembled to make its hand. She wanted $1,500 for it just to pay her rent, although she had no idea about the fossil's true value. While Harrison and Chumlee squeezed out a $1,000 deal, they later sought assistance from paleontologist Andre LuJan, who helped them put the hand together. He also informed them that while it belonged to an animal from the Permian period, the hand was worth $5,000.
The duo then joined LuJan for an excavation in Texas, where Harrison and Chumlee found dinosaur remains worth $20 and $300, respectively.
Harrison did find an actual dinosaur skull once during a tour, in a collection that a seller brought to him. The seller told the pawn shop boss that the skull was of an African crocodile, while the other two items were from the dinosaur era. "I got them at an estate sale down the street from my house," he shared.
Looking at the items, Harrison noted that the crocodile skull was the most amazing item due to its size and appearance. He then asked David for the asking price, and the seller told him that he was looking to get $8,000 for the skull, $3,000 for the fish, and $1,000 for T-Rex tooth. Hearing the numbers, Harrison decided to call in his expert, Andre Lujan, President of Paleo Tex, LLC. The expert immediately noted that it was a great collection, but he still needed to make sure everything was real.
Coming to the appraisal, Lujan told Harrison that the Priscacara fossil would be worth about $500. However, the Dyrosaurus skull was the real deal, he said. "This is a really nice specimen. Honestly, it's the best one I've ever seen. It would be worth about $16,000," he told Harrison. Once the expert left, Harrison got down to business.
The pawn boss straight away passed on the fish and was interested only in the Dyrosaurus skull. "I have a lot of fossils at the shop, and it's not super unique to me, but this right here, you're asking $8,000 for it, and quite frankly, it's worth more than that. I'll give you $9,000 just for this," he told David.
However, the seller didn't want to let go of the item for that amount as he had just learned its true value. But Harrison chose to play hardball, and eventually, David accepted the deal.
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