'Pawn Stars' guest wanted $2,000 for her grandma's brooch — Rick Harrison pays her $15,000 instead
Rick Harrison does bring in experts on "Pawn Stars" to figure out the real value of an artifact or heirloom that people bring to sell, but only to offer an amount lower than the appraisal. He is a shrewd negotiator who always focuses on making a bigger profit by reselling the item later on. But, something different happened when a woman walked in with an unusual "Black Widow Brooch," which she was willing to sell for $2,000. Harrison quickly realized that it wasn't any ordinary brooch as it was made by the famous jeweler, Fabergé, and was studded with diamonds and rubies. Hence, he showed his generous side and offered the guest $15,000 for the item.
In the episode, the guest, Peggy, brought the brooch in a box to the pawn shop, looking to "get rid of it." "I was cleaning out some drawers and stuff. My mother gave it to me years ago, and I was wanting to find out how much it was worth," she told Harrison. Upon taking a closer look, Harrison revealed that it was a black widow. In her interview, she shared that it belonged to her grandmother. "It's just a spider brooch. It's got a lot of crystals and stuff on it. I don't like spiders, so I just wanted to get rid of it," she added.
However, Peggy didn't know that it wasn't just "a spider brooch". "Do you know what you have here?" Harrison asked after examining the item. He revealed that it was a Fabergé, who was one of the most famous jewelry designers in the world. "He was the jeweler to the Russian court. When people say Fabergé, they mean Peter Fabergé, one of the greatest jewelers of all time. This guy became famous for his Fabergé eggs, but he actually made everything from silverware to necklaces to rings. And just about anything he touched is considered a masterpiece," Harrison told the guest.
He added that the brooch was a pre-Revolution Russian imperial jewelry. "That's onyx underneath there. This white metal right here is all platinum. Those are diamonds. There are sapphires on the feet. Those are rubies in the eyes. This is the kind of stuff that royalty wears," the pawn boss noted.
In his interview, Harrison expressed that he couldn't believe that the guest had a Fabergé brooch sitting around in a drawer. "This is the one thing everyone hopes they'll stumble across when they're going through grandma's stuff," he said. As for the price, the woman wanted $2,000 for it. "I would really, really like to give you, like, $2,000 for it. But unfortunately, I have a conscience," Harrison said in response. He then cut to the chase and offered $15,000. "You gotta be [bleep] me," the owner said. Once she learned how much Harrison wanted to pay, the guest tweaked the asking price to $17,000. "A man who's willing to pay 15 will definitely pay 17 for that," she said. This is when Harrison started to regret his decision, as his generosity was met with greed. He stood firm on his $15,000 offer, and eventually the owner accepted.
In the end, Peggy came around and thanked Harrison as well. "You're a good man. Thank you. Oh my god. I'm so shocked," she said. "I hit the jackpot today!" she added in the end.
